Just in Time For Christmas!
Northern Province Sponsors Prairie Home Companion for 550th
Anniversary
In October 2006, Garrison Keillor traveled to the Lehigh Valley to host and “Evening With” program at Zoellner Arts Center on the campus of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. During the evening of entertainment, which was co-sponsored by the Moravian Church Northern Province and Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Keillor made note that the “Christmas City” would be an excellent location to hold his bigger production, A Prairie Home Companion Live Radio Show.
That statement generated much excitement and got the ball rolling with Keillor agreeing to bring the show to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, December 22, 2007. A Prairie Home Companion is now in its 32nd year of production. It is heard on public radio stations across the nation. The production is made up of Keillor and a production staff of approximately 30 individuals. The show is broadcast live and features comedy sketches, music, and Keillor’s signature monologue, “The News from Lake Wobegon.”
In honor of the 550th Anniversary of the Founding of the Moravian Church, the Moravian Church, Northern Province, is sponsoring this event. In true Moravian-style, the evening will feature Moravian music groups prior to the early evening show and a reception following that will include Moravian sugar cake and other signature Moravian items. The production staff, including Keillor will join the reception for some one-on-one conversation with the characters met on stage.
The show, being held at Zoellner Arts Center, was so popular and sold out so fast that a non-broadcasted “preview show” was added for Friday, December 21st. Both shows sold out very quickly with so much interest being generated through the Moravian community that many are traveling from areas all over the Moravian Church in North America just to be a part of the audience.
The December 22nd show will be broadcast live on public radio stations across the nation. For a full listing of stations carrying the Prairie Home Companion program, please visit http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/stations/.
The Moravian Church in North America hopes you will join us in celebrating the 550th Anniversary of the Denomination by tuning your dial into this very special program being sponsored by the Moravian Church, Northern Province.
Fact Sheet
- The Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) is the Oldest Protestant Denomination.
- The Moravian Unity consists of 19 provinces across the globe, including:
- Alaska
- America (Northern)
- America (Southern)
- Costa Rica
- Czech Republic
- Eastern West Indies
- European Continental
- Great Britain and Ireland
- Guyana
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Labrador
- Nicaragua
- South Africa
- Suriname
- Tanzania (Rukwa)
- Tanzania (Southern)
- Tanzania (Southwest)
- Tanzania (Western)
- The Moravian Church of North America includes: the Southern Province with 67 congregations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia; the Northern Province which includes the Canadian District, the Eastern District and the Western District.
- The Canadian District is in western Canada and consists of eight congregations in Alberta.
- The Eastern District has 53 congregations in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Toronto and Washington, D.C.
- The Western District consists of 37 congregations in California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
- The Kralitz Bible was translated and published between 1579 and 1593 under the auspices of the Moravian Church, which enabled Czechs to read the Bible in their own language, much like Luther’s translation did for Germans and the King James Version did for English.
- The Moravian Daily Texts, a daily devotional guide published since 1731, now appears in 51 languages and dialects. More than 1 million copies of this devotional are published annually in Germany, which far surpasses the 30,000 members of the Moravian Church in all of Europe.
