Since my trip to Manokotak, other manifestations of the presence of God in my life has become apparent.  Its’ evidence is a desire welling up from deep within.  It is to pray more, to read God’s Word more, to share the gospel more in a special anointing of the Holy Spirit, and in holiness to submit to the leadership of God more to bring glory to our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Where this goes, I hope, will transform my own Church ministry as I seek God's leading.  With my own limitations and even sometimes personal doubts I question where God will lead, but where He leads is always good.

The norm for Moravian churches is that we are a liturgical church with a rich musical and historical heritage.  We are members of the world-wide Unity of 18 other Moravian Provinces.  Our worship has evolved slightly different than other provinces.  The Churches in Alaska are filled with predominately Yup’ik congregants.  Emotion in the past is seldomly displayed in the worship services.  Historically the Church worship services are very traditional and I have never thought legalistic in any way.  Our formal traditional worship services continue to be very meaningful and touching.  It is the usual practice for a regular Moravian worship service to display an  order of service shown usually in a printed worship bulletin or sheet of paper.  At the high point on the church calendar, we celebrate Moravian Love Feasts (singing and eating together in church), schedule corporate communion services with the use of the Right Hand of Fellowship, and practice the holy sacraments.  The influences deeply felt is that we are truly an alive church.  Strongly felt is that we are members of a main-line Moravian denomination that has been around a long time, actually predating the Reformation by 60 years.  Since organization in Eastern Europe in 1457, today we are the oldest Protestant Church in existence. 

Indirectly the Alaska Moravian mission field and later the Alaska Moravian Church came into being as a result of an outpouring of God’s Spirit.  This is the well-known outpouring of Moravian Pentecost in Herrnhut in 1727 which unified the local body and inspired them to send missionaries who carried the gospel to the colonial states in America. In Alaska the Moravian work was brought to life in 1885 through the labor of faithful Moravian missionaries who entered the Kuskokwim and Bristol Bay region.

The Moravian Church in Alaska born from the missionary era, by 1982 became America’s only indigenous, self-independent, self-propagating, and self-supporting Native-led Church.  The early days were filled with revival as whole villages responded to the gospel.  A fervent spirit was evident up to the early 1980s, however since then, it may be that our Church has become somewhat complacent; instead of reaching outward, possibly we have turned too far inward and as a result many of the Churches that exist today may still be doing the same things that was done 50 years ago. 

Many people nowadays do not attend or have left the Church.  The younger generation has different needs.  They are feeling that they need to express their faith differently.  The hurts in the beginning of the 21^st century are great.  There is a larger and younger population in the Alaska Moravian Church area of influence that has to face many evils - sexual abuse, alcohol and drug addictive lifestyles, the highest incidence of suicide in the United States, lack of jobs, divorce becoming more frequent, broken relationships everywhere, and now recently due to the high cost of energy, many are becoming energy refuges and are moving more to the urban settings in Alaska.  Can our Moravian Church speak today more effectively to these new contemporary challenges which the older generation did not have to face?

As a student of Church history, I know that God in His wisdom in the life of the historical Christian Churches brings renewal and revival when He chooses.  It is His choice and timing!  Is this now happening in the Alaska Moravian province?  That’s what I was wondering about after my first night at the Manokotak Spiritual Feast.  Today I am still pondering the implications.  How am I going to explain what I saw?

This three day and night Manokotak Spiritual Feast (feast) was literally a series of several four hour Spirit-filled worship services held one after another with little time to eat.  An example of one day - along without other Church leaders, I spent Sunday with a total of over 14 hours at the Church worshiping without a liturgy or order of service in-hand and experiencing great joy!  On the part of the leadership, whether it was Panta Paul, Melvin Andrew, Louise Gloko or Teresa Ayojiak, what I saw in hand to get the feast going was simply a list of people on a piece of paper.  These were asked to give their testimonies or to sing.   It was obvious that the leadership had prayed before the feast began for God the Holy Spirit to pour out.  I believe that is what has happened!   This is a new manifestation of God’s grace and freedom never before evident in the Moravian Churches in Alaska. 

Before drafting this article, I waited three weeks so that I can objectify my own experience or “allow the dust to settle”; I want to have a clear mind and heart as I contemplated my experience at Manokotak’s Spiritual Feast.  I must admit what I observed was a genuine outpouring of love and joy and thanksgiving!  Hands were raised in worship as the Eskimo participants sang.  Folks clapped with joy and the Spirit of God - a special presence of the Holy Spirit was evident in the sanctuary.   A minor miracle possibly - without an order of service it was evident that there was a special flow of harmony and rhythm in the flow of the worship; everything was done in ‘decency and order”.  This was a powerful demonstration of God the Holy Spirit leading the congregation gathering in worship.  Although our services in Anchorage are liturgical and even though I am used to a specific order of service in the Moravian Church in Anchorage, Alaska, I felt that something special was happening at the Manokotak Moravian Church  I understood it simply because the more space I have given to the Holy Spirit to direct our Sunday worship services, especially in our non-denominational singspirations, the more of a blessing it has been for us!

Countless manifestations exhibited themselves in the first two days of the feast.  People literally broke down in tears with repentance.  Hearts where filled with a desire to experience more of the joy of the spirit.  People flooded the church early before the church service began with great anticipation.  People gave their testimonies one-after-another.  One young teenager who was about 14 years old said that he needed to speak because God wanted him to; he was allowed to share his story of Christ coming soon.  Another man full of the Spirit was drunk with joy; when he gave his testimony that the rapture is going to happen soon, he was so full of the Holy Spirit that his speech was slurred, which brought much laughter.  When people spoke it was with great authority and power; shouts of faith was common place!  Three well-known near death participants - Abraham George, Michael Nicholai, and Louie Alakayak attended the feast, but the feast did not revolve around them.  It revolved around those who participated either directly or indirectly.

After the worship service many people remained to be prayed for and be ministered to.  Others remained just to experience God's presence in the sanctuary.  As a bishop I was expected to minister along other leadership.  A couple of Moravian Lay Pastors including a retiree, a team from Mercy Wings Ministries of Soldotna, Alaska, and a pastor from a non-denominational church in Anchorage ministered freely.  Due to large number of people needing spiritual assistance, I began to tire noticeably as we laid hands on people, young and old that needed prayer. 

The third day and our final service was a big blessing as the Spirit of God began to build on the previous services.  After this service during a period of feeling fatigue, again what I think is a miracle happened.  What I saw was fascinating!  I noticed Christian young people at work for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  One of them, a little skinny Eskimo girl with long hair, maybe nine years old, was one-by-one laying on her hands on the chests of older children who towered over her.  Also there were two other Native boys, one 14 years old; the other 17 years of age, at work doing the same.  Today, I can still vividly see them in my mind's eye - two very Spirit-filled teens, hard at work in a receiving line with a large crowd of teenagers and  some young elementary school aged children waiting to be prayed for.  Some of children went through the receiving line more than once to further enjoy the presence of Christ, the Great Shepherd.  Incredibly these young people fervently prayed for salvation.  Oftentimes the sinners receiving prayer broke out with tears of remorse, then soon had smiles of wonder and joy on their faces.  God answered the teen leaders prayers, again and again.  Literally it was children leading children to full and joyous repentance and justification by faith.  I have never heard of such a thing happening in a public service anywhere.  Praise God!

As I worked with the older people in the Church sanctuary who needed prayer, the same teens and little girl in the receiving line continued to receive other children for over two hours.  This unique manifestation of a move of God was not a dream.  I saw young children and youth beyond their years ministering to others.  These child leaders recited the sinner’s prayer in varying degrees.  I heard clearly prayers that the sinner’s names would be written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and simultaneously laying their little hand on their peers heads and hearts, they then with authority asked God to fill the recipients with the Holy Spirit.  Evidence was a number of kids lying with hands out-stretched flat on their backs on the Moravian Church floor. There they lay with hands outreached heaven-ward communing quietly with their God.  It looked like they were receiving spiritual blessings.  A couple of others shook on the floor; it was almost as if it was a seizure in progress, but as we prayed for these young people, they began to slowly lift their arms and hand to the Lord Jesus.  Later an elder shared with me that she felt that one of the teens had lost a parent, and had also experienced much abuse.  It was her feeling that this youth was experiencing spiritual healing of emotions and soul. 

Every spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit seemed to be in operation at the feast.  This was evident through specific manifestations - healing, repentance, ministrations of praise, a couple delivered from demonic possession.  Forgiveness was a big factor.  What was a marvel for me was to see a Moravian Lay Pastor asking forgiveness of Pastor Paul Jenkins of the Pentecostal holiness church who graduated from Moravian Bible Seminary decades earlier.   Brother Paul had been hurt in unspeakable ways.  Great spiritual healing was commonplace. 

During a spirit-filled guitar, banjo, and key board driven song by Sam and Maggie Alexie, believers from the Bethel area, the Spirit of God fell again, this time in a big wave.  The result was spontaneous; couples went forward for marriage renewal.  The aisle was full of marriage partners confessing adultery with a desire for restored commitment. What takes marriage counselors years by the Holy Spirit was taken care of in a few short minutes.  Tears of forgiveness and joy was everywhere.  Praise God!

In conclusion what has been an unusual experience for me, albeit a blessed one, let me offer the following.  It is obvious in all the services of the Spiritual Feast,  the Word of God was used.  Christ was glorified again and again.  Real time testimonies were shared and the result were sinners converted or recommitting by the boat load.  Those that lived in carnality recommitted their lives to walk in the Spirit.  All the fruits of the Spiritual Feast glorified Christ.

The October 2008 Manokotak Spiritual Feast is the third event in three years.  Those who lives had been changed during the first two years shared their testimonies with great power.  A theme throughout the 2008 feast is that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and that the Church of Jesus Christ must wake up, get busy winning others, and prepare to enter the eternal kingdom.

I can share more, but time does not permit!  The reality is something with great influence and power has begun touch the Moravian Church in Alaska with a promise of  renewal.  This type of experience may be frowned on by those who do not know or want to understand the way of the Spirit of God.  In the history of the Moravian Church, there have been times of renewal.  It is possible that God is calling all of us to pray for revival and renewal in our hearts to win those around us in our sphere of influence.

The pastors and lay pastors and elders of the Alaska Moravian Church may meet in synod 2009 to discuss the phenomenon of the Spiritual Feast.  May we all pray that this concept is studied with an open mind and heart.  We can learn things that will empower our ministries.  I think it is indeed “a new thing” God is doing in our midst.  If it is God’s work we cannot stop it!  If it is of God, there will be true revival bringing great repentance, love, unity and renewal of purpose for Christ’s glory. 

If the feast concept is a manifestation of a true revival, it must bring glory to our Savior. When there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit like the Moravian Pentecost experience of 1727, the local churches will be strengthened, and believers will be gifted with inspiration to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and in turn reach out to win others for the Kingdom of God.  True revival will turn our church from looking inward to looking outward.  True revival may mean changes to the way we do things.

I thank the Elders and Young People of Manokotak Moravian Church for inviting me to attend this year’s feast.  They paid for my round-trip air ticket from Anchorage, Alaska.  Everyone received me cordially.  I thank my cousin, Sarah Catalone and her family for allowing me to overnight at their home.

As the Spirit of God blows, may the Moravian Church in Alaska be strengthened with wisdom and empowered to better deal with the spiritual, social, and physical needs of our people.

Amen.

© Copyright 2006 Anchorage Moravian Church
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