Roughly 200 people beat the sunrise at Morgan Park on Sunday, April 9, 2026. That’s the real story here, not the cloud cover.
Dozens of residents from across the Glen Cove community were down at the waterfront well before Nassau County’s weekday routines kicked in, gathered beneath a 17-foot cross that stands at the edge of Hempstead Harbor. The 10th Annual Glen Cove Community Easter Dawn Service started at 7 a.m., on schedule, overcast or not.
Robert Lynch opened the service on bagpipes.
The first notes of “Amazing Grace” drifted over the water at the base of the cross. That’s not a detail you forget quickly. There’s something about bagpipes at dawn that doesn’t require explanation.
The service is bilingual, conducted in both English and Spanish, which tells you plenty about who lives in Glen Cove now and who’s willing to show up together for something larger than their own congregation. Prayer and scripture moved the morning along at a steady pace. But the moment that seemed to hit hardest was the proclamation of “Christ is Risen,” spoken aloud in multiple languages by different voices. One phrase cycling through a dozen tongues, across a crowd that doesn’t share a single background. Something worth paying attention to in a civic climate that doesn’t always feel that unified.
Clergy from multiple faith communities across the city participated. Fr. Philip Sandrick of Saint Josaphat’s Monastery, which is a monastery of the Ukrainian-Catholic Rite, delivered the Easter message. He was joined by Rev. Roger C. Williams of First Baptist Church, who has been a consistent presence at the Dawn Service for years. Pastor Cristino Fuentes of Iglesia Apóstoles y Profetas Emanuel also participated. His congregation worships at 7 North Lane in what was formerly the First Presbyterian Church building. This was Fuentes’s first time at the Dawn Service, and he didn’t hesitate when asked what it meant to him. “It is an honor to take part in this service for the first time and to stand together with the community in faith,” he said.
Showing up somewhere new, in front of a crowd, at sunrise, that’s not nothing.
Pastor Tommy Lanham of Glen Cove Christian Church delivered the Opening Prayer remotely. Evangelist Merle Richards and Evangelist Claudette Bryan of Calvary A.M.E. Church offered prayers and took part in scripture readings. Pastor Raul Martinez of Iglesia Ciudad Casa de Dios Internacional read scripture in Spanish.
Donna Brady, guitarist for the service and a member of Shelter Rock Church, didn’t dress up what she saw on the waterfront. “It’s beautiful to see so many different cultures, languages, and faith traditions coming together to celebrate the one thing we all have in common, the resurrected Christ,” Brady said. She didn’t stop there. “I really do love seeing this kind of diversity and unity in our community.”
Rev. Williams framed it in terms that go past the liturgy. “Easter reminds us that hope is alive and present among us, and gatherings like this show the strength of a community united in faith,” he said.
Coverage of the 2026 service was also reported by the Long Island Press.
What makes the Glen Cove Easter Dawn Service worth noting isn’t just the interfaith mix, it’s the consistency. Ten years running. Rain, gray skies, cold harbor wind, doesn’t seem to matter. Dozens keep coming back. New participants like Fuentes keep getting added. The 17-foot cross at Morgan Park has become a fixed point in the city’s calendar, and on April 9, 2026, it did what it’s apparently always done: gave a crowd of people from different pews, different languages, and different traditions a reason to stand in the same place at the same hour and say the same thing.
That’s not nothing for a Sunday morning on Nassau County’s north shore.