Lance Around Orlando

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Mrs. LanceAround and I have always thought that one’s Spirituality is the most important element of one’s life.  So while we believe that everyone needs and deserves a vacation from all the mundane routine of daily life–We never advocate that you take a vacation from your Spiritual life!  To help you with that, we are providing you with a list of places you can worship when you are in the Orlando Area.  Just as a vacation is a new experience from the routine, we encourage you to try out a new Spiritual experience during your vacation journey.  We have selected locations that are convenient to the mouse and this list is by no means exhaustive:

Roman Catholic–Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine, 8300 Vineland Road, Orlando, FL  32821.  407.239.6600.  www.MaryQueenOfTheUniverse.org.  This is a beautiful church located right across the highway from Disney World and next to Orlando Premium Outlets.  It is not a parish church and is very accustomed to visitors from out of town.  You can see the bright red/orange tiled roof from Interstate 4.

Byzantine Catholic–St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic, 5135 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL  32819.  407.351.0133.  www.OrlandoByzantine.com.

Presbyterian–Community Presbyterian Church–511 Celebration Avenue, Celebration, FL  34747.  407.566.1633.  www.commpres.com.  Rumor has it that when the town of Celebration was being built, a relative of Walt’s purchased and donated three acres of land to build a Presbyterian Church in the heart of Celebration.  Mrs. LanceAround and I have visited this church many times.  I used to pitch for their softball team.

Jewish–Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation at Temple Ohalei Rivka, 11200 South Apopka-Vineland Road, Orlando, FL  32836.  407.239.5444.  http://sites.google.com/a/sojc.org/sojc/.

Islamic–Islamic Center of Orlando-Jama Masjid-Lake Buena Vista, 11543 Ruby Lake Road, Orlando, FL  32836.  407.238.2700.  www.icorlando.org.  There is also an Islamic School on this property.  It is located just a stone’s throw down the road from the Jewish Temple.

Buddhist–Wat Florida Dhammaram, 2421 Old Vineland Road, Kissimmee, FL  34746.  407.397.9552.  www.watflorida.org.  One day I was driving through the touristville region of Kissimmee when I decided to take a detour on a back road.  (I’m like that.)  I was shocked to discover a beautiful Buddhist monastery just a few blocks from touristville, USA.  (That was 11 years ago.  Now, unfortunately, the monastery is totally engulfed by touristville housing tracts!)  I couldn’t resist–I got out of the car, took off my shoes, and walked into the Observance Day Hall just in time to listen to a dozen or so Buddhist monks engaging in a deep voiced chant.  Mesmerizing!  Now, whenever Mrs. LanceAround or I feel a need to get our zen adjusted, we’ll stop by the Temple and just sit quietly in the meditation area.  Sometimes we’ll be alone and sometimes there will be some kind of service.  Later, I will write a separate post about this remarkable place.

Church of the Nazarene–3705 N. Apopka-Vineland Road, Orlando, FL  32818.  407.293.2781.  www.metrowestchurch.org.  At the time of this posting, this church is meeting in an elementary school cafeteria, but they have just poured the concrete foundation for a new church building.

Luthern–Salem Lutheran Church, 7900 S. Apopka-Vineland Road, Orlando, FL  32819.  407.876.4000.  http://www.salemlc.net/public/home.html.

Methodist–St. Lukes United Methodist Church, 4851 S. Apopka-Vineland Road, Orlando, FL  32819.  407.876.4991.  www.st.lukes.org.

Greek Orthodox–Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Orlando, 1217 Trinity Woods Lane, Maitland, FL  32751.  407.331.4687.  www.htgocorlando.org.  Orlando attracts and inspires some very impressive architecture and this church is no exception.

Latter Day Saints–Orlando Florida Temple, 9000 Windy Ridge Road, Windermere, FL  34786.  407.876.0022.  http://www.lds.org/temples/main/0,11204,1912-1-82-0,00.html.  Talk about beautiful architecture!  This Temple sits on a small hilltop on the road from Windermere to Apopka.  You can see it for miles.  Absolutely beautiful.  Guidelines for attending the Orlando Temple include:  Wear your Sunday best, clothing rental is available, vending food service is available, and remember to bring your recommend.

Episcopal–Church of the Ascension, 4950 South Apopka-Vineland Road, Orlando, FL  32819.  407.876.3480.  www.ascension-orlando.org.

Baptist–First Baptist Church Windermere, 300 Main Street, Windermere, FL  34786.  407.876.2234.  www.fbcwindermere.com.

Pentecostal–Indian Pentecostal Church, 11551 C. R. 535, Orlando, FL  32836.  407.239.1653.  www.ipcorlando.org.

Unitarian–First Unitarian Church of Orlando, 1901 East Robinson Street, Orlando, FL  32803.  407.898.3621.  www.orlandouu.org.  For the amusement of those of you who have ever attended a Unitarian Church, here’s one of my favorite jokes:  Why does a Unitarian Church have such a hard time singing in unison?  Because they are always too busy reading ahead in the hymnal to make sure they agree with the words.  If you have never been to a Unitarian Church or you don’t know any Unitarians, trust me, even my Unitarian friends tell me that was very funny!

Jehovah’s Witness–Rio Grande Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness, 2077 Honour Road, Orlando, FL  32839.  407.240.9773.  www.watchtower.org.

Seventh Day Adventist–South Orlando Seventh Day Adventist Church, 1112 W. Oak Ridge Road, Orlando, FL  32809.  407.855.8722.  http://southorlando22.adventistchurchconnect.org/.  There are a lot of Seventh Day Adventist Churches in the Orlando area, which makes it very easy to find vegetarian food stores.

If you have a chance to attend one of these places, please drop us a comment and let us know about your experience.  If you know of another place you would like for me to add to this list, just drop me a comment.

This entry was posted on April 12, 2009 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Local Info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.