Easter: Message Of Easter Sunday

“In worship, each Easter Sunday, we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We acknowledge and recall that Jesus defeated the powers of sin and death for all who believe. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is a basic Christian affirmation of the Christian faith.

Easter is the day that Christians believe that Christ rose from the dead, bringing eternal life to followers. Christ’s resurrection, following his crucifixion on what is known as Good Friday, is a time of rejoicing an d rebirth.

For the faithful, of course, it’s about much more than candy, egg hunts and donning a new outfit. It’s also about sharing messages of hope, says Raquel Serrano, a chaplain and minister with the Hand Foundation, an advocacy and grantmaking organization.

Despite the lock down christian faithfuls have shared various messages of hope to the world.

“People want to know that they are loved,” Serrano says. “For me, that’s the main thing I sense from the community. I see that same message that goes across all generational lines. They want to hear that someone loved them enough to give their life for them.”

 website: lakeshorechurch.org.

Senior Pastor Vince DiPaolo of Lakeshore Community Church in Greece. (Photo: Provided)

“We’re doing a series called ‘Jesus said what?’ which looks at so-called ‘upside-down’ sayings of Jesus, like ‘If you want to be the first, be the last.’ Sometimes, what Jesus says appears to be turning our lives upside-down, but you’re really right-side up.

We’ll talk about righteousness and eternal life. Jesus offers us an incredible exchange in our lives. He exchanged his sinlessness for our sinfulness, he exchanged his righteousness for our unrighteousness. He exchanged his death for our life.

We’ll discuss the whole journey of how to become a Christian, such as no one is good enough for eternal life, but God sent Jesus for our eternal life. When we receive Christ, we are free forever. You can’t find eternal life on your own. We tend to over-inflate ourselves. We have a moral tendency to think that we’re better than we really are.”

Bishop Denise Donato, of the Mary Magdalene Ecumenical Catholic Community and pastor of Mary Magdalene Church, 1008 Main St., East Rochester; marymagdalenechurch.org:

Denise Donato (Photo: Provided)

“My Easter message to parishioners: Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia! Imagine where we would be if it all ended on Good Friday. Jesus came into our world to carry the message of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness.

So often as Christians we put so much focus on Jesus suffering on the cross and we’ve even stated that this is the reason that Jesus came into the world to suffer and die for our sins.

Jesus did not come into the world to suffer and die; he came to bring God’s message of unconditional love and forgiveness. Easter Sunday morning tells us that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.

Perfect love, undying love, could not be killed on a cross, could not be held in a grave. Love couldn’t help but rise from that horrible death filled with love and peace to share with all. God transformed our darkest moment into the greatest act of love the world has ever known!”

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The Apostle Paul gives account for the significance of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4, 14: “For what I have received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is our faith.”

Resurrection is the power of God and the hope of the church…Jesus can resurrect you from whatever situation or circumstance you might find yourself. Though this is true, the actual bodily Resurrection of our Lord is the central celebration.

In a world that is filled with chaos, hardship and evil, we should all share the message of resurrection.”