Today marks the end of what many consider the most important season of the Christian calendar – Lent.
Easter Sunday, as it is commonly called, is the day when Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This day of celebration marks the culmination of the 40-day period during which Christians traditionally pray and fast or abstain from various activities or foods.
Lent commemorates the 40 days and nights Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness where He endured temptation by Satan before the beginning of His public ministry.
Easter Sunday comes on the heels of Holy Week, which began with Palm Sunday and included Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
The period saw Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the Crucifixion.
Easter represents the fulfilment of Christian faith since the Apostle Paul wrote that unless Christ rose from the dead faith is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:17)
It is generally accepted that through His death, Christ saved mankind from bondage to sin and destroyed the hold that death had on all people.
However, His Resurrection gives the promise of new life, both in this world and the next, according to the Christian faith.
Although Christian denominations approach Holy Week in slightly different ways, Good Friday is always a day of solemnity and reflection while Easter Sunday is one of celebration.
Father Clement Paul of the Roman Catholic church said Easter was the most important festival or season in his church’s calendar. He stressed it was a season and not a day.
“In fact, it doesn’t end until the evening of Pentecost or Whitsunday [which is seven weeks after Easter Sunday].
“Easter is so important that every Sunday is considered an Easter day. If you count from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter Sunday, you get more than 40 days but if you take out the Sundays then you get 40,” he said.
“We celebrate the victory that Jesus Christ won in the battle between sin or death and life. Jesus is alive and we will all live one day.”
Paul said the observation of the Easter Tridduum, or three days, began on Thursday night with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, continued on Friday with the solemn observance of the Crucifixion and finished with the celebration of His Resurrection today.
Dean of St Michael & All Angels Cathedral Dr Frank Marshall said these three days “represent the central, crucial period in Christian thought and bring us to focus on the life of Christ in centrality”.
He reported that Thursday night the Anglican community, like the Roman Catholic Church from which it was derived, focused on the period before Jesus was betrayed, when He offered His body and blood in the form of bread and wine for the life of humanity.
As such, it represented the power of good over evil, he added.
Dr Marshall said some churches on Saturday also had an Easter vigil which featured readings that reflected God’s workof salvation.
He explained that Easter demonstrated Jesus’ life of righteousness and faith in God which could not be broken, even in death.
However, he noted that the observance of Lent had tended to decline in terms of how people viewed it. “People are more materialistic so they don’t value the opportunity to examine and reflect on spirituality,” he said.
God’s gift
Marshall, however, urged people to “remember life is not your own but God’s gift and when you have stewardship or ownership of it for a while, do for God and not for self”.
For Spiritual Baptists in Barbados, Good Friday worship has always been carried out and demonstrated on the streets of Bridgetown and other areas of St Michael.
Patriarch Granville Williams of the Sons of God Apostolic Spiritual Baptist Church said this year’s traditional re-enactment of the 14 Stations of The Cross began and ended at the Zion Apostolic Temple in Richmond Gap, St Michael.
The “stations” consist of the 14 trials or events Jesus encountered on His journey to Calvary, where He was crucified.
“At each of the stations we stop and tell you what happened,” Archbishop Williams said, noting that some stations take a lot longer than others to be completed.
Today Spiritual Baptists will gather at the Jerusalem Apostolic Spiritual Baptist Church in Ealing Grove, Christ church for a celebratory service.
President of the Barbados Evangelical Association Reverend Dr Nigel Taylor said that for many churches in that organisation the observance of Easter starts with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with a celebration of palms.
For some, Maundy Thursday is celebrated with a foot-washing ceremony.
On Friday, Reverend Taylor said, some churches re-enact the “seven words” of the Cross – the last seven statements Jesus made while on the Cross, according to Scripture. Some churches also hold services between noon and 3 p.m. to mark the last three hours leading up to the Crucifixion.
“This is a great period of solemnity as they [Christians] think about the final moments,” Taylor noted.
As for today, he said there was a “real and meaningful observation of the Resurrection”.
Taylor noted that for churches which had a cemetery attached, there was an early morning procession which began in the burial place, with those present singing the hymn Up From the Grave He Arose.
Those churches that do not have a cemetery might have a more traditional service at sunrise. According to Taylor, this was a celebration of the fact that “He who died has conquered death”.
Taylor noted that many families were expected to gather for today’s service, including some which did not usually attend.
“The passion of Christ still impacts on the Christian community. Christianity hinges on the Resurrection. If there’s no Resurrection, Christianity goes out the window,”he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment