Easter Celebrations 2012 at Divyashanthi Churches, Bangalore

From the early morning dark skies to glorious golden sunshine ,Easter morning dawned as church members  came together to worship the risen Lord Jesus Christ.”He is risen, He is risen indeed” echoed in the compound and it seemed that the very bricks in the buildings seemed to join us.

Easter morning brought to a close the 40 days of Lent. Each week beginning with Ash Wednesday we followed Jesus’ journey to the cross.

One of the favorite hymns sung was ,”Because He lives” .Particularly, “He lived and died to buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my Saviour lives. Because he lives I can face tomorrow. Because he lives all fear is gone, because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives”. One of the ways we showed our gratitude to God was take a self denial box which was returned on Good Friday and Easter morning for the ministry in the churches.

Good Friday was a traditional three hour service from 12 noon to 3 p.m. when all the staff and church members meditated on the seven words of Jesus from the cross. It is wonderful to recognize that the word of God, no matter, how often one may read the same verses, always has something new and refreshing for our faith. And so it was this year.

The vigil continued from 9am to 12 noon on Holy Saturday remembering Christ’s death. It was a time of praying for many needs of people in our communities. A baptism service of Church members was held later in the day as they wanted to participate in Holy Communion on Easter morning.

Preparation for the sunrise service and the church services during the day in the different community areas meant flower arrangements, rangoli art, arranging the chairs and altar outside in the courtyard, choir practice and getting Easter sweet packets ready for the children. The chicken curry for breakfast was the special item as many ‘strong minded ‘church members had become vegetarian for 40 days as an act of self denial (some failed after a week!) so Easter breakfast had to be special. Having meditated together around God’s word, prayed together, wept silently together as we saw our suffering Lord, what better way to celebrate our unity in His Spirit than to eat together the first fellowship meal on an Easter morning.

May the risen Lord continue to bless you and  us here  with His peace , joy , love, encouragement which we experienced  at  Easter 2012.May Jesus draw near and go with you as he did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.