A message of hope on Easter Sunday

At the St George Parish church, the scene was no different as scores of men, women and children filled the pews.

During her passionate sermon, Assistant Curate, Rev Yolanda Clarke, drew comparisons between the agony felt by followers of Christ around the time of his death and issues faced by some Christians today.

Condemning the recent attack on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, she urged local Christians to keep the faith.

“We heard about the killing in Sri Lanka. Hundreds of people who attempted to attend church to worship their risen Savior.

“People would ask why are you celebrating? Why are you Christians shouting and keeping so much noise? What is there to celebrate? There is still pain in the world, suffering and people are still catching hell.

“…but we know that we can celebrate because Easter allows us to bear all of the oppression, the pain and the suffering in this world, but to say there is hope, newness of life, the pain is not the end and it will never be the end,” she said.

She stressed that the faith of Christians ought to be strongest when the outlook appears bleak.

“Even in our doubts, even when we cannot trace him, even when everything seems dark to us, we are called to remain and to be persistent,” she said, adding that a personal relationship was key.

“We could talk from now until the Lord comes back, and we can testify in the highways and byways all we want. But until persons can listen and hear the Lord calling them by their names, speaking into their hearts, they cannot experience the resurrected Christ. In that moment, there is utter transformation.”

Rev Clarke then encouraged members of the congregation to recommit themselves to God and pursue meaningful changes in their lives.

“When we speak about resurrection and when we experience the resurrected Christ, we don’t just go back to the old things, we experience something new, glorious and wonderful. It’s in that moment that we can should hallelujah, the Lord is risen.

“On Good Friday, the disciples went away mourning, on Easter morning, Mary was still weeping, but when she experienced her lord, she recognized there is joy to be had and there is peace to be received  . . . our Lord gives us peace and hope,” she said. (KS)