Christians in Rwanda on Sunday celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Also known as Pascha, Easter was celebrated with worshippers attending service in the midst of limited Covid-19 restrictions compared to the previous two years.

The day was also marked by taking of the Holy Communion, a Christian ritual performed in remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus that was broken and poured at the cross.

Different preachers delivered messages of hope and salvation during Sunday Easter prayers. 

Isaie Ndayizeye, a Senior Pastor of the Association of Pentecostal churches in Rwanda (ADEPR), said: "The devil thought that death will be putting an end or cancelling the life and mission of Jesus, but rather His death symbolized that he took with him all our sins to the cross.”

That’s why we need to restore our hope in him, he added; "Whenever it seems so worse, God is able to restore any situation.” 

What Jesus was doing, he continued, he was deactivating all the hindrances of salvation including the ongoing pandemic.

From Jesus’ death, we were transformed, and became the heirs of heaven's share, he added.

The same words were echoed by Cardinal Antoine Kambanda while delivering the message of the Episcopal Conference of Rwanda.

"Easter reminds us that there is hope and comfort in Jesus Christ.  Due to Easter's incident, we are testifiers that life overcomes death, light overcomes darkness and faith can resurface where hope was lost,” he read the mass at Kigali Catholic Cathedral, which is also the seat of the Kigali Archdiocese.

He moved on to explain that this gave comfort to Jesus’ disciples. 

As the Gospel of John tells us, he said, they had been greatly affected by Jesus’ death, thinking his mission on earth was interrupted.

Easter should be the most celebrated day in the history of the Church

While delivering his sermon on Sunday, April 17 at the Anglican Church, Remera Parish, Reverend Pastor Antoine Rutayisire made a case for the celebration of Easter.

He is of the belief that Easter should be the most celebrated day in the history of the church because it signifies the accomplishment of the mission of the Son of God on earth.

"This should be the most celebrated day. If Jesus had been born but did not die for our sins, we wouldn’t be celebrating him,” he said in his sermon entitled the power of resurrection, the power of life transformation.  

"The most important thing was his mission on earth, not birth because it had been prophesied hundreds of years before,” he noted citing the scripture of Psalm 16.