Easter Sunday: Clerics call for confession, renewal

Clerics have called on Rwandans to confess their sins and ask for forgiveness as Christians across the country celebrate Easter, a day when Jesus Christ resurrected after being crucified at Calvary. Jesus’ death on the cross secured the salvation of millions and provided the only way God could forgive sin without compromising His holiness and perfect righteousness, according to the scripture. According to Rev. Antoine Rutayisire of Remera Anglican Church, Jesus died for people to live and Easter should serve as time to renew their relationship with Jesus and live in harmony with people around them. “Easter should be the day for Christians to resurrect with Jesus and shun sinning, it is a time to renew spiritual relationship and seek new life at individual level, at family level as well as at the national level,” he said. “As we commemorate genocide, Easter should serve as a time to reunite and reconcile with people and with God” he added. Antoine Kambanda, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Rwanda said Easter is the greatest day in the history of humanity and in the history of Christians particularly because the son of God became a man in order to save the world. “Jesus died to save people from the great evil and enemy we have which is death, death was the weapon that the evil one uses to do us bad and to destroy life,” he said. He added that Christ rose from the dead and declared victory over death such that from now on Christians have hope of living even after death stressing that death does not have the last word on Christians. “I call upon all Christians to thank the Lord for this great love that was manifested to us, there is no greater love than offering one’s life for others,” he said. “We are also calling for collaboratation with Christ to rise from sin and receive internal life, the resurrection of Christ comes with light, so we are called upon to leave the actions of darkness such as hearted, jealousy, killing,” he added He added that Easter happens at a time Rwanda and the world commemorates the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi where there was total darkness in the community coupled with acts of darkness and evil deeds. “It is time to come out of all that and welcome the light of Christ and be the children of light and walk in the light and struggle for reconciliation, brotherhood love, honesty and hard work so that we can build our country,” he urged. Pastor Hassan Kirabirango from Christian Life Assembly (CLA) said Easter marks the epitome of what Christians believe that the Lord Jesus was crucified on a roman cross. “He rose from the dead. This was inspired by God’s love for humanity and his will that none should perish but come to the saving knowledge of Jesus,” he said. “Christ’s resurrection gives us hope that even when we die in the flesh, those who die in Christ will be resurrected on the final day and will live eternally with God,” he said. “My appeal to all Christ followers is to genuinely living a life worthy of their confession. If Christ gave his life to die for us, the least form of reciprocating this is to live fully for him,” he added. editor@newtimesrwanda.com

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Easter Sunday: Clerics call for confession, renewal