Easter Celebrations: Love, forgiveness, honesty must reign supreme - Church leaders to Ghanaians

Six church leaders have called on Ghanaians to hold high the virtues of love, forgiveness, tolerance, honesty and hard work as Christians celebrate this year’s Easter.

In addition, they must eschew negative behaviours and build on the peace the country is enjoying, since the message of virtue (peace) is associated with Easter, the remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ.

The religious leaders who made the call include the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, the Most Rev. Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo; the Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Dr Godwin Nii Noi Odonkor, and the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye.

The rest are the Presiding Bishop of the Western West Africa Episcopal District of the AME Zion Church, Rev. Dr Hilliard K. Dela Dogbe; the General Overseer of the Lord’s Pentecostal Church International, Apostle Eric Essandoh Anim Otoo, and the General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Ghana, Rev. Dr Francis Sey. 

The clergymen also called on the security services to put peace first in the execution of their duties, while political parties must also hold strong the tenets of peace as they went to their primaries.

Preparations 

Ahead of the Easter festivities, churches have outlined and advertised programmes they will undertake for the celebrations.

Billboards, median signages, sharing of posters on social media platforms and hoisting of banners at vantage points are some of the strategies adopted by the churches to advertise their programmes.  

Others have taken to the electronic media, especially radio and television, to run advertisements on their programmes for Easter. 

Apart from holding indoor programmes, churches are also having outdoor events (crusades and conventions) from Holy Thursday through to Easter Monday, which is normally a holiday, marked with picnics, beach programmes and other activities.

Some church leaders have invited guest speakers to preach in their churches.   

Methodist Church Ghana

The Most Rev. Dr Boafo urged Ghanaians, especially Christians, to let the spirit of Easter engender them to turn away from dishonesty, selfishness, indecency, bribery, corruption and the indiscipline that had engulfed society.

“It should help us turn our efforts to healing the political, institutional, family, ethnic and religious wounds in society. Easter must grant us new opportunities to become stewards of our environment and our world and make sure issues of national concern become bolder and a concern for each and everyone of us,” he said.

He urged those who would be driving during the festive season to be cautious on the roads, so that Ghanaians would experience an accident-free Easter season.

Most Rev. Dr Paul K. Boafo, Presiding Bishop, Methodist Church Ghana, Apostle Eric Essandoh Anim Otoo, General Overseer of The Lord's Pentecostal Church International and Rev. Dr Francis Sey, General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church

Presbyterian Church

Commenting on the festivities, Rev. Dr Odonkor said Ghanaians were celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ at a time of great challenges in the country and other nations of the world. 

Many people, he said, were waiting, hurting, longing and searching for hope, while others were confronted with emotionally challenging and draining conflict and economic situations. 

“Others are wallowing through uncertain paths and looking into the future with despair. The Bawku ethnic situation and the awful spate of galamsey are still scars on our national conscience.  

“In spite of these realities, the message of Easter convinces us to look forward into our individual and collective future,” Rev. Dr Odonkor said.

TLPCI

Apostle Essandoh said Easter celebrations projected peace, reconciliation, hope and new life for mankind. 

“The death and resurrection of Jesus reconciles us back to the father. This singular gesture is what has brought us redemption and redirection. We were like sheep gone astray and Jesus came and redirected us to God with His precious blood.

“We were out of God's radar; we transgressed and digressed, then Jesus came and reconciled us to the Father, so that through Him, we may have life in abundance,” he said.
Rt Rev. Dr Dogbe said Easter was an embodiment of God’s unfailing and unconditional love for humanity.

The occasion also revealed God’s express desire to reconcile mankind to Himself to enable them to become vessels that showed excellence, he said. 

“Easter further reminds us that even as the cross preceded Jesus’ glorification and elevation, so also sacrifice precedes glory or reward. 

In this regard, each of us, from the least to the highest, must let go of personal comfort and commit to make the needed sacrifices to enable us to attain a better tomorrow,” he said.

Foursquare 

For his part, Rev. Dr Sey urged Ghanaians to live the values of Easter, which are to love unconditionally and sacrifice, so that others might have better lives.

“We cannot be selfish and covetous if we are thinking of Easter. We must look at those who are deprived, those who are in need and those who are vulnerable, so that they may experience the love that Christ showed to us. So Easter is a season of love and forgiveness,” he said.

He said in a country where Christians constituted the majority, the love of God must be seen in everything the people did.

Relating the Easter story to current developments in the country, especially the economic crisis, Rev. Dr Sey said leadership must take responsibility for where the country found itself now.

“The greed and corruption must come to an end. When we love, we care about the effects of our actions on society. Love should cause us to take care of our environment and be judicious in the way we use resources, even state resources, so that together we can be better off,” he stated. 

Pentecost

Apostle Nyamekye, in a pastoral letter to all ministers on the holding of conventions, said Jesus’ resurrection was proof that He is the accredited Saviour of the world.

He said the very act of the resurrection set Jesus apart and made Christianity an exclusive religion.