LOVE, FORGIVENESS, SELFLESS GIVING and Easter are one and the same, and yet, some pastors in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) find that the “empty” concept of Easter resonates more with the public than the message of Easter, which is Jesus Christ.
“Tradition” is the word that John Wilburn used to explain the reason for low church attendance throughout the year, and high attendance during the Easter Season.
Wilburn is an American, who has served as a missionary in Australia. He moved to SVG to continue this work, and has been serving as Pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Barrouallie since 2018.
“I explain it this way. We are supposed to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, many people rely on what I call religion. Religion is works.”
Wilburn said that religion is not having a relationship with Jesus, but still doing good things because one knows they should do good things, and so many people who go to church at Christmas and Easter are not free at all because they are relying on religion.
Pastor of the Kingstown Baptist Church, Rev’ Dr Cecil A. Richards told SEARCHLIGHT that the concept of Easter is empty if the world loses sight of the message.
“If you say Easter, it becomes a holiday; and for many, Easter is a holiday; but if we say the message of Easter is love and forgiveness and sacrifice, then it has meaning.”
Pastor Richards added that if people celebrate the season rather than the reason then, they drift from what Easter is all about.
“The season of Easter, that’s not what you want to celebrate, you want to celebrate the reason of Easter, and the reason of Easter… is Christ dying to forgive and to love and to sacrifice.”
He said that it is the same as Christmas where there is food, parties and festivities. However, Christmas is also not about celebrating the season, it’s about celebrating the reason, which is Jesus’ birth.
“You have to celebrate the reason and not the season … and when people lose sight of the reason and focus only on the season, that’s where it loses its significance,” Pastor Richards said.
This week, the week leading up to the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is being marked by many Christians around the world by a greater focus on religious activities such as church services, periods of fasting, and prayer. Today, Good Friday, is observed as the day Jesus was crucified and, in the past, has been one of the rare days when those who do not usually do so, attend church services.
Pastor of the New Testament Church of God at Wilson Hill and Administrative Bishop of the New Testament Church of God across SVG, Pastor Wendell Davis believes that while people still welcome the Easter story the problem might be that the actual message being communicated is not always clear.
“The whole Easter concept and the whole Easter story, I believe still resonates with the general public but … it’s the clarity of the message … and how much the message that is being communicated is connecting across the landscape of the communicators.”
Pastor Davis said that all pastors should tell the Easter story in a way that people will understand, and in a way that relates to the public, instead of just another story that is out there.
