Clergy to deliver words on Jesus' Resurrection

Yahoo

19-04-2025

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Area clergy will deliver messages of the power of the Resurrection, hope, love, truth and investing in one another in their Easter Sunday sermons.
For Christians, Easter is the most important festival and the one celebrated with the greatest joy because it marks the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Easter message by Bishop Mark L. Bartchak, of the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese, focuses on a story about a missionary priest who, while serving in the Amazon rainforest, met a teenage boy whose father had died. He was left without someone to offer him guidance and support.
'After the missionaries distributed food and told the people about the Lord Jesus, the boy did not leave when all the others returned to their homes,' Bartchak said. 'He would stay and help with basic chores, and sometimes he would guide the priests to another village. He was especially glad to do that because the priests had been teaching about Jesus, who said, 'Come follow me.' '
The teenager felt that those words of Christ were meant for him. The priests gave him a Bible and told him to start reading the Gospel of Matthew. He asked the priests if he could take the Bible home with him and continue reading, and of course they said yes. He read about the passion and death of Jesus.
'When he returned to the mission the next day, the priests could tell that he was upset,' Bartchak said 'They asked him, 'Are you OK?' He looked at them and said, 'He's alive. Please tell me Jesus is really alive?' They said, 'Yes, of course he's alive, and he is with us in the church, in the Sacred Scripture, and in the sacraments.' '
The teenager had only recently heard that good news. He wanted to know more. He wanted to know who, what, where, when and why that is essential to the greatest story ever told. The missionaries immediately knew that this young man had opened his mind, heart and soul to the story of hope, Bartchak said.
'Ever since the COVID pandemic and even now, so many people are trying to recapture the direction, the purpose, or the meaning of their life,' Bartchak said. 'It has become a real challenge because fear of human suffering dominates the news almost every day.
'The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the premier story of the hope that is sometimes missing. But the good news of Easter tells us that hope can be restored through Christ. The disciples had lost hope when Jesus died on the cross, but hope was restored when they saw Jesus in a different way after his resurrection. They spoke with him, ate with him, and touched him. Jesus reassured them and restored their hope.'
He added that Easter is the feast of hope, direction, purpose, meaning and community.
'We're all in this together with our Lord Jesus Christ,' Bartchak said. 'He is our hope. He suffered, died and rose from the dead especially to restore hope for every one of us.
'Rejoice and be glad at Easter. May you know the Lord's peace now and always.'
The Rev. David Streets, pastor of West Hills Community Church, 175 Woodmont Road, Upper Yoder Township, said the Resurrection gives hope.
'Christ has risen and because Jesus is alive we can have eternal life,' he said. 'For Christians, the Resurrection is foundational to our whole faith, and without it we don't have hope.'
Streets said his message will focus on the gospel of Mark 16:1-7.
'I'm talking about Peter because he had denied knowing the Lord, and he felt like a failure and felt hopeless,' he said.
'Peter needed to know the Lord wasn't through with him and the Lord loved him unconditionally. Most of us have messed up at some time in our life, and the Lord isn't through with us; he is eager and willing to forgive us and use us in spite of our flaws and imperfections.'
Throughout the Easter season, Streets is hopeful the faithful will know that Jesus is alive and will have eternal life if they have faith in him.
'I hope they go out and live out their faith the other 364 days of the year and not just at Easter,' he said. 'I hope that Jesus being alive makes a discernible difference in how they do their everyday lives.'
The Rev. Paul Hamilton, pastor of Westmont Church of the Brethren, 2301 Sunshine Ave., Westmont, said his focus at Easter is the message of Christ's love.
'You can find your purpose in life and you can find a level of joy that can't be experienced in any other way by following the teachings and the example of Jesus,' he said. 'If somebody can predict their own death and resurrection and pull it off, you really ought to pay attention to what that person has to say. The teachings of Jesus should be respected because it isn't just a belief of something that might have happened, it's a thing that did happen.'
Hamilton said his message will focus on loving one another.
'We need to listen and respect one another and offer support,' he said. 'As Jesus followers, we need to try and be there for other people.'
The Rev. Josh Knipple, pastor of Crucified Ministries, 200 Maple Ave., Johnstown, said the Resurrection is a celebration that Jesus has power over the grave.
'There were a lot of unknowns when Mary and Peter arrived at the tomb, and their automatic question was, 'Where is he?' ' he said. 'Jesus speaks to them and says he has risen just as he said. Jesus is with us even in moments that don't make sense.'
Knipple said his message will focus on Jesus staying true to his word.
'Even if Jesus said something that didn't make sense in the moment, he followed through on it,' he said. 'Jesus said, 'I told you this was going to happen.' '
'He told them going into Jerusalem he would be crucified, told them he would have to die and told them this had to take place, but he also told them he was going to rise. He is risen, just as he said.'
The Very Rev. Protopresbyter Robert Buczak, dean of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, 300 Garfield St., Johnstown, said the Resurrection is the feast of feasts.
'It's the greatest gift in the world. It's the kingdom of heaven given to us,' he said. 'As St. Paul says, without the Feast of the Resurrection, our faith is in vain.'
Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa, of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, which is headquartered in Johnstown, requested that his message to all the parishes of the diocese be delivered at the conclusion of Divine Liturgy.
'Today I greet you with great love and joy in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ following his glorious Resurrection,' Gregory writes. 'On Great and Holy Pascha, we behold the triumph of Christ, as he rose from death to life, from darkness of the tomb into the Light.
'With the Resurrection of Christ, all creation is filled with a new light of life and joy. On this Feast of Feasts, this Holy Day of Holy Days, we all proclaim the only truth that matters, the truth that Christ is risen.'
He writes that through this truth, we are liberated from the power of sin and death, to receive God's promise to live in eternity.
'We feel the inexpressible joy of being united with real life in Christ,' Gregory writes. 'We are overwhelmed by the awesome love and tender mercy of our God, who gave himself up to suffering and death for our sake – yet that was not enough, for he also rose from the dead to give us new life and eternal hope.'
He writes that if we truly open our hearts, if we allow ourselves to be illuminated by the glorious light of Pascha, we too will receive the Resurrection in our own hearts and lives.
'The message of the Resurrection is that we can be transformed, and that Pascha is a call to all mankind to live joyously, to be filled with jubilation and love for one another, our hearts overflowing with his grace,' Gregory writes. 'Therefore, let us rejoice and be glad in the Lord's Pascha, the feast day of freedom, life and light.'
Bright Week will be held Sunday through April 26, a week set aside by Orthodox Christians for the celebration of the resurrection.