Ghanaians celebrate Easter

Accra, April 8, GNA - Christians in Ghana on Sunday joined their colleagues across the world to celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Christ, which is one of the key pillars of the Christian faith. Easter is the resurrection of Jesus, which Christians believe occurred on the third day after his death by crucifixion and is celebrated with joy, happiness, festivities and prayers. The day started at dawn when Christians symbolically went to the cemetery to visit the grave of Jesus, as some women did after Jesus' burial.

They sang songs of joy, drummed and danced to announce the resurrection of Jesus.

This was followed by church services where Christians dressed in white, a sign of victory, drummed, danced, praised God and prayed.

Kumasi

In Kumasi, The Right-Reverend Nuh Ben Abubekr, Methodist Bishop on Sunday stressed the need for Ghanaians to work harder and contribute meaningfully towards the advancement of the nation.

He said the resurrection of Jesus Christ should remind them to change their attitudes and support the government in its effort to reconstruct the nation.

Bishop Abubekr was delivering the sermon at the Wesley Methodist Cathedral at Adum in Kumasi to mark Easter.

"We expect drastic reduction in bribery and corruption, nepotism, rumour-mongering, tribalism and other negative tendencies that affect development", he added.

Bishop Abubekr urged Ghanaians to live a new life with love, faithfulness, joy and compassion.

He called on Christians to lead upright lives as society looked up to them as agents of change.

At the Bantama Peyer Memorial Presbyterian Church, Rev. Emmanuel Agyen-Frempong, the Superintendent Minister, said the resurrection of Christ should remind Ghanaians to unite to ensure peace and development of the country.

He expressed concern about the expensive funerals among some people in society at the expense of their children's education and urged them to give priority to their children's education to enable them to contribute positively to the country's development.

The Very Reverend Father Philip Opoku Nyame, Parish Priest of the Saint Paul's Catholic Church at Amakom, has admonished Christians to let their beliefs reflect in their lives instead of mere going to church.

He explained that apart from winning the favour of God, it could also serve as a sure way of evangelising the word of God to non-Christians.

Very Rev Nyame was delivering the sermon to mark Easter at the Saint Paul's Catholic Church in Kumasi.

He urged the congregation to let the resurrection of Jesus Christ restore lost hope and be strengthened in life, adding that Christ's resurrection should spur them to higher heights.

Very Rev Nyame expressed concern that that many Christians hop from one church to another and attributed it to lack of faith and called on them to have faith in their own prayers before seeking support from other places.