Ghanaians celebrate Good Friday

Christians throughout the world are on Friday celebrating Good Friday, the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, some 2,000 years ago.

The day is a significant event on the Christian calendar, as it affirms the belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Churchgoers would be in mourning clothes - black and red. Some churches had the Lord's Supper on Thursday evening to mark the event when Jesus had supper with his disciples before his betrayal, crucifixion and death.

Pentecostal churches are holding conventions across the country while Catholic Churches are organising Stations of the Cross to depict Christ's agonising march to his crucifixion and death.

Christians believe that Christ's crucifixion brought salvation to the world and reconciled man to God.

Ghanaians called upon to let Jesus Christ play major role in reconciling with others

The Reverend Delali Bodza, of the Deliverance Assemblies in Accra, on Friday called on Ghanaians to let the death of Christ Jesus on the cross to save mankind inspire them to reconcile with one another.

Preaching on: "Christ, Hope For The World" at the Tema District Convention of the Assemblies of God Church at Tema, to mark the Good Friday, he said just as Christ Jesus bore the sins of mankind so must people also forgive one another their sins to ensure peace else His suffering would have been in vain.

He said Jesus' intervention came to restore the spirit of God that was lost in the relationship with man, therefore Christians needed to play a major role by serving as catalyst to heal wounds in order to foster love among neighbours.

To this end, at the time that Ghana was seeking reconciliation with one another there was the need for all to re-examine their minds; repent of their sins and ask for forgiveness so that Jesus, whose name was the greatest and who continued to reign, would surely take off their burden.

This, he noted would promote spiritual and physical peace and eventually make positive impact on their life and the nation as a whole.

Cross Veneration

Archdeacon Mathias K. Medadues-Badohu, Parish Priest of the Saint Georges Anglican Church in Ho, has discounted the notion that ceremonies to venerate the Cross were apostate and undeserving of Christians.

He said such ceremonies performed by Catholics and Anglicans especially were symbolic shows of recognition and remembrance of the significance of the 'Cross' on which, Jesus Christ died in atonement for the sins of mankind.

Archdeacon Medadues-Badohu made these remarks just before leading the congregation to kneel and kiss the 'Cross' as part of the Good Friday Church Service of the Church.

He said ordinarily, kissing and hugging were only demonstrations of affection and criticised those, who sometimes took the kissing of the cross into the realms of sensuousness.

Earlier in a mass, Archdeacon Madadues-Badohu prayed to God to remove the cloak from the eyes of followers of charlatans, who were operating as Priests by using the Bible to cheat them.

He also prayed for the reduction of poverty in the country to enable the people to lead meaningful lives.

The Church has a responsibility to address social problems - Rev. Adjepong

The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, the Reverend Professor Samuel Kwasi Adjepong on Good Friday exhorted Christians not to be apathetic towards issues that went on around them.

"Christians should have full knowledge of such issues and be concerned, We cannot claim to love and serve God if we do not participate actively in finding solutions to problems faced by individuals and the communities in which we live," he said.

Rev Prof Adjepong was addressing the three-day second biennial Diocesan Conference of the Cape Coast Diocese of the Ghana Methodist Students' Union (GHAMSU), at Cape Coast, being held on the theme: "Transforming Our Faith Into Works".

He said the country was currently faced with all kinds of social ills including poverty, HIV/AIDS, indiscipline, ethnic conflicts, corrupted democracy, sexual promiscuity and domestic violence among other vices.

Rev. Professor Adjepong pointed out that the Church had the responsibility to ensure that she addressed problems confronting local communities and society at large and helped to find solutions to them.

The Church should also raise to consciousness, in the wider society, the connection between its message of righteousness, love and justice and the search for sustainable democratic governance, he said.

Professor Ben Eshun, Diocesan Lay Chairman of the Methodist Church, asked the students to lift high the banner of Jesus Christ, step up evangelism in order to win more souls for the Church.

He urged Christians not to compromise their faith, but to hold on firmly amidst what he described as "social chaos" for people to look up to them and change for the betterment of society.

The Bishop of the Cape Coast Diocese of the Methodist Church, the Rev. Isaac K. Quansah also exhorted the students to be careful and build their future on Christ.

The Diocesan President of GHAMSU, Mr Stephen Kwarteng Yeboah urged his colleagues to be ambassadors in the fight against HIV/AIDS in order to save the country's youth from the dreadful pandemic.

He appealed to the students to avail themselves of training for them to be useful Christians ready to serve the church and the country.