This year’s Easter prayers were marked with prayers to God to bring His light amid the dark times that the country and the whole world is experiencing now.
Rwanda is currently going through a hard season in which people are commemorating loved ones lost during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in which up to a million lives were lost.
At the same time, like the rest of the global community, the country is on lockdown for weeks now, as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a pandemic that is currently menacing many nations on the globe.
Globally, a number of Easter church services were held online, and the faithful followed them on radio or television, among other channels.
It was Easter this is Sainte-Famille Catholic Church in Kigali yesterday. Rwanda is on lockdown for weeks now, as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. / Craish Bahizi
Preaching to the faithful who managed to tune in from the comfort of their homes, the clergymen delivered messages of hope from the word of God, praying for nations that God may bring his salvation from the troubles being experienced.
In his Easter sermon delivered on national television, Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of the Catholic Church described the Easter as a day of great light that can give people hope,
"Easter is the great day of light. Light is a sign of life, but death is darkness. On Easter day, light overcame the darkness. When we are surrounded by death we are in darkness. During these hard days and times of remembering those that died in the Genocide against the Tutsi; and also being challenged by the coronavirus pandemic, our world is experiencing the darkness of death,” he said.
"We are waiting for God to show us His face so that we see the light and hope of life.”
Photo by Dan Nsengiyumva.
Archbishop Kambanda’s sermon echoed a similar message carried by Pope Francis during his Easter word,
"Today the Church’s proclamation echoes throughout the world: ‘Jesus Christ is risen!’ – ‘He is truly risen!’ Like a new flame, this Good News springs up in the night: the night of a world already faced with epochal challenges and now oppressed by a pandemic severely testing our whole human family. In this night, the Church’s voice rings out: ‘Christ, my hope, has risen!’” read the Pope’s message.
The Pontiff delivered his message to the over 1.3 billion global community of Catholics to empty seats in the St Paul’s Cathedral in the Vatican, where thousands normally congregate to follow the sermon.
Like that of Kambanda, the Pope’s message was carried to the faithful through the media.
The Pope urged that the resurrection of Christ is no magic that makes problems vanish, but instead it "it is the victory of love over the root of evil, a victory that does not ‘by-pass’ suffering and death, but passes through them, opening a path in the abyss, transforming evil into good: this is the unique hallmark of the power of God.”
Laurent Mbanda, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, in a televised sermon encouraged the faithful about the great hope in God that comes by true faith in Jesus.
"In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time,” he said reading from 1 Peter 1: 3-5.
Chorale de Kigali singers during the mass on television. / Dan Nsengiyumva
He thanked God for His love towards the world, a love that made Him send His only son to die for the sins of the people,
"We thank you God because you are a God that has loved us and have shown it to us. You are a God who gave us your son to die for us. His death and resurrection has given us life, hope, happiness, salvation and living with Christ Jesus.”
A number of Anglican bishops also shared messages via the same television broadcast, encouraging people to be strong in these hard times, and also reminding them to do good to their neighbours.
Bishop Nathan Rusengo Amooti of the Kigali Diocese of the Anglican Church urged people to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and to use their time well to do productive work if they have opportunity to do it at home.
Bishop Sam Mugisha of Shyira Diocese urged Christians on the heart of kindness towards the needy,
"Let us look at what we have and share with the needy. These times come to test our strength of heart, our love and kindness. Share with the needy, and in future, we will have a testimony for which to thank God.”