IMPERIAL VALLEY – During the holy week around the Valley, churches in different Christian denominations celebrate and commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, who was called the Messiah two thousand years ago by people who believed and some witnessed and passed on oral. of their histories, which testify to those who wrote their tablets, which were known as the “Gospels” and subsequent letters, the “New Testament,” or the Christian Scriptures in the sacred Bible. These are a mixture of historical reasons and beliefs still existing today, which Christians and Catholics use as the whole or in part of the foundation of faith in whom they believe in Jesus, called Christ, or the holy “anointed of God.” .
During the “Holy Week”, that is the week leading up to the Church’s Easter festival, Christians celebrate and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, pastors in some of the largest Christian/Catholic congregations in Caesarea. He gave them to the valley at the feast of the Passover.
For Senior Pastor Chris Nunn of the Community Church of Christ (CCC) ‘El Centro Campus – a church with campuses in El Centro, Brawley and Calexico, which has approximately 1,300 pastors gathered between the three churches, includes a Spanish language ministry; 750 whose worship in El Centro – Easter “testifies that (Jesus) can conquer sin and death, and offers us the opportunity to enter into a new life that is found only in Christ”.
“Easter is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy in that God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of the world, but also to raise him from the dead,” Nunn said in an interview on Thursday. at IVP
“That’s why Easter is important because it is the culmination of history and the expression of God’s grace and hope offered through Jesus,” Nunn said. “I think it is important that people have an innate understanding that something special happened in Sunday’s resurrection, and for that very reason they are led to come and unite spiritually for Christ, who died for sins.”
“It is always important, but I think it is more important and more special on this day, at this time, when salvation is bought.”
“Holy Week is the most important week of the year, by far, and the resurrection of Jesus is the most important in history, by far,” CCC Brawley Campus Pastor Sean Arviso said Thursday.
“It’s a hard argument that this is based on a real thing… it’s a historical thing, he really rose from the dead and they saw him,” said Arviso.
“It is our reason that the whole time – BC and AD, Anno Domini which means “In the Year of the Lord” – are tied to Jesus … because Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection changes everything, not only on a global level but also on your own level. he changed the world, but he also changed by changing one time,” he said. “Who cares if Jesus was born and died; but if he did not rise from the dead, what does it matter?”
“So if Holy Week is the most important day of the year and the resurrection is the most important in history, then it means that Sunday’s resurrection is not about eggs and chickens put on colored bunnies; about the resurrected king, who came in the flesh and died on the cross, and after three days rose again for us,” said Arviso.
“You don’t need money or chocolate or anything to celebrate the resurrection of Christ,” Our Lady of the Valley Associate Pastor, Reverend Ed Horning, said in an interview in Paradise. “The way in which Catholic-Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus is by going to Mass, actively participating in Mass, and renewing their baptismal promises, renouncing sin, renouncing Satan and professing faith in God.”
“There’s no holiday shopping for our faith,” Horning said, “so Easter and Christmas shopping isn’t about religious precepts, so maybe people are taking matters into their own hands,” he said.
Our Lady of the Valley (OLOV) — two Catholic church campuses in El Centro, Santa Maria Catholic and Our Lady of Guadalupe El Centro united as one parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego — has an average of 2,700 worshiping parishioners. given to their churches every weekend, Pastor Olov said Reverend Mr. Mark Edney.
Rev. Edney said about 1,500 more worshipers attended Our Lady of the Valley Church on Easter.
Like Arviso, Edney said the resurrection of Jesus is more than an event that happens then but will happen now, in individual people, as it is commemorated in the celebration of the service of the Mass.
“We are not celebrating an event that happened some 2,000 years ago; we are celebrating an event that will happen in each of us,” Edney said.
“Part of it is that we have to face a great lie: that we live our daily lives as if we are not going to die (someday),” he said. , but we hope for eternal life through Jesus Christ.
“The difference between Catholics is that they will celebrate three holy days: Thursday, Parasceve and the Easter Vigil (which is the evening of Saturday / midnight of Easter), Edney said.
The services of Catholic worship, more commonly known as “massa”, various signature events occur in the three celebrations of the Triduum, in addition to their normal liturgical events within the mass: the washing of the feet at the Lord’s Supper and the incense used more liberally at the consecration. The Holy Eucharist, which commemorates the Last Supper of the Lord Jesus and his Apostles; veneration of the cross in the heavenly services; and various instances in the Easter Vigil Mass, including the reception of new Catholics with the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion.
“The Easter vigil: after darkness, the liturgy is the mother of all liturgies, the mass of all masses,” says Edney. “The lessons take us through the whole history of salvation, as in the Scriptures of Genesis. The Paschal candle rises in the darkness, representing the people who were walking in the darkness of their sins, that they have seen the great light, that is, Jesus Christ.
“I can only say that my conversion to Catholicism came because of the celebration of midnight on Christmas Day,” said Rev. Edney. “I have never seen anything so beautiful and moved so much before my mind.”
“(Mass/Liturgy) draws you into it; it raises you to higher heights,’ he said. “It is a whole-body experience that touches every sense and yet does not leave you there but lifts you up high, us into the people who gather at the altar of the Lord, as one people of God.”
Christ Community Church also expects to worship more on Easter, about 600 more a year, Chris Nunn said.
Nunn attributes the frequency of these major days of Easter Sunday to the benefit of people in going to church and to Jesus during the Easter season, as a form of “spiritual awareness”, he said.
“As much as they might wish or desire to unite with the Lord in their spirit, most of all Jesus is coming (to die for their sins and bring salvation),” Nunn said, “there is no better time to unite spiritually than this time of deep spiritual awareness.
“An eternal part of us is the spirit, and the soul longs to unite with our Creator,” says Nunn. “Since this desire to unite spiritually with their Creator is already innate, perhaps the recipients are a little more eager to unite with Christ at this time.”
All the pastors interviewed the people who had come to church during the Easter season and encouraged the students to try without panic.
“Unfaithful or to someone who has not shot the church or has not experienced it for a long time, this is how I would say to them face to face a friend: Give a shot God”, said Arviso. “Give him a chance to change your life. Give him a chance to show you how glorious he is, how much he loves you, how much he can change you.”
“(I tell those whom I want) not to worry about coming to church, not to be afraid or anxious, but rather to know that the community and the Lord are waiting for you, for those who doubt or cannot. To feel accepted,” Rev. Horning said. “(I would suggest) to take that step and experience God’s love and His mercy.”
“Take a leap of faith, get out of bed – you’re probably just watching Netflix anyway,” chuckled Arviso. “Go to the church and give it a chance to change your life, and you will never regret it.”
“We love you and we look forward to serving you soon,” Arviso said.
Resurrection Sunday times for CCC and Olov can be found on their pages at . ccciv.org and olvelcentro.orgrespectively
