Oceania Members Held Easter Sunday Service with Joy of Resurrection

On Sunday, April 20, Oceania members gathered at the Olivet Center to celebrate Easter Sunday with hearts full of thanksgiving. Pastor Faith delivered a meaningful message based on John 14:28, 15:9-11, and 16:20-24, reflecting on the love and joy that Jesus spoke of before His crucifixion.

Before the crucifixion, Jesus prepared His disciples for what was to come. He spoke of sorrow turning into joy, and encouraged them with the promise of resurrection. But He also revealed a joy that was already present even before the resurrection, and was not dependent on circumstances. This is the joy rooted in divine love.

At the heart of creation, when God formed man and woman, He said, "It is very good." This wasn't merely the satisfaction of finishing a masterpiece. It was the joy of a parent giving birth to a new life. God's joy was in creating beings who could grow, mature, and freely respond to His love. Love gives freedom, and in that freedom there is joy when the child responds to the parents's love. That is the heart of God in creation.

Even though man fell, God didn't give up on man. Instead, He sent His Son, Jesus, to show us how to live in response to that love. Jesus, as a true human being, prayed with tears and learned obedience. In doing so, He showed us what it means to live as true human.

As Jesus faced the cross, He didn't see it as defeat, but as the doorway to new life. The cross was not the end-it was the beginning of resurrection. And that resurrection life now lives in us.

This is the joy we are called to live with as a church-not a superficial happiness, but a deep, redemptive joy. It is the joy that comes from communion with the Father and the Son, a unity formed in love and tested through suffering. Just as the apostles in Acts 5:40-42 rejoiced in sharing Christ's suffering, so too can we rejoice in our trials, knowing they are part of God's redemptive work.

After the message, the members joined in Holy Communion to remember the Lord's suffering and resurrection, partaking in the body and blood of Christ with reverence and gratitude.

May the church be filled with this joy-the joy of the resurrection that is alive in us through Christ.