On Easter 2021 which falls on April 4, churches across China resumed in-person gatherings, following the effective containment of COVID-19 in the country. The serial articles introduce how six Christians celebrated the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In part 2, let's hear about how two Christian brother and sister marked the holiday.
This is a story about Brother Chen.
Attending training courses at the Shaanxi Bible College, Brother Chen spent the Passion Week at that school. He went back to his hometown to attend the Easter service, serving as a host.
At 9:30 a.m. on April 4, the service began with the teaching of hymns. He later went to the altar to greet believers in the name of the Lord, followed by the reading of Psalms 24. After singing the hymn "A Glorious Resurrection"(not sure), he led the congregation in reciting the "Apostles' Creed". After the intercession of the choir leader Li Xinmei, the choir members sang two songs accompanied by piano, "Rock of Ages " and "The Day of Resurrection". Later, he conducted responsive reading from Matthew 27:1-10.
At 10:00 a.m., Elder Wang Ying gave a sermon titled "The Lord Jesus is Resurrected", based on Luke 24:1-10. After the sermon, baptism and Holy Communion were held.
At 11:30 in the morning, after Elder Wang’s blessing, the worship service ended with the beautiful piano piece "The Lord is in His Holy Temple". Every believer received an Easter egg before leaving the church. It was the first time Brother Chen presided over the service.
Below is the story about Sister Liao and her husband.
Baptized on Easter in 1992, she is now 78 years old, celebrating every year’s Easter as her spiritual birthday.
In 1993, the second year after her baptism, she was the first to sign up for the just established choir in which she has served for 25 years. Her husband found her so happy after she believed in the Lord that he started to pray and read the Bible with her. On Christmas Day in 2010, he was baptized in her company.
In August 2007, when her husband was undergoing emergency heart bypass surgery in the hospital, the choir members sang hymns in the corridors outside the operating room, which enabled the 70-year-old man to safely escape death and live a healthy life.
When he was discharged from the hospital after the operation, the attending doctor said to his son that he could only live another four to eight years after the operation. With God's salvation and blessing, it has been 14 years since he left the hospital, more than eight years surplus.
Since he believed in the Lord, he changed his bad temper, quitting smoking for decades. Every morning they prayed together after waking up. When she was tired after reading the Bible to him, he read the Bible for her in turn. In the 14 years since the old man fell ill and was discharged from the hospital, they had read the Bible more than a dozen times.
It was not until 2016 that she was reluctant to withdraw from the choir service, as her husband needed 24-hour care for deterioration of physical condition due to the surgery. She only went to attend Sunday services when her children came to take care of him on Sundays and holidays.
As she had to take care of him, she could not go to church to celebrate Easter, which fell on April 4. Waking up at 3:30 in the morning, she listened to an online sermon with the title "The Love and Hate of Jesus" on her smartphone.
When it was getting brighter, she woke up her snoring husband at 6:00 a.m. Helping him sit up, she put his clothes on. Both kneeling on the bed, she prayed, while he kept saying "Amen". After the prayer, they sang two hymns together. Finally, she read the verses related to Easter in the Bible for him.
At noon, their children brought grandchildren to the house, having a lively lunch with them. Her daughter bought a big cake for her to celebrate her birthday on Easter.
At 17:30, they started to read the Bible and praise. Having rested for more than two hours, they began to read the scriptures, pray and praise again at 21:00. Later, she sang more than a dozen hymns, including "Christ Arose" and "In the Hazy Morning Light". When singing, she live-streamed the sound to the WeChat group of her church gathering. That is how she celebrated Easter this year.
To be continued…
(The original article is published by Gospel Times.)
-Translated by Abigail Wu
