<\/p>\n
Easter Services and Masses filled the morning hours as Christians gathered to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Pastors and priests delivered messages centered on hope, joy, and new life.<\/p>\n
\u201cResurrection changes everything,\u201d said Pastor Matthew Judd of Glenwood Methodist Church. \u201cIt\u2019s the hinge on which everything in history turns, and to be able to come out and worship and be thankful for what God has done for us is always the highlight of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastor Judd explained that this year\u2019s message focused on joy and the power of the Resurrection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are talking about joy and how Jesus\u2019 Resurrection from the dead allows us to lead our lives with joy and without despair and without hopelessness,\u201d said Judd.<\/p>\n
At St. George\u2019s Roman Catholic Church on Peach Street, the themes of renewal and hope echoed throughout the service. For Parochial Vicar, Fr. Brandon Feikles, the celebration marked a personal milestone, his first Easter as a priest.<\/p>\n
Transitioning from sitting in the pews to leading the liturgy, Feikles said it\u2019s an honor. His homily centered on the significance of the Resurrection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that Jesus is alive, if we are not celebrating our Lord and Savior, our faith is in vain, as St. Paul says and this means everything to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the challenges many face in today\u2019s world, Feikles encouraged parishioners to keep their focus on eternal life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t live for this world. We know it\u2019s passing away,\u201d he said. \u201cSo fundamentally, as a Christian and as a Catholic, we have a different perspective. If you are not focused on eternity, you should be depressed, because the world is awful and so many awful things are happening. But if Jesus really rose from the dead, as we celebrate today, you have no reason to be depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Easter Services and Masses filled the morning hours as Christians gathered to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[48348,20217,136,138,137,3955,2647,36966,64781,36702,71627,36792],"class_list":{"0":"post-158218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-christian-faith","9":"tag-easter-sunday","10":"tag-erie","11":"tag-erie-headlines","12":"tag-erie-news","13":"tag-hope","14":"tag-joy","15":"tag-mass","16":"tag-pastor","17":"tag-priest","18":"tag-resurrection","19":"tag-worship"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}