With joy, praise and worship, Christians in North Texas celebrated Easter Sunday morning.
At Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, hundreds of members gathered with family and friends to mark the holiday, also called Resurrection Sunday, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ as told in the New Testament in the Bible.
At the beginning of the service, several young children welcomed churchgoers, proclaiming: “He lives!”
The church’s choir, where many of the women wore Sunday-best dresses in spring tones of pink, yellow and blue, led the congregation in worship. Soloist Trey Daniel, accompanied by guitarist Darius Johnson, filled the worship center with music, singing in gratitude for God with “He Got Up From the Grave,” as members swayed, danced and sang along.
In his Resurrection Sunday sermon, Pastor Frederick Haynes III, who is running for Congress as a Democrat, spoke about coming back from adversity. Reading from the New Testament, he highlighted the role of the women who were followers of Jesus. In the Bible, the women were the first to see the empty tomb of Jesus.
“Every now and then, God says, ‘You just keep on walking anyhow,’ ” Haynes said, referencing the story of the stone rolled away from the entrance to Jesus’ tomb. ” ‘And by the time you get there, I’ll have a reservation, a blessing with your name all over it. But you gotta show up.’ ”