Good Friday events a great time to commune as one
There will be a pair of community Good Friday events on March 29. There will be two at the Ohio Star Theater in Sugarcreek starting at 5 and 7 p.m. The larger one will take place on the same evening at the Perry Reese Jr. Community Center at Hiland High School at 7 p.m.
Good Friday is celebrated in area churches throughout the area as people prepare for the Easter Day that comes shortly thereafter, but the hope of area pastors when they created the Good Friday events at Ohio Star Theater and the Perry Reese Jr. Community Center at Hiland High School was that the events would move beyond the walls of individual churches and become a community celebration that transcends any differences to focus on the true meaning of Easter’s resurrection story.
This year the celebration will again include two venues on Good Friday, March 29, beginning at the Ohio Star Theater in Sugarcreek, which has a seating capacity of 500 people. There will be two events starting at 5 and 7 p.m.
The larger one will take place on the same evening at the Perry Reese Jr. Community Center at Hiland High School at 7 p.m. Last year each time of celebrating the Easter season brought in many people to worship during their respective services, with 20 or even more churches represented.
Last year saw both venues packed as the community joined as one to celebrate and honor the gift of the cross, and this year is set to be another evening of worship and praise.
Area pastors have united in their effort to create something inspiring and joyful, hoping the momentum created for these Good Friday events will encourage people to celebrate every day like it’s Good Friday.
“It’s laying down any interdenominational barriers and nuances and saying for one night we are going to come together and rally around the name of Jesus,” Grace Church Pastor Larry Kaufman said. “Seeing people in such a united time of worship and praise is like a tiny slice of heaven, and this is such a community event involving so many area churches that it makes it easy for people to simply come together in praise.”
This year John Risner, pastor at Mennonite Christian Assembly, will present the main passage at sharing time. There will be communion, sharing from other area pastors, musical worship led by a variety of local praise and worship leaders, and the finale bringing all of the area pastors on stage for a time of confirmation and thanks.
“It continues to promote the idea of our churches blending together into one large sea of churches because we all have one Lord, one faith and one baptism, even though we may do things slightly different,” Kaufman said. “It’s not a competition. We only want to work together for the sake of the Gospel in a sense of humility. Our hope is that this inspires a focus on the gift Jesus gave us as well as building each other up and connecting as one, together to praise and worship.”
Kaufman said while the event is designed to provide a moment in time where people can come together and celebrate the Easter season and express gratitude for what Jesus did on the cross, an even bigger purpose is the challenge to keep that momentum flowing and growing so people can create and maintain that passion throughout the year.
“This event is an incredible expression of celebrating Jesus’ sacrifice and gift to us together as one body,” Kaufman said. “That is such a great display of gospel unity. It’s a meaningful time to slow down and to worship and to pray and think about what Jesus did for all of us, because as Paul said in the Bible, without that sacrifice our faith is futile and we have nothing. There’s hope and forgiveness, and everything we believe in hinges on Easter weekend.”
At last year’s event at the Reese Center, Kaufman served as the keynote speaker after several area pastors shared.
His message was one of unity and direction in putting aside minor differences of faith to focus on the true purpose of following Christ. In his message he said all believers trust in the same savior, belong to the same church, believe in the same Bible, share the same love, are sent with the same mission, face the same adversary and will spend eternity together.
He said Good Friday is the ideal setting for these unifying events, and the hope for this year is these two events not only invite believers to come and share in the experience, but also that those who are searching might find their way into one of the two celebrations so that they might learn to share in that love and forgiveness Christ exemplified on the cross.
“Someone coming to that evening and making a commitment to Christ would be the ultimate amazing thing that could happen,” Kaufman said.
He said these Good Friday events will set the tone for what should be exciting times of worship on Easter Sunday morning in churches all around the community.