The people of Lisburn used their Church building to show their belief in the resurrection, because after a bomb shattered pieces of glass in the stained glass window, they used the shards of glass to create a new window representing the resurrection. They did this because Christians believe that even when something is destroyed, something new can be created from the ruins.
The resurrection effects funeral services, because they can be more cheerful than other funeral services, because death is only ‘passing into life,’ and also, ‘Death has lost its sting.’ For example, in the case of John, who wrote ‘notes for guidance on my death’ to help his family with the funeral, and making the funeral go in a more cheerful way as he would have liked. This is shown in
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the way that John asks for, ‘service sheets printed in blue,’ and ‘not “died “ but “entered into life” please!’ this shows that john is both not afraid of dying, and also that he believes in life after death.
In some churches are hung empty crosses. Christ was sacrificed on a cross, and an empty cross does not represent death, but hope. This is because an empty cross represents the fact that Jesus overcame death.
Every Sunday, Christians recite the Creed in church. The name creed is derived from Latin, and means ‘I believe’. This is what Christians say to back up their beliefs concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus. For example, it says, ‘on the third day he rose again.’ This helps Christians to come to terms with death and see that in their religion, death is not the end, but only passing into a new life. An argument to support this is of a comparison of death and a baby being born. The baby has been living in comfort like we are living in life, and the baby is scared of what will await it just as we are scared of death. However something good awaits it, and this may be the same for dying.
The resurrection of Jesus affects the lives of Christians especially over Easter, because this is when Jesus died and rose again. Easter is the most important festival of the Christian year, because the foundation of Christian beliefs, and what separates Christians from Jews is the death and resurrection of Jesus.
At Mass on Easter Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of Jesus, the
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bishop wears gold vestments, and the flowers are mainly yellow and gold. This is because Jesus rose at sunrise, and the church is trying to recreate sunrise with the use of bright colors. Also, there are many candles in the church. In the congregation, the young people of the church light wicks from a main candle and from that the light spreads through the entire congregation. This represents the light that Jesus brought to the world. The hymns sung during the Easter service also represent the light that Jesus brought to the world, for example, “you bring the light into those darkness.” Another example is, “Death has lost its sting.” This links in with the way that Christians behave at funeral services, and shows that Christians believe that death is not the end.
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