Christians celebrate Good Friday
Vice-President Saulos Chilima and his wife Mary Chilima on Friday joined their fellow parishioners at St Patrick’s Catholic Parish in Lilongwe, and the rest of the Catholic world, in commemorating Good Friday by taking part in the Way of the Cross.
The procession saw the Christians covering the 15 stations of the Way of the Cross on various roads in the neighbourhood of the parish.
At Area 10 junction, the procession turned left, walking in the road between Area 18 and Area 30, and then turned left again, walking through Area 18, towards Puma Srvice Station.
Mary Chilima read the scriptures at one of the stations while the Vice-President bore testimony to Christ’s suffering by taking a turn in carrying a huge cross just as the procession re-entered the parish premises.
As the St Patrick’s parishioners returned to base, another procession of Christians appeared from the direction of Kanengo on its way to the Botanical Gardens in City Centre.
Unlike the St Patrick’s group, this other group was a combination of walkers and others in cars. Their singing was led by a band playing music on a truck.
This was a group of pentecostal churches in Lilongwe who came together to celebrate the Way of the Cross in style. It was later joined by yet a similar group from the Old Town.
According to Rev Hamilton Yasin Gama of Mvama CCAP in Lilongwe, this is a season when all people in the world need to reflect on their relationship with God.
In his sermon during a special Good Friday service, Gama said there is clear evidence in the story of the death of Jesus Christ that He died for the whole world.
He said when Jesus died, it is recorded in the Bible that there was darkness in the world, “the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two”.
He said: “There is only one sun in the world and the mere fact that the sun stopped shining is symbolic that the death of Jesus Christ concerns the whole world.”
The Mvama special prayer service marked the launch of a three-day open air crusade themed ‘The Benefit of the Cross’ which ends tomorrow. Preachers during the crusade include evangelists Bayana Chunga and Dan Menyamenya.
