| EASTER GREETINGS FROM GENERAL SECRETARY REV. DR. KIM YOUNG-JU
We remember our risen Lord Jesus Christ, who has defeated death and brought grace to
every life on earth and every place.
We thank Jesus Christ on Easter because his resurrection has given us the ultimate hope.
Easter is the victory of life over death, the proclamation of justice in unjust reality, and the
power to overcome injustice and conflicts with reconciliation and peace. As we celebrate
these Holy days we are praying that the whole world will be filled the grace of Easter as
the shadow of despair is heavily lying on our society. Today we ignore the respect and
reverence of life, the efforts towards peace melt away, while the forces of war surge/rise
and profit comes before integrity. And therein bipolarization, the labor issue, the
treacherous expansion of nuclear power plants and tension on the Korean Peninsula are
rooted. But even though Christ’s resurrection is surrounded by this miserable and hostile
reality, God’s salvation is finally realized.
Today Christian Churches in Korea have the task to hold up this message of Christ’s
resurrection. In order to carry out this mission churches have to restore the message of the
cross more clearly. As without the cross there can be no Easter.
As the resurrection of Jesus Christ calls the Korean churches to change, let us humbly
follow this call.
Since death has been defeated we hope that through the mercy of the risen Lord Jesus
Christ God’s glory will be revealed to every creature.
And so on this year’s Easter we pray that places of despair and agony, starvation and pain
will be filled with the power of Jesus’ resurrection that turns tear into joy by giving a new
life.
EASTER SERVICES
The annual Easter sunrise service was held at Saemunan Church near Gwanghwamun.
Well known pastor Bang Ji-Il gave the message in the morning. Bang Ji-Il graduated from
Pyongyang Theological Seminary and for 20 years worked in China as a missionary. As one
of the last missionaries he was evicted by the Chinese socialist government in 1957. Since
he was born in 1911, and now is 102 years of age, Pastor Bang is the oldest pastor in
Korea and a true witness of Korean (Christian) history.
 On the same day in the afternoon a service was held in front of Daehan Gate near City Hall
in solidarity with the laborers that were laid off by Ssangyong motors.
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