This Day: When Love Answers

On that first day of the week, grief and uncertainty were met with resurrection hope. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and proclaimed, “I saw the Master!”, bearing witness to a love that answered her sorrow with new life. What began as confusion and loss became a world-changing encounter with the risen Christ.

“This day” was unlike any other. Love answered Peter’s searching. Love answered Mary’s longing. Love answered with presence, promise, and purpose.

Through the Easter Offering, we respond to God’s resurrection love by sharing in God’s work in the world. As we give, we proclaim with Mary: love still answers.

The Easter Offering, received by most congregations on March 29 and April 5, 2026, provides vital support for the general ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Your generous gift helps equip college students for leadership, strengthens global mission partnerships, sustains health and social service ministries, supports the formation of new congregations, cares for pastors and chaplains, and so much more.

Your gift has the power to transform lives and extend the love of Christ around the world. Thank you for making a difference.

What Is Easter Sunday? Next to the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Easter Sunday is the most important holiday for Christians. Easter is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He was crucified and rose three days later. The day that He rose is called Easter or Resurrection Sunday.

We celebrate Easter because it is a part of the redemptive plan of mankind. It is cause for celebration because with death overcome, the rising of Jesus proves to man that He is the Son of God. Easter is the fulfillment of God's salvation plan for mankind. 

Everyone is invited to come and be part of this special worship service at 10:45 a.m.

Bring family members and/or friends to celebrate this Good News with you! 

An EASTER SPECIAL OFFERING will be taken. 

Decorating Downtown Crosses: Saturday, April 4th at 6:30 p.m. at Pioneer Park - Corner of Woodland Blvd. and Rich Avenue.

Come join in the fun of DeLand's 19th year of Crosses for Christ.  Each year on the Saturday before Easter, churches, families and individuals sponsor a wooden cross with wire to be decorated with provided 5 gallon buckets of cut carnations and fern for starters.  The sponsors find their cross and decorate it with the pre-cut flowers/greenery.   Imagination has no limits here as many folks add different flowers, greenery, ribbon, and even battery-powered lights to their crosses. 

First Christian Church has been part of this downtown tradition ever since its inception.  The crosses are carefully watched over and watered overnight so that on Easter Sunday Morning, all of DeLand can walk or drive up and down Woodland Blvd. and some side streets to see the Christian symbolic witness of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on this special day.

Good Friday is a solemn Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion, suffering, and death of Jesus Christ on a cross at Calvary. Observed during Holy Week, it focuses on Jesus' sacrifice to pay for human sins, serving as a prelude to his resurrection celebrated on Easter Sunday. 

Key Significance of Good Friday:

• Observances: Many Christians observe the day with fasting, prayer, church services, and the Stations of the Cross, which re-enact Jesus’ final journey.

• Context in Holy Week: It is part of the "Triduum," the three days leading up to Easter, following Maundy Thursday and preceding Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.

• The Crucifixion and Death: It marks the day Jesus was arrested, tried, sentenced, and died on the cross.

• Atonement for Sin: Christians believe Jesus' death was a sacrifice to redeem humanity.

• Significance of "Good": Historically, "Good" meant holy or sacred, referring to the solemnity of the day, not a "happy" day

Although a tragic event, Christians view it as "good" because it represents God's love and the victory over sin, leading to the promise of resurrection. 

Join us in the sanctuary from 11am-1pm for a SELF-GUIDED PRAYER TIME.

Maundy Thursday, celebrates the Thursday before Easter commemorating Jesus Christ's Last Supper with his disciples.  

Key Themes and Traditions

• Foot Washing: Many church services include a foot-washing ceremony to emulate Jesus’ act of service and humility toward his disciples.

• Betrayal and Arrest: The night concludes the Last Supper, where Jesus is betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.

• Stripping the Sanctuary: In many traditions, altars are cleared, and churches are stripped of decorations, symbolizing the abandonment of Jesus and the beginning of the Passion.

• The Name: "Maundy" comes from the Latin "mandatum" (meaning commandment or order). It refers to Jesus' words, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another" (John 13:34).

• The Last Supper:  Christians remember Jesus sharing bread and wine, representing his body and blood, which is celebrated as the institution of the Eucharist, otherwise known as the Lord's Supper and Communion.

Join us and Trinity United Methodist Church on Thursday, April 2nd at 7pm in the sanctuary.