Thursday 19 April 2012

Easter Newsletter

Read our (post) Easter Newsletter!

You can download the pdf here

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Friday 13 April 2012

Renascimento


"Renascimento", or "Rebirth" was the title given to an amazing Easter Passion musical presentation performed by PIB (First Baptist Church) in São José dos Campos. A team of around 470 volunteers including actors, musicians, dancers, stage crew put on 7 public performances over the Easter period, with over 15,000 people in attendance. It was also streamed live over the PIB website.

A group of eleven of us went along on Good Friday evening and queued for nearly 2 hours to ensure a good seat! It was worth it. There had clearly been a lot of effort put into the production - the costumes, the stage, the music, the singing the acting - everything was of the highest quality.  

But it wasn't the number of people nor the quality of the props that touched us the most; it was the way that God spoke to our hearts. Although we knew it was a show being acted out by normal people, it was as if we were really seeing the life of Jesus Christ on earth happening in front of us. Even if we have read many times in the bible the scenes that we saw recreated on the stage, the impact of seeing the events with our own eyes brought home the amazing truth about Jesus Christ. For sure our emotions are aroused when we see a performance such as this, but there was something deeper and longer-lasting. It's a week since the event, and it is still tugging at our hearts.

Just to mention one thing: the experience revealed so clearly the tremendous love and compassion that the man Jesus had for ordinary people - good and bad, and the way he wanted to fix the brokenness of everyone. This love still exists for you and me today, and although we sometimes don't feel it, it's there and we have only to receive it in faith.



There are more photos available on the PIB website here.