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Power from the Holy Spirit, drawing on “the uncreated energy of God” and revealing the Word of God in Jesus Christ, is the divine blessing for which Christians give thanks on the Sunday of Pentecost.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has welcomed that in 2011 both eastern and western Christian traditions are marking Pentecost on the same day, and has urged a redoubling of efforts to reach a common date in the future.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has urged Christians to give this year’s celebration of Easter a clear ecumenical profile and to work for a common date of Easter for the future, noting that this year it falls on the same day 24 April for both eastern and western traditions.

For Armenians around the world Easter Sunday 2011, 24 April, is also Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. For the first time since 1915 April 24 falls on Easter Sunday in the Armenian church calendar. "It is truly a meaningful coincidence, as the existence of the Armenian nation and people itself is a special sign of the power of the resurrection in a world of death," Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a message released today.

Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land need to go beyond a mere homage to ancient sites and instead show concern for the Palestinian people living there, whose lives are severely constricted by the Israeli occupation of their land.Â

In an Easter message, more than 60 South African church leaders and Christian, Jewish and Muslim lay theologians have conveyed their solidarity with Palestinian Christians in their Kairos call.

By Kimmy and Stefan, Ecumenical Accompaniers in Bethlehem

The hope that all Christians will be able to celebrate Easter on the same day in the future was reaffirmed by an international ecumenical seminar organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, 15 May.

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Governments, civil society organizations and Christian agencies have expressed their disappointment that the ministerial declaration adopted at the World Water Forum in Istanbul does not include a reconfirmation of water as a human right.

This year the World Water Day (22 March) falls on the Saturday before Easter (according to the calendar followed by Western churches). It also culminates the "Seven Weeks for Water" campaign by the Ecumenical Water Network.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has sent the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI a greeting in honour of the pontiff's 80th birthday.

"One of the 20th century's great Christian pastors and activists for peace and justice" is how World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia describes US clergyman Rev. Dr William Sloane Coffin, Jr., who died on 12 April 2006, in a tribute issued on Maundy Thursday, April 13, 2006.

"Christ is risen. He is risen indeed." The joy of Easter is an expression of the yearning and hope that the chains of sin and death will be broken for all human beings and all creation, an affirmation that the transformative power of resurrection is at work in the world.

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Rights of minorities, increasing trends of religious intolerance, political violence, the need for strengthening of interfaith dialogue at grassroots level and Christian contributions to social development were discussed by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia and Prof. Dr Iajjudin Ahmed, President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, during his first visit to the country.

From 26 March to 2 April World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will visit WCC member churches in Bangladesh and Thailand for the first time since taking office. On 1 April, he will also be the keynote speaker at the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) general assembly.

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