Hope.

It’s a pillar of the Christian faith year-round, said Seth Owens, executive pastor with Heart of the City Church.

Easter Sunday, however, is the pinnacle celebration of this hope.

“Easter is the greatest day in history,” Owens said.

Christ’s resurrection, Owens explained, has a twofold meaning: It is the belief in Christ’s return to life, and the belief that people can be spiritually reborn in their faith.  

Today, people throughout North Idaho and the world will gather for Easter Sunday congregations, celebrating this hope through song, worship and community.  

According to recent data from the National Retail Federation, 45% of Americans will attend an Easter Sunday service this year.  

Owens said that in 1 Corinthians 15:19, Paul the apostle writes that if Christ has not been raised, “we are of all people most pitiable.”  

“But now Christ has been raised from the dead,” Paul continues with 1 Corinthians 15:20-22. “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”  

"The hope we are looking to is beyond this lifetime,” Owens said.