Christians celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday, reflecting on the event's impact for their lives and humanity as leaders called on believers to take action to spread the message and provide practical aid to those in need.

Celebrations took place symbolically at Easter sunrise services as worshippers sought vividly illustrate the message of God's victory over darkness and into light.

"Sunrise is about the dawn of a new era, about an act of discipline of faith to show one's convictions and an act to start the day with joy," said Navy Fleet Chaplain Jeremoe Hinson, who was a service near San Diego, California on Sunday

He was one of more than 500 worshippers who gathered at an ecumenical service overlooking the city's bay at 6:30 a.m., according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

Across the country, just north of New York City, the faithful gathered within view of the Hudson River for a half-hour service.

The message, focused on the events shortly after resurrection. At one point in the Book of Matthew, first an angel at the empty tomb and then Jesus himself tells his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene, who clasped his feed and worshipped him, to tell them that He was no longer in the cave but had risen as he promised.

A passage from the message from Matthew 28:1-10 states: "Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

"You are part of that resurrection," said Rev. Bill Doster, a pastor of at the First Reformed Church of Nyack. "You are the ones who are called to open hearts and minds."

About 35 congregants gathered at the service next to the Hudson, according to LoHud.com.

While Christians from most churches celebrated Easter on Sunday, Orthodox Christians will celebrate it next week.

Father Paul Christy of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Raleigh, North Carolina told the New Observer his church emphasizes Jesus' struggle ahead of His resurrection.

The faithful at the church participate in services held every night of the week before Easter. Each message highlights a part of Christ's journey before the cross. Participants also go 40 days without eating meat prior to Easter.

"Understanding the grace means understanding what Jesus went through," Father Paul Christy says. "People want to experience the joy and the pain because, somehow, going through those emotions together makes us better people."

In his Easter sermon the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams recalled the words in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles where "we are told that 'God raised Jesus to life.'"

God's "will and action" to do so opened up "an unprecedented possibility – for Jesus and for all of us with him: the possibility of a human life together in which the pouring out of God's Holy Spirit makes possible a degree of reconciled love between us that could not have been imagined."

Rev. Williams asks how we know the resurrection is true.

"Not by some final knock-down would-be scientific proof, but by the way it works in us through the long story of a whole life and the longer story of the life of the community that believes it," he said.

"We learn and assimilate its truth by the risk of living it; to those on the edge of it, looking respectfully and wistfully at what it might offer, we can only say, 'you'll learn nothing more by looking; at some point you have to decide whether you want to try to live with it and in it,'" he said.

Linking faith to action, Rev. Williams said at Easter "we cannot help but think about the land that Jesus knew and the city outside whose walls he was crucified."

He noted that ongoing talks for peace in the Middle East between the Israeli and Palestinian communities.

"We have to put immense energy into supporting those on the ground who show that they believe in a God who acts – those who continue, through networks like One Voice and the Bereaved Families Forum, to bring together people from both sides and challenge them to discover empathy and mutual commitment," he said.

He also called on believers to urge religious leaders "on all sides" and urged prayer for wisdom, strength and endurance for peace, justice and a shared future.

"One situation among many – but how can it not be on our minds and hearts at this time of the Christian year, this central moment of hope?"