St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Easter Vigil 2007 - Echoes of the Exsultet

Rejoice now! We rejoice this evening to be gathered together with you at this first service of Easter! We welcome everyone to this space, and to this table, because Christ has first welcomed all of us, leading the way through death, guiding us all to new life, as much as we may not deserve, as much as we can never deserve that gift, Christ unashamedly welcomes us all into his body, and offers us himself to nourish us on our journey.

Rejoice now! We rejoice that this night, we baptize Virginia, Ashlyn, and Anna, dunking them into death, as Christ was dunked into death, and raising them into eternal life, as Christ has led the way into eternal life.

Rejoice now! We rejoice in the recalling of God's love for us and God's desire for us in Scripture. Scripture tells us that God created us and knows us to be good in our created-ness. Scripture tells us that God desires to lead all of the human family out of oppression into liberation, just as God led Israel out of the oppression of Egypt into liberation, & into the care of God in the wilderness. Scripture tells us that God desires this liberation for all, everyone who thirsts, and that without cost, we will be fed. Scripture shows us that God's desire for our life does not rest on us, that even if we become in our lives as dead as the valley of dry bones, God wants to bring new life, new flesh to our being.

All you pray with me to God for the grace to sing worthy praise. Praise that comes not from us, but from the Spirit working in us. For in our baptism, we no longer live alone, but we have been grafted into Christ, our old life left below in the waters of baptism, and the new life, we draw from Christ, in our new birth from the waters baptism.

This is the night when we sit in darkness remembering Christ's death, and remembering that he went even into Hell to bring new life, and reconciliation to those who do not ever expect to be reconciled to God. Early during holy week I was driving west on 290, looking at the dark, foreboding sky. I saw something in the dark sky that at first I could not recognize. It was a lightness. It almost looked ghostly: that strange brightness against the dark clouds. I had trouble recognizing what I was looking at, like when you're at a baseball game, watching through a fence, and your eyes have trouble discerning where the fence actually is. I had trouble seeing what I was seeing right in front of me. My expectation was that he whole sky was black, and something was catching some light from somewhere below the blackness. Then I was able to readjust my eyes, and I saw that it was actually a break in the clouds. There shining through, just a slight light from the sun was breaking through the cover of clouds. I remembered that the sun was shining everywhere above the clouds, it was only my place beneath these particularly thick clouds that made it seem that the darkness was everywhere. As we move out of lent, and strike this new fire, let us also remember that the darkness we face in the crucifixion is only part of the story, that God's light shines eternally, that this small flame we process and offer in Christ's honor is a glimpse of the brightness of God's radiance.

This is the night when we do things in a different order. Normally, we hear the sermon before the baptism. But tonight it is Easter, and we are moving out of the dark shadow of Good Friday, so we process the candle of Christ and recount God's love for us in Scripture. And we do the baptism before the sermon. For me, this new order it a testimony of God's gift of new life to us, even when we are unprepared. If the sermon is to help break open, and interpret scripture, then tonight we baptized before these youngsters, and their sponsors and parents have heard all of the scripture readings, and before the preacher attempts to help us hear the message of God. This order may help to teach us that God is ready to love us wherever we are, as unready as we may be, even when we are unable to recognize that Love. In the shape of this liturgy tonight, God's grace in baptism preempts the attempt of the preacher to explain that grace. God's Spirit is at work faster than the church can move, washing, bringing new life welcoming the unprepared into God's own body.

This is the night we all remember that gift of new life given to us, when we were infants, or when we were adults. Whatever our age in baptism, or if we have yet to be baptized, we can never be fully ready. Even if we think we are ready, even if we think we are prepared, we will come to realize that baptism is just the beautiful beginning of our journey with Christ. Or as my friend Joan Lewis said after her baptism as an adult "I finally got Jesus, now I have to figure out what to do with him." That is just what the church has been wrestling with for generations. What do we do with Jesus. Or, what would Jesus have us do in the world. Now that we have received the salvation, the gift of God's grace, the nourishment of communion, now that we have received all that, how do we share that salvation with the world? We start by gathering again and again, and working together as a community. We support one another on our journey, we help one another to continue to listen for what the Spirit is saying, and to remind one another that the darkness is at best a temporary perspective, that God's radiance will ultimately shine brighter than any cloud cover of death we may see for a time. As our deacon will tell us at the end of the service, We urge one another to go out from this place, in peace to love and serve the Lord.

How wonderful it is to be here to remember all that God has offered us.

How Holy it is that Jesus calls us, raised from death, to come and dine with him at his table.

How blessed we are, and the whole world is to be here to witness the continuing work of Christ, welcoming three more members into his Body, even these who are so unprepared they must have godparents to answer to their covenant for them.

We pray that God Accepts our evening sacrifice, offering this candle in Christ's honor, for Just as Jesus met the women on their road, Christ is here to meet us on our journey. Charging us not to be afraid, but to go and tell others that they too will see Christ.