St. Mary's Episcopal Church

The Reverend Jeff Fisher
April 15, 2006
Great Vigil of Easter: God Does Some of His Best Work at Night (Matthew 28: 1-10)

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

I must confess to you, that I am a night person.
And, with that confession comes its corollary:
And that is, I am NOT a morning person.

I do my best work at night.
Why, just last night, I felt so tired after the Good Friday service, and was just about to get in to bed at 10 o’clock.
But instead, I decided that I would work on this sermon for a while... and I was full of energy until way past midnight.

For those of you who have been on retreats with me,
You know that I love to stay up late at night.

And, I love being in church at night.

That is probably why I like the Christmas Eve worship services so much,
especially the service that ends near midnight.
And, that is probably why I like the Easter Vigil liturgy so much,
When the church is dark and candlelit, full of shadows and mystery.

Most Americans think of Easter as occurring at sunrise.
In fact, the Easter sunrise worship service is a very American phenomenon.

Our understanding of Easter as a morning event comes from the Scripture reading from Matthew, where it says:
“After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.”

We can picture the women, approaching the tomb at dawn.
We picture Easter as an event for the morning people, early, with the sun just peeking above the horizon.

But, it was only the DISCOVERY of the Resurrection that occurred in the morning.
The Resurrection itself occurred in the dark night.
The stone was rolled away at night.
Jesus passed over from death to life at night.
God raised Jesus from the dead, while it was still night.

For, God does some of his best work at night.

Think of all the things that God has done in the dark of the night:
God made Woman out of the rib of the Man, while the Man, Adam, slept - at night.
God passed over Egypt, sparing the children of Israel - at night.
God led the children of Israel through the wilderness with a pillar of fire - at night.
God spoke to the shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock - at night.
And, God raised Jesus from the dead - at night.

Yes, God does some of his best work at night.
And, God has already done good work here, on this holy night.

God has given us a new fire, the light of Christ.
God has given new and abundant life to Grace King.
God has given us a new hope and a new start - tonight.

And, the good news for each of us is this:

If God can raise Jesus from the dead at night,
Then, just think what God can do for US in the dark night of OUR souls?

Just think what God can do for us
When we feel like we have been abandoned and betrayed,
When we feel like we have had the wind knocked out of us,
When we are depressed and tired and defeated and sealed inside a tomb with a stone rolled over the entrance,
Then, God comes into our night and raises us up to a new life of grace.

Tomorrow morning, when the sun rises,
We will see the sunlight peek over the horizon,
We will discover that the stone has been rolled away,
We will see the empty tomb.

But, when the dark night of the soul is casting a shadow across your life,
When you are living in the midst of a dark and dreary night,
Remember that God raised Jesus from the dead when it was still night.

For God will do some of his best work in you,
At night.
AMEN.