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St. Andrew's Church
An Anglican Church • Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
Preached by
Stuart Pike
Rector
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Easter Vigil
7 April 2007 - 7 P.M.
St. Andrew's Church
Luke 24: 1-9
Tonight's worship is an ancient one. There are records which refer to people celebrating the great Easter Vigil as early as the fourth century.
Perhaps one of the reasons why this worship has survived for so long is that the liturgy is just so full of symbolism.
We began this evening with the Church in darkness, symbolizing the bleak darkness of the empty tomb. As we gathered outside this empty tomb we might have imagined what Mary Magdalen and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women might have felt when confronted with such starkness on that first Easter day.
They did not know how the story was going to go. They came expecting to do the very last thing which they could do to honour the body of their Lord and their friend, Jesus. Because of the previous day being the Sabbath, they were unable to anoint the body. They had to wait until now, the third day. It would have been a grim task, but it was one which they desperately wanted to do because of the love which they had for Jesus.
They arrive at the tomb and find the tomb open and, upon entering they find that it is empty. I wonder what thoughts would have flashed through their minds at the time. Not only has their Lord been executed, now even his body has been taken from them. How could they possibly go on?
And then, reeling from this blow, they suddenly see two men in dazzling white clothes. They perceive that they are angels because they immediately do what humans do when they find themselves in the presence of the holy: they bow their faces to the ground. In the midst of the dark tomb, they find light.
Outside in the cold emptiness, we kindled a new fire and experienced the warmth which can be found in shared company. The women, even in their grief, had others to share it with.
From that new fire we lit the Paschal Easter Candle which represents new life and it is that candle which first enters the empty tomb of our darkened Church. Behold, in the midst of darkness and emptiness there is light.
Just as the women find light in the darkness, so do we.
The women, enlightened by the two messengers in white immediately bring their message of hope and life to the other disciples. Just as we light the torches from the Paschal and the whole congregation lights their own candles from them. We symbolically pass on the Good News of the Gospel to each other and what was an empty tomb becomes filled with the light of hope and truth.
In our readings we retell the story of salvation History, recounting those great stories from the Old Testament to remember how God was always reaching out to us to save us. But all of these stories continue with humankind nevertheless slipping away from God. God reached out with a mighty arm to save the Hebrew people from slavery, and brought them to a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And yet, through selfishness or pride or indifference, the people forgot their God. And so much of the books of the Old Testament tell the story of God desperately reaching out through the message of the prophets.
Ultimately, these stories are made complete in Jesus Christ. God, no longer sent a prophet to simply be a messenger, God leapt across the chasm which existed between humankind and God and became one of us.
All the stories of the Gospels are stories of Jesus reaching out to the people: to the outcast and the self-satisfied, the sick and those who think they were well, to the sinners and those who think they are righteous and all who long for healing, for wholeness: for God.
Just like the early stories of the prophets, we tried to stop the message. Jesus was rejected and spurned. He was even taken and killed to stop God's message of love and grace.
The Good News of today's Gospel is that death does not have the last word. And all the rules by which most of the world seems to operate are transformed by this event.
We mark this transformation by baptism, which is the rite by which we become members of the Christian Church and of Christ's body in the world. We go down with Christ under the waters of death, but we burst back up through the water to new life and a new day. And so we will renew our baptism vows tonight. The vows which speak about our new life in Christ. And as we joyfully feel the cold spray of baptismal waters, let us be reminded to whom we ultimately belong.
And so, the message of this Easter Vigil is to proclaim that light wins over darkness, that abundance wins over emptiness and that life wins over death. May we live our lives as resurrected people because, Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Amen.
