[Propertalk] Great Vigil

['Robert P Morrison']

I made notes for this earlier in the week. Now to finish tomorrow's
one ...

Happy Easter!

Bob

	EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY   THE GREAT VIGIL OF EASTER (b)


	ROMANS 6:3-11         5th APRIL, 2015 

	MARK 16:1-8        PSALM 114 

	 “Darkness is NOT dark to you, O God.” 

	 I have mixed feelings about this liturgy – the Queen one of all
Christian celebrations. I have mixed feelings about beginning this
early on a Saturday evening. It’s not just that the Sabbath
doesn’t actually begin until the sun sets, so we’re not really in
the third day when we gather as we did this evening. My amusement, my
dis-ease, is because it seems to reverse everything we’re
representing in the actions – the fire-kindling and candle-lighting,
for instance – and in the readings and prayers. 

	 We began this evening by lighting the new fire, the flame of the
Resurrection, if not in broad daylight, then awfully close to it. So
we run the chance of missing the symbolism of the newness of that
first flicker of flame. We run the chance of not appreciating how
difficult it can be to start the kindling ablaze, then transferring it
to the Paschal Candle before it is passed, one person at a time, to
everyone present. 

	 Of course, there IS a plus to this. When I lit the kindling, when I
swung the thurible and the smoke and fragrance of the burning incense
drifted among us, we could see what was happening. I DO miss the
mystery a bit, though, and the excitement of seeing the first flicker
against the darkness, speaking from that powerful spark of the love of
God which can never be extinguished. THAT’S what we celebrate in
this Great Vigil – an end to the waiting in the uncertainty, the
cloudiness of those hours from Friday afternoon until this moment. 

	 There seems to me, at least, to be a wonderful emotional and
spiritual release. A huge, spirit-powered sigh of relief that we’ve
reached this point in the liturgy and the lights are back on, and the
familiar “Alleluia”s and “Glory to God”s have returned – not
to mention that, once again, my cope hasn’t burst into flames. 

	 Yes, I miss not beginning in darkness. And yet I was struck this
year of what the hourly sequence can teach us. The fire is lit, the
candles burn, the bells ring and the electricity flows through our
bodies as well as the building. All is well. All SHALL be well! 

	 Glance through the stained glass of the windows of this holy room
though, if you will, and see that it is now dark outside. The coloured
panels are less distinguishable than they will be tomorrow morning.
We’ll have to be at least a little careful at the conclusion of the
liturgy as we make our way to our cars and across this city. 

	 This year I was struck by what this symbolism might suggest. The
brilliance of the Light of Christ has been captured by our eyes and
carried into our imaginations, our souls. When we go out of here, no
matter by which door, we carry with us that light and all the hope
that that implies. We go into a world that can seem so dark, even at
mid-day. We go through schools, and workplaces, even homes, where the
shadowy gloom of uncertainty and challenges hang heavily in the air.
We go from here not to find everything made different, in its own
understanding, anyway. We go from here with a personal message to
ourselves as well as to the world that God is never absent, even when
things seem cold, or dark, or lonely, or frighteningly filled with
uncertainty. The Light of Christ, thanks be to God, is NEVER
extinguished, as the opening of John’s Gospel states. 

	 This evening, then, is about seeing the Light, and seizing it, and
making it our own, and finding such comfort and hope in it that we can
face anything. 

	 Carli and Samantha came into the building with one attitude,
perhaps, one frame of mind, Carli, at any rate, excited, with
questions, possibly even a little apprehension. All of this is normal,
is quite understandable. They and their sponsors have a feel for what
was about to happen. They may even have thought of themselves as the
dry, unlit kindling, waiting to burst into flame when the fire touched
them. And touch them it did. As the water fell across their heads and
splashed against them; as the ancient words were repeated; the Spirit
DID brush them, found ways in which to make Her Presence known. 

	 Carli and Samantha made a deliberate point of placing themselves in
such a situation and location that they could make their commitment to
follow in the company of Jesus, even knowing what we remembered and
did on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, even knowing the danger and
challenge that their commitment may bring. 

	 Yet they, their families and friends came to the waters of rebirth
to make their vows to seek Jesus’ company throughout the rest of
their lives. 

	 The water, the words, the oil – they DO make guarantees of the
Presence of Jesus and our partnership with the Spirit. But they
DON’T, they CAN’T, throw any sort of a wall around their
recipients in order to ward off disappointment, or tragedy. Yet Carli
and Samantha WERE baptised. They, and their sponsors, asked for it,
accepting that God’s Loving Light would be with them. 

	 So maybe the image of the conditions outside is a good thing, at
least tonight, at least once in a while. The lack of sunlight, the
coolness, the wetness, the shadowness of the night await us all –
THEY wait for us to bring the light, the hope, the joy, the excitement
of what we’ve been celebrating, so that every corner of the world
may be illumined and enriched. 

	 Darkness is NOT dark to God, not even – ESPECIALLY not even –
the darkness of challenge, of disease, of death, because all have been
shown to us as NOT being the last word. 

	 The last words, as Deacon Peggy proclaimed three times, is “The
Light of Christ”. Now it’s our joyful privilege to carry this
everywhere we go. 

	-----------------------------------------
 Robert P Morrison
St. Alban's Episcopal Church
PO Box 1556
Albany, OR 97321

541-921-1076
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