Sermon for the Easter Vigil: April 3, 2021
Easter Blessings to all! Canterbury; the Episcopal Church at William & Mary has worked hard to offer this most wonderful worship of the whole church year, the Easter Vigil. This still being in the midst of the pandemic, we had to make some adjustments: readers filmed from their dorm rooms, musicians recorded parts separately to be edited together as a virtual choir, and the liturgy was filmed over several days in pieces. Despite these unusual times, God is ever praised and the Lord is Risen Indeed!
A tremendous thank you to our incredible student leaders who served as acolytes, offered their musical gifts, planned the liturgy, and even edited the video.
Join in worship with us for the entire Vigil below (follow along with the bulletin), and read the text of the Chaplain’s sermon.
The Great Vigil of Easter 2021
The Rev. Charlie Bauer
Chaplain, The Episcopal Church at William & Mary
April 3, 2021
This is the night, when God brought our ancestors out of bondage in Egypt, and led them through the Red Sea on dry land.
This is our story of salvation, the story we hear gathered around our sacrifice of the new fire, the candle that bears the light of Christ from out of the depths of despair and yields its hope into the world that God so lovingly created out of the nothingness. This is our story of promise, as echoed from the drying flood waters and the symbolic rainbow that reminds all of creation of God’s mighty power and covenant of protection. This is the story of God’s generosity, from out of the troubling story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son came a multitude of faithful believers, that great cloud of witnesses that includes you and me. This is the story of prophets of old foretelling our loving God who desires to be sought out amid the chaos of human life, and whose story is to echo through the generations. As we witness the flame this night that both consumes and gives forth lifegiving heat and life, we recall this story as told through God’s holy word.
This is the night, when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness of life.
We find deliverance through this yearly remembrance of our own moment of spiritual death and rebirth through the refreshing waters of our baptism. We hear this echoed through simple questions: do you believe in God; will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship’ will you persevere in resisting evil and repent; will you proclaim the Good news of Christ; will you seek and serve Christ in all persons; and will you strive for justice and peace among all people. Simple questions that take a lifetime of practice, never achieving perfection yet still constantly offered God’s grace.
This is the night, when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave.
We recall the stunning moment of the empty tomb, the courageous women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who risked their lives to mourn the death of their leader, companion, and friend and were instead met with the dazzling appearance of a heavenly being announcing its presence with those peculiar words “do not be afraid,” as if anything said by a being with the appearance light lightning and clothing white as snow rising up after the cataclysmic event of the crucifixion could invoke anything but fear – and yet, the miraculous witness of these women – they went running yes with fear but also with great joy to tell the others and suddenly before them was Jesus himself, in the flesh, proof of the resurrection, that not all was lost on the cross, everything was gained.
This is our story, the night we remember through scripture and the renewal of our baptismal vows and story of these things that happened long ago.
But this is not a night for mere remembrance.
These are stories written in the Bible, and we can read them any day of the year – I encourage you to do just that. And if this were a night when we just gather to remember amazing things that happened in the past, well, then this could be any night.
But this is not just any night; this is the night when our loving and living God invites us anew to take our part in these stories. For this is not about us passively witnessing the telling of God’s story, this is about our active role in God’s story becoming our story, the story of our lives here and now on earth, and our eternal lives to come. The story of Jesus’ constant call to us, yes, you and me, to use our God-given gifts to be Christ’s witness in the world around us.
This is the night when God shines forth light into our hearts as a promise that we, too, have a place in God’s plan of salvation, that we too are being delivered out of our own struggle with sin and death into the loving embrace of God. This is the night when God reminds us of our place in God’s great family of the faithful. This is the night when our hope is made new and real as we are once more sent into the world in love.
Cling to this night, this holy moment, from wherever you are, whenever you are celebrating this remarkable moment of a God who exists beyond time and place – for with this story, God’s story, our story, we have work to do, in living out our role in God’s call to the world through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!