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Easter Vigil – Year A

Preached on April 23

At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brookline

The Reverend Jeffrey W. Mello

 

Romans 6:3—1; Matthew 28:1—10

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Tonight we have travelled quite a distance. From the waters over creation, through the Red Sea and Valley of the dry bones, to the empty tomb and beyond. In the Easter Vigil service, we recall the history of our Salvation which brings us to this present moment. We don’t do this just to remember the past, though. We do this to understand the present. All of what we have heard tonight has prepared us to be right here, right now, and to understand where it is God calls us next. Moment by moment our salvation history continues to be written.

Adam and Eve, Moses, Ezekiel, Paul the apostle, the women at the tomb; all of these characters help us to understand how it is God has moved in the world, so we can understand now how it is God is moving in the world. They help us to see how, over and over again, God has called us back, called us into love. They have prepared the stage, they have made room for the latest characters in the story of God’s love for the world; Gwendolyn, and Talia, and Agnes and Sophia. These four new Christians are the latest, greatest part of the continual unfolding of God’s plan, God’s dream for the world.

When I was a kid, I used to play in a big park near my house that had these huge hills. In the winter, we would go sledding there. But I loved it in the summer, too. I loved to sand at the top of the hill and begin running down. I loved the ever increasing speed and that moment when I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stop. I feared the moment I had to decide whether to keep running or fall to the ground and roll to a stop. Most of the time, that decision was made for me.

There was something about the freedom, something about the unpredictability; something about the flailing arms and wild screams that filled me with fear…and great joy. As soon as I would get to the bottom, either running or rolling. I would lie on the ground for a while, catch my breath and then exclaim to whoever would listen, “Let’s do it again!”

Tonight, we as a Christian community, stand at the top of the hill, once again. Having spent sometime at the bottom, getting reoriented, we have climbed back up the hill and we are confronted by an empty tomb. And, like the two Marys who visit the tomb, our experience of resurrection propels us out into the world, running, flailing our arms, screaming wildly. And like the women who are the first to witness the emptiness of the tomb, we are filled with great joy, and a perhaps a little fear.

It makes sense, the fear. I often tell parents of children who are getting baptized not to worry if their child begins to cry uncontrollably during the baptism. It simply means they understand what they are getting themselves into.

There is a reason the Angel says to the women at the tomb, “Don’t be afraid.” You see, it would have been easier for Mary and Mary to stay at the tomb. It would have been easier for them to ignore the signs around them and pretend as if everything were exactly as they had expected it to be. It would have been easier for them to ignore that death had won the final victory. Choosing to acknowledge what had happened took a great deal of courage. Following the angels command to go forward took courage.  

There is a reason Jesus repeats the refrain, “Don’t be afraid.” Letting go of Jesus’ feet and running ahead was the bravest thing they could have done.

Going out and living the new life Christ gives each one of us in his resurrection takes a whole lot of guts. It is the bravest thing we can do.

There is a reason we proclaim Christ is risen, rather than Christ was risen. We say Christ is risen because the stories we heard tonight are our stories. God creates today, as God created in the beginning. Christ is risen. God calls us out of slavery into freedom today, as he called the Israelites through the Red Sea. Christ is risen. God brings new life out of the scattered dry bones of our lives today, just as God did in the valley. Christ is risen.

We say Christ is risen because resurrection is something that is happening all the time. We say Christ is risen so that we might take our place at the empty tomb, along side Mary and Mary. We say Christ is risen because Christ’s resurrection is our resurrection.

We baptize on this night as a reminder to each one of us that what we are promising to Talia and Agnes and Sophia and Gwendolyn is as true for each one of us witnessing the baptism, as it is for those being baptized. Their Baptism is our Baptism. Christ’s resurrection is our resurrection.

Tonight we claim our place in the great arc of salvation history. Tonight we take our place at the top of the hill. Tonight we are offered an invitation to let go of all that holds us back and to run with reckless abandon into the new life God has waiting for us.

I give God thanks that, from now on, Gwendolyn, and Sophia, and Talia and Agnes will be running with me. Come, stand with us at the top of the hill. See the empty tomb and promise of a new life in Christ, and start running. Don’t be afraid!

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

 

© 2011 The Reverend Jeffrey W. Mello