May Christ Easter In You

Sermon-Easter Eve April 3,2010
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
There are 4 parts to tonight’s service: the lighting of the new fire and the Paschal or Passover Candle; the service of the word; baptism of new Christians; and the first sacred meal, the Eucharist, of Easter. Light, storytelling, new birth, new life. Fire, listening, water, food. Everything about tonight is primal, fundamental. Everything about tonight is ancient, almost primeval. Darkness, mystery, infants and adults coming forward to take vows and make promises. People walking into a darkened building to receive sacred bread and wine. For 2000 years Christians have been gathering on this night-the first Saturday night after the first new moon, after the vernal equinox. This is a sacred night, a holy night, and we do hallowed things this night.
In 433 only the King of Ireland on the divine hill of Tara could light the new Spring fire from which all fires were lit throughout Ireland each year. Anyone else lighting a fire first was under penalty of death-it was how the king controlled the people. But on this night, the night before he ignited his fire, Patrick, newly arrived in Ireland set up on the Hill of Slane, and he lit the new Easter bonfire. It was so large it was seen 30 miles away in Tare. The king sent his fastest horsemen to arrest whoever was foolish enough to usurp the king’s prerogative, and to bring the miscreant to justice. And that king became Patrick’s first convert in Ireland.
We light a small fire and we tell the story of what a mighty flame it can be, how powerful, how exciting, and how dangerous when God calls us to follow and to witness.
3500 years ago the Hebrew people were being held in slavery in Egypt, and God told them through his prophet Moses that they had a special calling. They ate their meal so fast there was no time to let the bread rise. And God said I will lead you out of Egypt to freedom, and (Ex 13:21) 21The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, …2Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
And so this night we begin carrying this tall candle, shouting and singing in the darkness, remembering that our spiritual ancestors were led by a pillar of fire at night.
And when we come into the darkening led by this ancient light, we sit and listen to holy stories. The chronicles of those ancient Hebrews and their flight to freedom, the prophecy from Ezekiel of a new heart and a new spirit that is being planted in all people of faith
In the 2nd century, 1900 years ago the readings would go on all night as catechumens, those who were preparing for baptism, would listen to hundreds of verses, dozens of stories telling them of God acting in history. How powerful, how exciting, how dangerous when God calls us to follow and to witness.
And then baptism. This used to be in the very beginning of Christianity, THE ONLY DAY that someone could be baptized, THE ONLY TIME ALL YEAR when someone could come forward and confess Jesus as savior and be washed in the waters of new life. Everyone who is baptized at Trinity receives a simple box. We call it a faith chest. And they are to keep in this box their baptismal candle, the bulletin from tonight, the readings, their banner, every time they do something in their faith , they are to keep in this chest as a reminder of their life in Christ. We buy these at Ikea, and put them together. I bought 10 of them about a week ago and as I was at the register, the check out lady, said, “wow, 10 of these boxes, what are you going to do with them?” And I said ,”we give one to everyone who gets baptized”, and she replied, “oh that’s right, Saturday night is Easter eve!” And my head popped up, and I looked at her, and said, “How do you know that?” And she said, “all of my children were baptized on Easter Eve, I wouldn’t do it any other time.” How powerful, how exciting, and how dangerous when God calls us to follow and to witness.
The last of tonight’s journey back in time, forward in faith is when you walk up to this altar rail and kneel to receive the gift of Christ’s body, Christ’s blood. Jesus told his first friends, his first followers, I will be with you every time you gather. I will be in the bread you eat and the wine you drink. And I will live in you and you will live in me. The first Christians considered this meal so sacred that catechumens those who were preparing for baptism were told that they had to wait 3 years before they could be admitted to this holy meal. Three years. Because the church wanted new believers to be so strong in their faith, so devout in their beliefs, that they could withstand any challenge, any threat. Three years of training so when persecution was at hand they could endure and survive. Three years they had to wait-just to receive this bread, this wine. And they would wait all Saturday night, all Easter Eve, until just as the dawn was breaking, and ONLY THEN, could the first Eucharist be celebrated. How powerful, how exciting, and how dangerous when God calls us to follow and to witness.
Everything we do tonight is connected to stories of the past. But we don’t worship the past, and we don’t venerate history. We remember that God has been acting, moving, changing, igniting, bringing light to people for thousands of years. Tonight we tell God’s chronicle -in fire and light, in story and water, in bread and wine. Because it is not the past that we live in. Our faith is today. The stories we tell are there so we can remember how powerful, how exciting, and how dangerous when God calls us to follow and to witness. Tonight is God’s night. And we tell this divine story so that Ankita and Shawn and all those gathered here will know this great legacy and this demanding future. Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a wonderful poem, “The Wreck of the Deutschland,” where he uses this phrase “Let him Easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us.” Shawn and Ankita, and all those gathered near this holy flame this night, may Christ Easter in you, and may you be a dayspring of light to the dimness of the world. Amen.