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The Great Vigil
April 11, 2009
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Mark 16: 1-8
Come Holy Spirit: Touch our minds and think with them, touch our lips and speak with them and touch our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. AMEN.
When I became your bishop a little over four years ago, the Easter Vigil was only the second service at which I had presided in my new Cathedral home. As you have just experienced this service has a lot of moving parts and as bishop, I have just a few props to attend to: miter, crosier and cope. Now for the uninitiated, the miter is the hat, the crosier the stick, and the cope is the cape. As you might imagine, I had some anxiety about all this. Okay, I come in, in the dark, in a cope—lots of fabric around me, holding a crosier, and then light a fire. When my wife assessed this Episcopal entrance, she said, “I have three words for you: stop, drop and roll.” It is indeed to a joy to come to be with you and light the Easter fire and yet again avoid being the Easter fire!
And yet, haven’t each of us been touched by the fire of Easter. As literal flames rose from the font of baptism and spread across this Cathedral, we all know something is happening.
What is happening is the light of Christ moving among us. And that light pierces the darkness as we tell again the great story of God’s saving work throughout human history. God begins with light set in the darkness at the dawning of creation. God ignites life through the divine spark breathed into creation, even human kind. This life was not extinguished by great floods. Indeed, waters are later parted so that the people of Israel can find salvation in a land of promise. And even in bleak times of exile, the fire burns through prophetic words that bring even the dry bones of a defeated people back to life, to hope and home.
This is the night of God’s fire.In retelling our story, we feel the fire burn within us. We are expectant of what God is doing.
And in this darkness with the light of Christ emerging, we anticipate the kindled flame becoming a flash fire of faith. It is oddly paradoxical that what starts this flash fire and moves us from telling the story to being a part of the story is water. The same spot in which the fire began is now filled with water. But it does not extinguish the fire. It is the means through which the fire enters us and changes us. These are the waters of baptism. They are waters of fire and faith.
In ancient times, the followers of Jesus would not even have been called Christians but rather those who were simply said to be in “The Way.” This night was particularly reserved for baptism because it was the night when Jesus passed over from death into the resurrected life. Everything that happened and indeed happens here tonight is a grafting of Jesus’ death and resurrection into us.
And so in the ancient church those who were to be baptized would gather one side of the water, deep and somewhat perilous water. They would strip naked and enter the water. In a three-fold emersion they would be drowned to the old life and world. They would die with Jesus so that then and only then would they be raised up with Christ. And so as they rose in Christ from the waters on the other side, they would be robed in new white as with the saints. They would then follow Jesus in the Way.
While we did not require you to strip and merely splashed you a bit rather than bringing to the brink of drowning, Christopher and Harold, you have died this night to the former things and are risen with Christ to new life. You have set aside all that is evil and corrupt and promised to follow Jesus in the way. And also on this night you have been joined by those who have earlier been baptized but tonight are touched by the Holy Spirit in their confirmation, by those who have found home in this community and communion and have been received, and by those who wish to reaffirm their faith on this most holy night with special intention. In point of fact, as each of us reaffirmed our faith with you this night, we have again been touched by the waters of our baptism. We have remembered who we are, what we are about and where we are supposed to be going. We all got a little wet. We all got touched by the fires of Easter.
And all this we did in darkness. In this darkness, with the power of the spirit mightily upon us, the Easter light breaks forth. And with the Easter light, we hear the Good News proclaimed, “Alleluia! Christ is Risen! And with the saints in heaven and on earth we reply, “Alleluia! The Lord is Risen indeed!”
The tomb is empty. Mary Magdelene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome went there and were told, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him…” They now told Peter. The others told others and down through the ages word comes to us.
Death no longer has dominion. Everything is changed. We are no longer the same. Tonight, we remember again. We remember that we have been touched by spirit-filled water that sets us on fire. And fire changes things. Fire makes metal bend. It makes differing elements bond together. And so we are bent and molded into something that we were not and we are bonded together as elements of the Body that is Christ to the world.
Now, there is a story told of a southern town where there were bats in the courthouse tower that no one could get rid of. They townfolk tried everything. As it turned out, there were three churches on the town square: a Baptist church, a Methodist church and an Episcopal Church. As a last resort, the mayor of the town asked each congregation to try their hand at a spiritual solution. The Baptist tried a good old fashioned exorcism but the bats were back within a few days. The Methodist held a prayer vigil and the bats left for a fortnight and then returned. Finally, the Episcopalians were called upon and they took advantage of their bishop’s visitation to offer their solution. The bishop came, baptized a few, confirmed some more, and received the rest. And the bats were never seen again.
Our laughter betrays an awkward truth. We make spiritual promises more readily than we follow them. Let that not happen here. Imagine the power of God working through us if we do what we promise: being faithful in community, resisting evil, proclaiming gospel, serving Christ in everyone, striving for peace and justice and respecting the dignity of every human being. We need this. In our bones, we know that we are more of what we are supposed to be when we follow Jesus in the Way. And the world Jesus loved to death and to new life needs this saving word and our witness.
No one drowned tonight. And no one was burned. But the water and fire of the Holy Spirit has touched each of us. We will be strengthened for our shared life of faith in a shared meal. And then? Well, then we will be those who walk in the Way and others will join us in the journey. Everything has changed. Alleluia!