Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year B (Easter Vigil) - April 11, 2009
At the Vigil
Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18, 8:6-18, 9:8-13 [The Flood]
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea]
Ezekiel 37:1-14 [The valley of dry bones]
At the Eucharist
Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 114
Mark 16:1-8
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!!!
The Lord Jesus Christ has risen indeed!
The rock has been moved away and the tomb is EMPTY!
As we gather this evening, we celebrate the wonderful and glorious event of Jesus’ resurrection with The Great Vigil of Easter… This is something that the church has done since about the 3rd century. In this time of worship we can focus our hearts, and minds on the saving work that has been done for us in the life, death and glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like He said it would happen! But, the story of the empty tomb from Mark’s Gospel tonight is a bit strange and different. It says the women, upon seeing the empty tomb ran away and said nothing to noone. Some biblical scholars claim that Mark 16:8 is the verse that concludes Mark. It ends very curt, and almost stops… It stops and lets us fill in the blanks, it stops and lets us ponder what comes next. It lets us become the rest of the story. Because we are all part of the story…
The resurrection of Christ, my friends, is the pivotal point around which our Christian lives are centered. Looking at our lives together, through the lens of resurrection, allows us to know ourselves better, to know each other better, and know our God better.
St. Paul says, that when we were baptized, we are baptized into Christ death, and just as Christ rose from the dead, we walk in newness of life! Our old self has been discarded it has been crucified with Christ and we have been reborn, refreshed and renewed - free from sin and death to live forever with our God!
I had a good friend ask me at the beginning of this past week, “are you going to walk with Jesus this week, or are you going to hide in the crowd with peter?” That question had a profound impact on the way I approached my entire holy week and it influences my message to you tonight…
The Lord Jesus Christ has risen indeed!
The rock has been moved away and the tomb is EMPTY!
As we gather this evening, we celebrate the wonderful and glorious event of Jesus’ resurrection with The Great Vigil of Easter… This is something that the church has done since about the 3rd century. In this time of worship we can focus our hearts, and minds on the saving work that has been done for us in the life, death and glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like He said it would happen! But, the story of the empty tomb from Mark’s Gospel tonight is a bit strange and different. It says the women, upon seeing the empty tomb ran away and said nothing to noone. Some biblical scholars claim that Mark 16:8 is the verse that concludes Mark. It ends very curt, and almost stops… It stops and lets us fill in the blanks, it stops and lets us ponder what comes next. It lets us become the rest of the story. Because we are all part of the story…
The resurrection of Christ, my friends, is the pivotal point around which our Christian lives are centered. Looking at our lives together, through the lens of resurrection, allows us to know ourselves better, to know each other better, and know our God better.
St. Paul says, that when we were baptized, we are baptized into Christ death, and just as Christ rose from the dead, we walk in newness of life! Our old self has been discarded it has been crucified with Christ and we have been reborn, refreshed and renewed - free from sin and death to live forever with our God!
I had a good friend ask me at the beginning of this past week, “are you going to walk with Jesus this week, or are you going to hide in the crowd with peter?” That question had a profound impact on the way I approached my entire holy week and it influences my message to you tonight…
We come together tonight after being on a lenten journey, through the darkness… And then we lingered in his last days for a while, continuing on our journey through this past week and Jesus’ last days as he washed feet and as he taught us to break bread and share the cup.
We moved through Christ’s passion, including his betrayal and arrest then followed him through his trial and to the cross where we witnessed his crucifixion and death.
My friend was challenging me to follow Christ to the cross, proclaiming him as Lord and savior... Not hiding my faith in the fear of being persecuted for what has been revealed to me to be truth. Not hiding as Peter did among the crowd, denying that I ever knew the man…
The service tonight moves us beyond the Cross… and allows us to focus on something a little different. As the paschal candle was lighted and the exsultet was sung, the light of Christ became clearer and brighter as the evening progressed.
The liturgy this evening was designed for us, to be able to take a similar journey… from the one we just were on… This time we go through the record of salvation history of our God in the Hebrew scriptures, all the way through… leading up to the stories of our own participation in that salvation history, by the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The center point of the service included the sacrament of holy baptism, when not only the ones who were baptized all over the world tonight are reborn in Christ, we ourselves get to renew our own baptismal vows and recommit our lives again to walking with Christ.
The Easter vigil becomes for us Christians the hallmark of our proclamation of faith… It is from here that we celebrate the first eucharist of Easter, and then each and every Sunday throughout the churchyear forward becomes like a “little” Easter.
As we go forward from this place tonight, we take Easter with us… As believers in the resurrection of Christ, we celebrate his resurrection today and every Sunday, and we always should then try to live into that resurrection each and every day of our life… anticipating our own eternal life with our God…
So, Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord has Risen indeed! Alleluia!
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