EasterVigil Year A 2014
Father Adam Trambley
April 20, 2014 St.John’s Sharon
We gather tonight
Because liturgically living
together
Into the great mystery of faith
Lets us experience
something significant
That we
would otherwise see slip
Through
the spaces of our
Struggling
human understanding.
An Easter sermon itself is really not enough.
The
intellectual engagement
of
the doctrine of the resurrection
amid
the great theological questions of salvation
takes us
only so far.
Neither is the Easter morning parade adequate.
Bunnies and
chicks and eggs and chocolate,
As
well as stately ladies in dashing hats,
All speak
of spring’s steady turning aside
Cold
winter’s death
And even of
the seed that falls in the ground and bears much fruit.
But human reason cannot wrap itself around
sin’s
absurd rejection of its loving creator
and the spring equinox’s fecundity has no power
over the
God-forsaken grave
held
fast by the fingers
of hell’s harsh
hand.
So this night,
We gather
to seek something else.
We seek to experience personally
Some sense
Of
the startling reality
That
shook sleepy women awake
And made
them run to tell their brothers.
We seek to experience personally
Just a bit
Of
the disciples’ joyful befuddlement
As
the tomb lay empty
And
angels announced
That Jesus was
not there.
We seek to experience personally
A profound
encounter
With
our Risen Lord Jesus Christ
Who
came to his disciples on the road
And
in the upper room
And
in Galilee,
So that we
can be freed from our fears
And
follow where he will lead.
We gather this night
Hoping,
Praying,
Daring
almost to believe
That if we acknowledge our own tombs;
If
we allow ourselves to approach
The
stone rolled over the entrances
Of our hearts and
lives,
That we will see Jesus harrow our
hells
And
raise us up
To life eternal with
him.
We did not start this journey this night,
But all
week have walked
The way of
dying with Christ
So
that we might also live with him.
Really, nothing less than our entire lives
Are about
this work,
But during Holy Week
We cycle
through it again,
Allowing
The
Hosannas to linger on our lips,
The
water to wash over our ankles,
The
“Crucify Him”s to catch in our throat
One more
time
In preparation
For the light of
Christ
To
blaze brilliantly forth from the tomb
For
the waters of baptism
To
sweep away our sins
For
the Alleluias
To
announce the joy of the resurrection
Renewing
the whole world.
Many of us have lived at least part
Of this
liturgical life this week.
Let’s review.
On Palm Sunday we waved our branches
And
enthroned Jesus as King,
Eager for
Jesus to be in charge,
But
on our terms.
Our shouts of Hosanna
Promoted
the short-term,
Quick
fix
Where we win,
Since we’re
on Jesus’ side, of course.
But Caiaphas cut short the coronation,
And he
encouraged the crowd’s
“Crucify
him”
We shouted along,
Uncomfortable
and unwilling
while all
too aware
that our
deeds often agreed
with
the cruel curse on our lips.
Our hearts want to love,
But the people’s
part in the passion play exposes
The ways we
really do push towards death,
Both
Jesus’ and our own.
Yet by lifting up those ill-begotten urges,
Jesus can
remove them when he dies a bit later--
When we are left
Listening and lingering before the
cross
Standing
empty, alone, and waiting.
Maundy Thursday makes meaningful to us
Our
inability to be saved by ourselves.
Our feet are washed.
A religious
leader pouring warm water
Over
our heels and between our toes.
Rubbing
away dirt, lint
And
whatever has found its way between our piggies.
A not unpleasant sensation,
But personal.
Reminding
us we can’t come to church
And
keep a comfortable distance
But have to
really live with each other,
Sharing
our dirty feet,
Showing
our oddly-sized toes
And
not expecting help with our hands or head
Just
because we want the full spa treatment.
Then we receive the Body and Blood of Christ,
And become
incorporated into it,
Accepting a sacrifice about to be made for us
For the
forgiveness of our sins.
Somehow staying secure on a deadly Passover
When all
the firstborn sons are slain
Of
both the Egyptians
And
of God
So that we
might be brought through the Red Sea waters
To the newness of
life.
To munch on our Maundy Thursday meal,
Mindful of
the massacre around us,
And our own
utter unworthiness
To
feed on these gifts of God with thanksgiving.
So much cries to stop it,
Yet we can
only
Carry out Christ’s
command
To
love one another as he has loved us,
Even
to the end.
Then Good Friday opens and exposes us.
The hunger in our stomachs echoes
The aches
we hear in the solemn collects
Detailing
the long litany
Of places
our broken world longs
To
be made whole.
The emptiness and absurdity of the crucifixion
Calls forth
the full outpouring of our hearts
For healing
in all the exposed wounds
Of a hurting humanity.
Then we have to hold that hurt,
As the
cross is held out to us,
The
instrument of Jesus death
The stark,
silent answer
To
whatever prayers we utter.
But we are drawn, nonetheless
To this
artifact of such a wondrous love,
Even while
we are still reluctant
To
surrender to a cross
That
offers only the most difficult
Of
all answers.
We would rather approach a throne
Whose seat
of power was power,
But we come to a cross
That is an
absurdity and a stumbling-block,
Whose power
is weakness.
So, at the end of this week,
Tonight we
gather.
Tonight we gather,
stripped bare of all that makes
sense
to the
world’s standards.
Tonight we gather,
Draped in
the darkness and numbness
Of
the cold tomb around us.
Tonight we gather
Eager for
something
Beyond what
we can expect or understand.
Tonight we gather
To keep
vigil until the great victory of Easter.
That great Easter victory has come for us this night,
Alleluias
Illuminating
us with the brilliant radiance
Of
the Son of God
Focused
through the dazzling prism
Of
this Great Vigil
So we can
see
The
entire awe-inspiring spectrum of salvation
Won
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Starting in darkness,
The sun
having set
And the
savior stuck in a tomb,
A flickering flame kindled,
The fire is passed
From person
to person
Until the
room is awash with light
And the
deacon intones the Exultet.
We hear:
Christ’s light delivers us from sin’s dark gloom.
Christ’s strength shattered every bond and chain
Death and
hell shackled him with,
And he will
break all our shackles, too
Christ comes with cash,
Paying off
the enemy who holds us hostage
Until our
debts are paid.
Christ takes the wickedness walloping us
And womps
it with his righteous wrath
Until it
flies far from us.
Christ comes compassionately into our hearts
And
carefully cleans away
All the
evils we have seen and done
Resetting
our souls to stay secure
In
innocence, joy, peace and concord.
Christ creates the reconciling bridge
Crossing
the chasm of sin
And enabling
clear communication
And
constant communion
Between the
creatures of God on earth
And
their heavenly Father.
Christ the light,
burning as
a candle for us to see and understand
but also
burning forever in the life of all creation.
Then the lessons lead
us
To other understandings
Of the
unexpected and unbounded
Power
of God.
Chaos. Darkness. Nothingness.
Then God
speaks the Word
And
light, land, sea,
Fish,
cattle, creepy-crawly things,
Men
and women
In
the image and likeness of God
All come to
be created
Through
Christ the eternal Word.
Later, rains cover the earth.
Noah is
held fast in the ark
As
winds and waves
Send
his mobile menagerie
Soaring
high up on crests and
Diving
down deep in troughs
Thousands
of years
before the
discovery of Dramamine,
Until the
ark grounds itself on the rock of Christ
And
the waters recede
And
that elephant-sized door is finally opened.
The light
of Christ arcs across the sky
In
the covenant of the rainbow.
Then tonight we see
the Red Sea through the eyes of children.
The waters
ahead of us.
Pharaoh’s
army behind us.
Death
surrounding us.
Until God
once again parts the waters,
And
we walk through
this
valley of the shadow of death
Without
even getting our shoes muddy.
A new life
won from certain death
And
a prefiguring of Jesus’ resurrection.
Then, after baptizing our brother
Into this
amazing heritage
Of life and
light,
The moment of our great Alleluia finally arrives.
We walk with the women to the tomb,
Looking for
Jesus.
Amid earthquakes and stunned soldiers,
we see angels telling us
Do not be afraid.
He is not here.
Come see where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his
disciples
Where they can
see him.
On the road home,
We see
Jesus
Alive!
We want to
worship,
But he has
other ideas.
“Go and
tell my brothers
Where
they can see me”.
Go tell your brothers and sisters
Where they
can see Jesus.
That’s what it’s all about.
Everything else this entire week
Is our
preparation
To go and
tell others
Where
they can find Jesus.
Because they don’t know.
Trapped in fear,
They are
too frantic to find him.
Trapped in pain,
They are
too preoccupied to seek him.
Trapped in despair and darkness and death,
They have
barred the doors
And
believe no one can
Cross
the threshold.
But we know better.
We know
That the
Word made flesh
Is familiar
with all our infirmities
And that
the one who made us
In
his own image
Is always
available to all
Incorporated
into his own body.
We know
That the
Morning Star that knows no setting,
The Light
of the World,
Penetrates
even the deepest darkness
Of
human despair, grief, sin or suffering
With the
first light of creation
And
the light of early dawn
On
the first day of the week.
We know
That even
death and the grave
Is not
unknown
To the Son
of God
Who
suffered on a cross
Descended
to the depths of hell
And brings
forth everyone
Willing
to leave their grave clothes behind.
We know that our Risen Lord Jesus Christ
Is willing
and able to go
To all
these places.
But our brothers and sisters don’t know.
So we need to take
What we
have experienced this night,
And share
it.
We need find our friends
Who believe
they can’t or won’t
See
any trace of Christ or his love,
And we need
to dive after them
into the depths of
their darkness
And show
them where they can see Jesus.
That’s the point of the liturgy this night.
That’s the message of the angel this night.
That’s the commission of Jesus this night.
We’ve experienced the resurrection this week.
Now we run
to share it with others.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Go and tell your brothers and sisters
Where they
can see Jesus.
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