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Holy Saturday
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of thy dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Holy Saturday
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A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
✛
Easter Vigil 2005
Alleluia. Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
This Great Vigil of Easter puts us in line with the Church of the early Christian centuries; actually, in the company of the very earliest Christians. Those first disciples were Jews, like Jesus himself, and they believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, God’s anointed Servant and Son.
That belief of theirs was shattered by Jesus’ crucifixion and death, but it had been completely transformed by his empty tomb and resurrection appearances. That mighty act of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, gathered and re-created the Church, whose witness brings us together now.
At the heart of our Vigil and Eucharist tonight is that selfsame power of Jesus’ resurrection. He lives and is present with us. We can taste and see him in the Sacrament. We can touch him by means of faith.
Tonight (as those early Christians often did) we had a Baptism and renewed our own baptismal promises. Baptism unites a person to the Church and to that power that vivifies the Church, the power of Jesus in his death and resurrection, by which Jesus’ Father adopts us as his beloved children. As we heard from the Apostle Paul: Just as Christ died and rose again, so we “die” to sin and “rise” to newness of life through our union with Christ.
The death and resurrection of Jesus is the Good News, the Gospel of God. Easter shows us who God is and what he is like; that God so loved the world that he gave himself to us in his Son, even to the death of the cross, and that he raised Jesus from the dead. Christ lives and will never die again, and our life, our eternal life, is secure with Christ in God. This is the new Reality. The old order came to an end, was nailed to the cross, on Good Friday. With the empty tomb, a new creation has begun.
Access to this reality of Christ is open, no matter where you are on the spectrum of faith. Even the desire to have faith, mere openness to the possibility of faith, is a God-given start. Even if you have no faith at all, this reality is still there, waiting to be discovered. The New Fire at the beginning tonight started with one spark. The light has now filled the Church. Think of that when you think of the growth of faith.
Jesus has quite a capacity to warm people’s hearts, even people who don’t like the Church. His teaching, his mercy, his preference for the outcast and downtrodden; his signs and wonders; above all the integrity of his whole life, culminating in his cross; all this continues to attract. The attraction is God. This evening shows us that the person and work of Jesus is God’s own person and work.
Jesus’ empty tomb is God’s answer to his cross. Though in time they are separated by three days, they are in fact one thing. Jesus’ death is Jesus’ victory. It is “his hour,” truly his glorious hour; he actually reigns from his cross! Listen to his words: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.” The cross and empty tomb reveal that Jesus Christ is none other than Almighty God.
Wherever you are on the spectrum, consider yourself invited into the glorious reality of Jesus Christ. Perhaps this really is the first time you have been invited. Or, if you are a committed Christian already, come more deeply into the faith. Or perhaps you’re weary, hurt, or have lost your way – then turn again, taste and see. A new world was born when Christ rose from death.
Let us bury the tired old ways of living, bury them with Christ in his death. Let us exchange them for soul-refreshing new life as we rise with Christ in his resurrection. Alleluia. Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
