What I Preached at the Easter Vigil

“When . . . the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, God said, "Let there be light. And there was light.” On this Most Holy Night, the Church declares, “The light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.” We lit the paschal candle, symbolizing Christ rising in glory and triumphing over sin and death. We passed the light so that, with hand candles, we received and shared the light of Christ’s resurrection. We followed the paschal candle from there to here, singing a lengthy, archaic, Christian chant that proclaims Passover and crossing of the Red Sea, as foreshadowing Christ’s cross and resurrection, his Passover from death to new life that rescues us from evil and the gloom of sin, renews us in grace, and restores us to holiness. And we plunged the paschal candle into the stony, watery grave to suggest that in baptism we share in Christ’s death, and in the light and life of Christ’s resurrection.

As Paul says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” We share the light of Christ.

And here is light. Here is Christ’s own light. Here is the light of resurrection dawn shining into the Church, shining into our lives, shining into the world. We see it in Miles. Tonight we heard that “early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.” We heard that Jesus called Mary by name, that the light of faith dawned in her, and she saw the risen Lord. Tonight, on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, we went to the stone tomb, where our old life is drowned and buried, and we heard Jesus call Miles by name and name him, “child of God.” And the light of faith dawned in us anew. We saw Christ truly risen in Miles Elliot, Jesus’s own newly-born one. We remembered that Jesus named us when our old selves drowned. God gave us a new heart and a new spirit. And we rose, are rising, will rise with Christ. Best if all, we saw that the glory of Christ’s resurrection is not diminished, even when its light is divided and shared. In fact, Christ’s light grows brighter as we share it! Salvation, it seems, is intended for all.

Renewed in baptism and enlightened by Christ, tonight we celebrate that the light of Christ, rising in glory, always creates order and calls forth life. The light of Christ, rising in glory, always brings new beginning and God’s covenantal love. The light of Christ, rising in glory, provides for us in times of terrible testing, makes a way to safety where there is none, enlivens us when our bones are dry and our life is gone, and delivers us from the furnace of death.

Tonight we see the light of Christ shining in our brother Miles, and we know that it shines in us, in the Church, and in the world. Tonight, the light of faith dawns anew. The light of Christ, rising in glory, dispels the darkness of our hearts and minds. For Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!