A Sermon for the Easter Vigil
The Rev. Patricia Gillespie
Creation, Sacrafice of Isaac, Deliverance at the Red Sea,
Salvation offered to All, Valley of the Dry Bones
Psalm 114
Romans 6:3-11
Matthew 28:1-10
We came here in the dark this morning. It's hard to see in the dark. Hard to find your way. Hard to find a friend. Hard to find Easter eggs. A lot of things can be hidden in the dark. Things we might find easily in the light.
What if we lived in the dark all the time? How would we get around? Blind people do learn to get around. My blind raccoon zooms around really fast without running into things. How does she do that? Mostly she learned by bumping into things and remembering. And sometimes I, or her friends the dogs, help her: we make excited noises, or call her name, or tap on the floor by a new treat. We give her hints.
That's what all those stories we heard this morning are about. Before Jesus brought "the Light of Christ" into the world, God's people lived mostly in the dark. Over and over again they went the wrong way and bumped into things. (But they didn't seem to learn as fast as my raccoon. They just kept making the same mistakes over and over again.)
And God kept giving them hints, sometimes really big hints. God sent people called prophets, who gave them good hints about how not to bump into things. But mostly the people didn't listen. Mostly we don't listen too well either. We keep making dumb mistakes, bumping into things and hurting ourselves. Or hurting other people. Often we can't even find the good stuff that God has waiting for us.
In the dark we need lots of hints to find what we're looking for. At Easter we look for hidden eggs. There are some eggs hidden here .... do you think it's light enough to find them? But there's a catch. The kids are going to get to hunt for lots of eggs later, so these hidden eggs are for the grownups because there's part of the sermon written on them that they have to read.. But grownups aren't very good at finding eggs. Just like God's people needed hints to find their way, the grownups are going to need lots of hints from the kids to find the eggs. There are 13 eggs ... find a grownup and help them find the eggs. (And don't let the grownups be greedy. One egg is enough for a grownup.)
I know you're supposed to have a dozen eggs. They come in boxes that way. And 12 is one of the special numbers in the Bible that means "everyone." 12 tribes of Israel and 12 disciples of Jesus. But I put in an extra egg to remind us that God is always with us too. 12 tribes and one God. 12 disciples and Jesus. Of course God has more people than the 12 tribes and Jesus has more followers than the 12 disciples. But the number 12 stands for all of God's chosen people.
So, grownups, read us what is written on your eggs: Abraham, Adam, David, Deborah, Eve, Isaiah, Jacob, Jonah, Miriam, Moses, Ruth, Sarah, You
They are all folks that, at sometime or other, got lost in the darkness and made a mistake. But even when they go the wrong way in the dark, hurting themselves and others, God keeps loving them. Until at last God sent not just a hint, but a light. God sent Jesus. And the Light of Christ is so strong that even when we try to put the light out by killing Jesus and hiding his body in a dark cave, the Light comes back.
God doesn't want us to be in the dark anymore. God wants us to find the new life and love that God has for us. With the Light of Christ we can see amazing things. Things that are hidden are suddenly new. Like finding Easter eggs when the sun comes up, we might see Christ in many places where we never noticed God before: in the sunrise, in a baby's tiny fingers and an old woman's face, in the storm clouds, in a bible story, and even in the person next to us in the pew.
We can even go back to those old stories we read this morning, and when we read them in the Light of Christ, we might just hear anew some of those hints that God is giving God's people.
We might then be filled with that same fear and great joy that the women felt after meeting the angel at the tomb. We might, like them, go out and share the good news so that the Light of Christ shines on other people.
Remember the one egg that had a name doesn't seem to have a Bible story to go with it? The egg that said "You." That name is the greatest story yet. One of today's readings said that by our baptism we are united with Christ. Today Christ is risen. And Christ lives in YOU. Now you are the one who brings light to the world. You are the one who can help people see that God loves them and see that they can find new life, too.
We came here this morning in darkness. Now we can go into the world with great joy because the Light is in us.