St. Charles Episcopal Church –St. Charles, IL

Easter Vigil – Year C – April 7, 2007

Genesis 1:1-2:2; Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:8-18; 9:8-13; Genesis 22:1-18; Exodus 14:10-15:1; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 6:3-11; Matthew 28:1-10.

The Rev. Elizabeth Meade

Tonight is a long night, not like any other service in the church year, but it is one of the most special in the church year. And that’s because TONIGHT we reclaim who we are – and WHO we belong to. We have listened to the stories about our ancestors – and, in listening to these stories, I hope we all discovered that God has been right there protecting His people ever since He created the world – just as God is right here with us tonight.

In the story of Creation, we heard all about how GOD created the world. And we heard about the terrible flood, and how God protected Noah and his family and made an everlasting covenant with the world. We heard that scary story about how Isaac almost got axed, but at the very last minute God provided a ram in the thicket, so Isaac didn’t have to die. And we listened as God saved the Hebrews as they fled from bondage in Egypt by parting the Red Sea to help them get across. And finally, Ezekiel asked us to picture a Valley – where all the bones were bleached out and dry – kind of like a cow skull you might find in a desert somewhere – and what did God do? God breathed life into those bones!

Tonight, these stories help us remember how present God has been throughout all the ages.

And God is still here – present today.

Sometimes it’s hard to see Him, but as Christians, we have to LOOK for Him.

Is God present in the war on terror?

Is God present when someone you love dies?

Is God present when everything seems to be going wrong in our lives? You bet He is!

God is here whenever life seems hard or scary – or too difficult.

And that’s what we have to remember tonight. God is here – always.

God is here – present in Baptism; present in the Holy Eucharist.

And just as God was present for our Ancestors – Noah and Isaac –

Moses and Ezekiel – God is present for us.

That’s what this Paschal Candle is all about.

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Ever year at Easter Vigil, we get a new one – it’s made of the purest bee’s wax, with incense stuck in these nails, to remind us of the wounds inflicted on Jesus at his crucifixion.

Yesterday, if you were here for the Good Friday services, perhaps you felt very sad about Jesus dying on the cross. I know I did. When Father Bill hammered those nails into the cross, I wanted to cry.

 Good Friday is the day we are asked to think about what the world might be like if Jesus hadn’t been raised from the dead……. But fortunately, we know the GOOD NEWS!

We heard it in today’s gospel reading.

The angel tells the women:

“I know who you are looking for. You are looking for Jesus, who was crucified,

                     but he has been raised from the dead!! He is not here!”

Everything yesterday was so dark, so without hope……

But then the women were told this – and they were able to hope again.

They could HOPE that what the angel was saying to them was true.

It was just a glimmer of hope, just a little scrap of hope, but it was there!

                        And that’s what this candle stands for.

There is an old Jewish prayer said at Hannukah – and it reads like this:

            All the darkness of the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle,

            yet one candle can illuminate all the darkness.

                        [Margo, will you shut DOWN the lights for a minute? ]

            All the darkness of the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle,

            yet one candle can illuminate all the darkness.

The room is dark, but the darkness can’t shut off the candle. The candle remains. Other things can blow out the candle, sure, but darkness by itself cannot extinguish the candle that lives in your heart in Christ Jesus.

See that candle flame? The Paschal Candle IS the Jesus candle. All these other candles that you see lighting up this sanctuary came from the light of this one candle: the torches, the ones on the altar and behind the altar.

The Church is like that. This one Jesus candle lights all the other candles.

When the world seems dark, when your hope is at a low ebb, remember this candle. It lights ALL the others.

When things seem most dark, TRUST that His flame is there.

Some days you might not be able to see it, but TRUST that it is there.

That is the message of Easter.

No matter how BLEAK things might get, no matter how dark it may seem in your life,

remember that the darkness cannot extinguish this candle. Things got pretty bad for the disciples after Jesus died, but then He came back! His light still shines today!

                                                            [LIGHTS UP]

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

Amen