03/28/2024
This year, we’re trying something new. We'll have a sunrise service at 6:49a (when the sun rises) in Westcrest Park. But our big, celebratory Easter service is on Saturday night at 7p. What?! I know, it’s different. So if you’re into Easter outfits, come ready Saturday. If you’re ready to belt "Alleluias" you get to do it earlier than last year at this Saturday night service. But why?! Let me explain: We’re exploring adding this Saturday night service to our Easter traditions annually to complement a Sunday service, but this year as an introduction, we wanted to make this Saturday night service the focal point of our Easter practice since this service is considered by those who have experienced it to be one of the best things some of our Anglican brothers and sisters have to offer. It’s a service known as “The Great Vigil of Easter” and it invites us to celebrate Easter while it is still dark. And that is the part that gets me.
The gospel of John describes the discovery of Jesus’s empty tomb this way:
“…While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance.”
Mary Magdalen, one of Jesus’s followers, went to Jesus’s tomb while it was still dark thinking maybe the tomb was the end of the story, and discovered it wasn’t. Over the past few years, as I have become more acquainted with Mary Magdalen, I have wondered why was Mary Magdalen chosen for this role? What can we learn from her being the first witness, to be the one whom Jesus said, ‘Go tell the boys’?
I think Mary was chosen because she was a woman from whom demons had fled. Jesus had cast them out of her and set her free. I think Mary was chosen because she knew what it was like for God to move— not when the lilies are already out in church and the lights are on— but for God to move while it is still dark. Mary became someone who could see hope in the dark. She knew enough about how God works in the darkness to not try and return to life as usual, she thought maybe I should go check the tomb one more time, she thought to face the darkness of dashed hope, she had learned to expect, almost as a premonition, that the dawn of hope begins while it is still dark.
We are invited to similarly discover hope in the dark. If you, a friend you know, or a colleague you care about are in a dark place— Mary's story reminds us you are in good company and God can move. This service shows us that the best hope is the hope that is real while it is still dark. As the Taizé song reminds us, “In our darkest night, You kindle a fire that never dies away, never dies away.”
So please save the date for Saturday March 30 at 7p at Trinity as we celebrate resurrection hope while it is still dark. You’ll be greeted by a bonfire out front of the church that is a beautiful image of those Taizé lyrics and reminds us of how in Peter’s darkest night, when he betrayed Jesus around a fire, it wasn’t the end of the story. Peter around another fire, an Easter fire cooking fish with the resurrected Jesus, is restored. I am looking forward to how this Easter we can experience hope restored.
In anticipation of celebrating with you,
R.J.
