Easter Even

Silence. As Joseph and his helpers lower the body of Jesus from its tree on Calvary, carrying it over to the stone slab where it will be lain preparatory to his entombment, as they then help to convey it into the newly offered tomb of Joseph nearby, hand hewn in the rock of the hillside above the city, they speak not a word except whispers, perhaps, of what needs to be done. Then they walk away.

It will be days, and nights, before they recover. They do not expect anything. Except morbid corruption, and possibly rage. For their Lord and our Savior is gone. What we make of this...

It was Thomas of the "doubt" who said, let us go with him, that we may die with him. He had no expectations, when they went to the tomb of Lazarus, that anything would happen to them in Judea but arrest, punishment, torture, and death. And so it proved - for Jesus. And so much more.

In the midst of nothing, when nobody moved, no one spoke, no sound but an errant bird or two, the sighing through the trees of an inordinate wind, that God spoke the word that is silence. Let there be...

And there was new life. Aborning in the stillness. We will not know what it means until it happens.

To us. But we can wait - and pray. And prayer may lead us to a sense of self that is new, that is ready, that can participate in the fullness of new life. Life renewed.

This is the day of sorrow fulfilled and of joy anticipated. And tonight ...

What will be happening, in the midst of the silence of this night, this night no less holy than 24 Dec.?

Something we cannot anticipate, we cannot wait for, that is the promise of God from before all ages. That we do not understand.

Wait for it. Wait.

In the silence.

Peace.

***

The Book of Common Prayer (1662):

Eaſter Even.   

The Collect.

GRANT, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son, our Saviour Jesus Chriſt; so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections, we may be buried with him; and that through the grave and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection, for his merits who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, thy Son Jesus Chriſt our Lord. Amen. 

The Epistle. 1 S. PET. 3. 17.  The Gospel. S. MATTH. 27. 57.

 

The Great Vigil of Easter : Revised Common Lectionary

At The Liturgy of the Word

Genesis 1:1-2:4a [The Story of Creation]
Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18, 8:6-18, 9:8-13 [The Flood]
Genesis 22:1-18 [Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac]
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea]
Isaiah 55:1-11 [Salvation offered freely to all]
Baruch 3:9-15, 3:32-4:4 or Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6 [Learn wisdom and live]
Ezekiel 36:24-28 [A new heart and a new spirit]
Ezekiel 37:1-14 [The valley of dry bones]
Zephaniah 3:14-20 [The gathering of God's people] 

At The Eucharist

Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 114
Matthew 28:1-10 

Ordinary Time

When will be this be over? When can we go back to ordinary time?  

     In some church Kalendars the seasons after the Feast of Epiphany and the Day of Pentecost are called Ordinary Time. These are the green days, the green seasons, the shorter one in early days of the new year, the later "the long green season" of mostly summer but then on and on into autumn.  

     But this year, we want to go back to normal. Will we ever? 

     As priests have noted, including Doyle from St Patrick's Kenwood in her Easter letter, we will be a new people when this is over. 

     The New Yorker writer David Remnick remarks in April 13th 2020 "Talk of the Town" that "we will greet our friends, face to face, at long-delayed Easter services and Passover Seders." 

     Not so sure.  Some of those face-to-face greetings will happen in the consummation of time.  

     And we will be changed.  That is the Easter promise. We shall all be changed.  

    We will be a new people. This is going to happen, regardless of the virus or its momentum. 

     What is going on, beneath the surface happenings of coronavirus shut-down, safe distancing, and two-meter socializing, is a global re-think of who we are. At least that is what the invitation is; the opportunity.  

     Again, for many of us. Some of us, our choices are limited, indeed tragically. 

     But we can in aggregate, as a community, begin to think about our society and what we want it to be. And what we want it to do.  

     Do we want to look out for the elderly? Do we want to begin to call them, relationally, "our elders" instead of the impersonal problem-solving "the seniors"? Do we want to look out for the unfortunate, the undeserving (yes) and the stranger among us?  

     Do we want them to earn it? Do we really think we can impose that requirement? 

    In the fraught political days ahead we will ask ourselves new questions.  

     Perhaps instead of discussing health care in terms of financial responsibilities - who's going to pay for this? who is liable if things go wrong? - but in terms of care: how well are we treating people? 

     In terms of voting maybe we will ask not how to limit the electorate to the congenial but how to ensure a legitimate plebiscite - including distance voting (absentee ballots and the like) and sensible redistricting. 

     Who deserves to be at the table may be met with more humility: as we are all welcome at the Lord's table. 

 

JRL+

• Job 14:1-14
• or Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24
• 1 Peter 4:1-8
• Matthew 27:57-66
• or John 19:38-42
• Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16