Life is Stronger Than Death

Dear friends in Christ: On this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer. For this is the Passover of the Lord, in which, by hearing his Word and celebrating his Sacraments, we share in his victory over death.

With these ancient words this holy night, we joined with our brothers and sisters in the Church throughout the world, gathering in vigil and prayer, hearing God’s words and celebrating the sacrament, and rejoicing and sharing in Christ’s victory over death.

The Easter Vigil is the Church’s most ancient liturgy, and it is my favorite service of the year. The power and mystery and drama of this night never fail to move me.

On this night we hear the powerful stories of God’s salvation throughout history – from the parting of the Red Sea to raising Jesus from the dead. They are audacious, outrageous stories of hope when things seem hopeless, of salvation when all is lost, of life defeating death.

Writer Annie Dillard fears that we have lost our passion about these outrageous stories, that we have somehow tamed them, put reins on their intensity.

“Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke” when we come to church? she asks.

“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw and velvet hats to church,” she declares. “We should all wear crash helmets. Ushers should use life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.

“For the sleeping God may wake some day and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return.”

I think one reason I respond so much to the services of Holy Week, including the Vigil, is that they take us out of our Sunday morning routine, force us to see things in a new and different light, help us to wake up and see anew the power of God.

On this holy night, I want to share with you a story of the Easter Vigil being made powerfully new by the circumstances in which it was celebrated.

In 1983 a small group of worshippers, led by Methodist pastor Bill Wylie Kellerman, gathered in a cabin in the woods of northern Michigan to begin this ancient liturgy.

The location of the vigil that night was no accident. Less than a mile up the road was Wurtsmith Air Force Base, where 16 B-52s with nuclear targets in the Soviet Union sat on the runway.

After weeks of prayer and discernment, Kellerman and his friends had decided that this night in which Christ passed over from death to new life was the time for them to act, the time to proclaim a new creation, a new way of being, a new proclamation of peace in a world awash with weapons of death and destruction.

“At 2 a.m. we began the liturgy of the Word…the Easter Vigil…a feast of faithfulness, passage, and hope…A communion of the living…a prayer of passage, a claim upon the future,” Kellerman writes.

The small group of worshippers processed single file from the cabin into the cold night, through the woods to the end of the runway on which the bombers sat.

“At the barbed-wire fence we paused and circled in preparation for two symbolic acts,” Kellerman says. “The first was to light the Paschal candle. The second, indeed one with the other, was to cut the fence.

“Twang! The security of death guarding death was broken in liturgy. The wall was breached.”

Now the group of seven began a three-and-a-half mile trek toward the loaded B-52s. They walked in silence, occasionally falling to the ground to avoid being seen by patrolling security guards.

When they reached the nuclear storage bunkers they paused for the next segment of the liturgy – the renewal of their baptismal vows.

“I had not foreseen the personal power of that moment,” Kellerman writes. “To look down the runway toward the machines and their cargo and there ‘to renounced Satan and all his works.’

“There I promised in a way not fully understood before to ‘persevere in resisting evil, and whenever I fall into sin to repent and return to the Lord.’

“A life may be called back to such moments,” he says. “Indeed, it may turn on them.”

By this time the sky had begun to lighten, birds to sing. The ragtag group decided no more processing in stealth. “We would proceed upright with dignity, in the manner of right worship.”

And as they did, an astonishing thing happened. They passed unseen. “It was as though the waters had parted,” Kellerman said. “We walked unhindered to the open entrance of the high-security area where planes on alert stood ready to fly.”

There they were finally noticed. Armored vehicles and pickup trucks rushed to surround them.

The band of worshippers spread their altar cloth on the ground, brought out bread and wine, and finished the service at gunpoint, surrounded by young airmen with automatic weapons.

“Are you base personnel?” the soldiers asked. “Do you work on the base?”

When told no, they said, “Well, would you pick up your trash and leave?”

The worshippers realized that their breach of security was such an embarrassment that the guards wanted them to just leave and draw no further attention to themselves.

They declined, and so were herded into a bus, strip-searched, interrogated, and dumped unceremoniously at the front gate without charges.

“We were a disheveled band,” Kellerman says. “Bedraggled, dressed in plastic garbage bags as makeshift protection against the unexpected weather. In weakness and exhaustion, we suffered a sense of our own foolishness.”

I suppose one can make the argument that this whole celebration of the Easter Vigil was at best an exercise in foolishness. Perhaps some of you are thinking that it was also an exercise in illegality.

Maybe you are thinking that the Easter Vigil should be celebrated within the confines of a church, where it belongs.

But as the apostle Paul proclaims in his letter to the Christians in Corinth, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

The powers and principalities of Jesus’ day did their best to contain and confine him, finally nailing him to a cross and watching as he died.

On Easter we celebrate God’s response to that heinous act – that no power or principality, no instrument of death, not even death itself – can contain the power of our God.

In the resurrection, God has said a triumphant yes to Jesus, yes to life; and a resounding no to death and the powers that executed him.

Biblical scholar Marcus Borg says that Easter affirms that the domination systems of this world, whether those of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago or empires of today, are not of God.

Just as death was not the final answer on the cross; instruments of death are not the final answer now.

Tonight we celebrate God’s response to powers and principalities that deal in death and injustice.

Life is stronger than death.

Christ is risen!

Alleluia!

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Readings

The First Lesson: The story of creation
Genesis 1:1—2:4a

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

The Second Lesson: Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea
Exodus 14:10—31; 15:20—21

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.” The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

The Third Lesson: A new heart and a new spirit
Ezekiel 36:24—28

I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

The Epistle
Romans 6:3-11

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 know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The Gospel
Luke 42:1—12

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

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