Psalm: 27
New Testament: Romans 8:1-11
Patristic Reading: An excerpt from a sermon on Holy Saturday

Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us! Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia!

The Great Vigil of Easter is always my favourite liturgy of the Church year. In it, there are many signs and symbols juxtaposed in a way that helps make clear both where we are coming from….our salvation history…..and where we are going.

The service starts in the dark of night, and we read of how God created the world, saw that it was good and continually established covenants with Noah, Abraham, Jacob, David, and even foretold of a future redemption through the prophets. A new relationship with God that cannot be broken.

The new Easter Fire is lit, and gradually the Church fills with light…..a light which has not been seen since Thursday night at the Holy Thursday liturgy. We give thanks for this light and then organ music and the sound of bells fills the sanctuary as we commemorate the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead! Our sins are forgiven, and more importantly, death, despair, and misery hold no more sway over us.

In this moment…..on this night……we are invited to remember who we are, and to remember that God loves us beyond everything. We are given a chance to renew our commitment made in Baptism….and are reassured that nothing can hold us back from making these promises….Not even if we have been turning against God for the whole of our lives…..On this night…..everyone is invited to be made new:

This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

May each and every one of you find joy in this message, and I pray that all of our hearts will be moved to love God and love one another even more…from this time forth, until the end of the world. +