Easter
Vigil
Homily By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA, 4 April 2015
RCL
Year B: Ezekiel 36:24-28; Romans
6:3-11; Psalm 114; Mark 16:1-8
Time
flies!
It seems like yesterday we started Lent &
fasted from the word Alleluia.
Yet here we are at Easter, joyfully saying Alleluia!
Time
flies tonight as we speed-read human history, hearing some of the
great stories of us as humans who know & love God, who then
forget & just don't get it & finally DO get it....at least
until we forget again God's profound Love. After
all that we share this night of nights, how can we possibly forget &
drift back into the old us?
We
hear God promise us in our scripture from
Ezekiel: “A new heart I
will give you...a new spirit I will put within you..I will remove
from your body the heart of stone & give you a heart of flesh.”
As Christians, we know this is possible because the loving heart of
flesh that beats within Jesus stops beating on the hard wood of the
cross. Jesus' human heart stops beating on Good Friday – the day
that looks like Bad Friday – yet the day that declares: God DOES
love us & God redeems us through Jesus' death on the cross. Death
is
not the final word.
We
celebrate this truth: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will
come again – Alleluia! Jesus' Resurrection gives us confidence to
live in new, bold ways. Jesus calls us into a new relationship
with God & each other, to live in holy community.
Notice
tonight's Gospel from Mark repeats details to emphasize the work we
have to do to share
the Good News of Jesus' Resurrection:
1st
the angel says to the women: "Do not be alarmed...Jesus...has
been raised...go...tell his disciples..." They leave in terror &
amazement and...and...and say nothing!?[At some point, someone said
something or we wouldn't be here tonight celebrating Jesus'
Resurrection!] Mark goes on to say Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene,
who tells the disciples, who don't believe her. Jesus appears to 2
others, who tell the disciples, who don't believe them. Jesus appears
to the 11 disciples, gives them what-for about their stubbornness in
not believing the Good News. What
does it take to get through to us?
We
do
have
Good News to share. Do not be afraid to share it. In our Baptismal
Vows we have just promised to
proclaim
by word & example the Good News of God in Christ. We vowed no
limit to proclaiming this Good News, which includes what we read in
Romans: We are no longer enslaved to sin,
no longer trapped in sin. This Good News we promise
to proclaim
with God’s
help.
Proclaim
is an interesting word. It can mean (as
my dictionary1
says):
“to declare publicly, insistently, proudly in speech or
writing,...to extol, to proclaim the rescue worker's efforts. We are
to proclaim
our rescue worker's efforts: Jesus is
our rescuer.
This
concept of the rescuer reminds me of the 2010 mining disaster in
Chile. You may recall the mine's collapse kept 33 miners trapped
2,300 feet down in the earth for 69 days [Aug.
5-Oct. 13].2
Humans
have been trapped in sin a lot longer. We have Good News to
proclaim to release trapped people. As you/as we do this work, I
encourage you to continue in the apostles’ teaching &
fellowship, in the breaking of bread & in the prayers – all
with God’s help.
God
entrusts this work to us to do with God & each other. We do this
work in this happening community where we live God's love. God gives
us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our
rescue work
so that
our love may overflow more & more with knowledge & full
insight to help us determine what is best.
God
gives us the work to do so that others come to know:
God loves you.
No exceptions.
All are welcome.
Alleluia! All are welcome! What Love. What a joyful reason to rejoice
& SHOUT Alleluia!
Bibliography
Bacon,
Ed. 8 Habits of Love: Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind. Boston:
Grand Central Life & Style. Hatchette Book Group. 2012.
Dios
Habla Hoy: La Biblia.
2da
Ed.
Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco:
Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Holy
Bible. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University
Press. 1989.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York:
Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New
York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Merriam-Webster.
Smartphone Dictionary app.
Merriam-Webster Inc. 2012. Accessed: 14 April 2014.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May,
Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated,
1977.
Timeline:
Trapped Chilean miners.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miners.timeline/index.html.
Accessed: 14 April 2014.
2
Timeline:
Trapped Chilean miners.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miners.timeline/index.html.
Accessed: 14 April 2014.
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