SPEAKER_08: Let us hear the record of God's saving deeds and history, how God saved the people in ages past, and let us pray that our God will bring each of us to the fullness of redemption.
SPEAKER_08: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_05: 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.
SPEAKER_05: Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
SPEAKER_05: And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
SPEAKER_05: God called the light day and the darkness he called night.
SPEAKER_05: And then there was evening and there was morning the first day.
SPEAKER_05: And God said, Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters, waters from the waters.
SPEAKER_05: So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome.
SPEAKER_05: And it was so God called the dome sky, and there was evening and there was morning the second day.
SPEAKER_05: And God said, Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.
SPEAKER_05: And it was so.
SPEAKER_05: God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called seas.
SPEAKER_05: And God saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_05: Then God said, Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seeds, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.
SPEAKER_05: And it was so.
SPEAKER_05: The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it.
SPEAKER_05: And God saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_05: And there was evening and there was morning the third day.
SPEAKER_05: 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.
SPEAKER_05: And it was so.
SPEAKER_05: God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.
SPEAKER_05: 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 darkness.
SPEAKER_05: And God saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_05: And there was evening and there was morning the fourth day.
SPEAKER_05: And God said, Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let the birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.
SPEAKER_05: So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves of every kind, which with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind.
SPEAKER_05: And God saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_05: God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.
SPEAKER_05: And there was evening and there was morning the fifth day.
SPEAKER_05: 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.
SPEAKER_05: And it was so.
SPEAKER_05: God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps on the ground of every kind.
SPEAKER_05: And God saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_05: 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.
SPEAKER_05: So God created humankind in his image.
SPEAKER_05: In the image of God he created them, male and female, he created them.
SPEAKER_05: 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.
SPEAKER_05: God said, See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in it it in its fruit.
SPEAKER_05: 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.
SPEAKER_05: And it was so.
SPEAKER_05: God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.
SPEAKER_05: And there was evening and there was morning, the six days.
SPEAKER_05: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all and all their multitude.
SPEAKER_05: 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.
SPEAKER_05: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_02: Your justice is like the great.
SPEAKER_08: Grant that we may share the divine life of Him who humbled Himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them.
SPEAKER_01: In great fear, the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you'd have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_01: What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?
SPEAKER_01: Is this not the very thing we've told you in Egypt?
SPEAKER_01: Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_01: For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: But Moses said to the people, do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Stand firm and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today.
SPEAKER_01: For the Egyptians who you see today, you shall never see again.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.
SPEAKER_01: Then the Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry out to me?
SPEAKER_01: Tell the Israelites to go forward.
SPEAKER_01: 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 the ground.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: The angel of God, who was going before the Israelites' army, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from the front of them and took its place behind them.
SPEAKER_01: It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night.
SPEAKER_01: One did not come near the other all night.
SPEAKER_01: And then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them to their right and on their left.
SPEAKER_01: The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and chariot drivers.
SPEAKER_01: And as the morning watched, the Lord and the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into panic.
SPEAKER_01: He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty.
SPEAKER_01: The Egyptians said, Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: And 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.
SPEAKER_01: And so Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the dawn the sea returned to this normal depth.
SPEAKER_01: And as the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea, and the waters returned and covered their chariots and chariot drivers.
SPEAKER_01: The entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
SPEAKER_01: But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
SPEAKER_01: Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
SPEAKER_01: Israel saw the great work that the Lord did.
SPEAKER_01: And so the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
SPEAKER_01: And 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.
SPEAKER_01: And Miriam sang to them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.
SPEAKER_01: Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
SPEAKER_01: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_08: To be a sign for us of the salvation of all nations by the water of baptism.
SPEAKER_08: Grant that all the peoples of the earth may be numbered among the offspring of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah, and rejoice in the inheritance of Israel.
SPEAKER_08: Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.
SPEAKER_00: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
SPEAKER_00: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.
SPEAKER_00: And I will remove from you, from your body the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.
SPEAKER_00: I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes, and be careful to observe my ordinances.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_02: See that I remember that his name is exalted the princes of the Lord, for his son, I will trust in him and not be afraid.
SPEAKER_02: For the Lord is my strong and my short event, and he will be my save.
SPEAKER_02: For that great one is the only one of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Surely it is God who saves me.
SPEAKER_02: I will trust in him and not be afraid.
SPEAKER_02: For the Lord is my stronger than my sure defense, and he will be my Savior.
SPEAKER_08: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_08: Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation.
SPEAKER_08: Grant that all who are reborn into the fellowship of Christ's body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith.
SPEAKER_08: Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: I invite you to join me in standing as you're able.
SPEAKER_08: Through the Paschal mystery, dear friends, we are buried with Christ by baptism into his death and raised with him the newness of life.
SPEAKER_08: I call upon you, therefore, now that our Lenten observance is ended, to renew the solemn promises and vows of holy baptism by which we once renounced Satan and all his works and promise to serve God faithfully in the Holy Catholic Church.
SPEAKER_08: Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_08: Do you believe in God the Father?
SPEAKER_04: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_08: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
SPEAKER_04: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
SPEAKER_04: He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
SPEAKER_04: He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
SPEAKER_04: He descended to the dead.
SPEAKER_04: On the third day he rose again.
SPEAKER_04: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_04: He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_08: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_04: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
SPEAKER_08: Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers?
unknown: The will with God's help.
SPEAKER_08: Will you persevere in resisting evil?
SPEAKER_08: And whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: I will with God's help.
SPEAKER_08: Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ?
SPEAKER_04: I will with God's help.
SPEAKER_08: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
SPEAKER_04: I will with God's help.
SPEAKER_08: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?
SPEAKER_04: I will with God's help.
SPEAKER_08: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_04: And also with you.
SPEAKER_08: We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
SPEAKER_08: Over it, the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
SPEAKER_08: Through it, you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise.
SPEAKER_08: In it, your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us through his death and resurrection from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.
SPEAKER_08: We thank you, Father, for the water of baptism.
SPEAKER_08: In it we are buried with Christ in his death.
SPEAKER_08: By it we share in his resurrection.
SPEAKER_07: Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_08: Therefore, in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them and renewing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_08: And so now sanctify this water, we pray you by the power of your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_08: That those who have been cleansed here from sin and born again may continue forever in the risen life of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
SPEAKER_08: To him to you and to the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory, now and forever.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: It's been a long year, and I'm going to invite you to do something that is frankly very unepiscopalian, which is to renew your own baptismal vows, remember your baptism by coming forward, if you like, and receiving the waters on your person.
SPEAKER_08: If you'd like to do this, just approach in six foot intervals the rail and prepare to be wet.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: Now I want to prepare you in the story that there's an earthquake.
SPEAKER_08: You may want to turn your hearing aids down.
SPEAKER_08: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him and the joy of his resurrection through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_06: A reading from Romans.
SPEAKER_06: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
SPEAKER_06: Therefore, we've 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.
SPEAKER_06: For if we've been united with him in death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
SPEAKER_06: 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.
SPEAKER_06: For whoever has died is freed from sin.
SPEAKER_06: But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
SPEAKER_06: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.
SPEAKER_06: Death no longer has dominion over him.
SPEAKER_06: The death he died, he died to sin once and for all.
SPEAKER_06: But the life he lives, he lives to God.
SPEAKER_06: So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_08: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus.
SPEAKER_08: And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
SPEAKER_08: They'd been saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?
SPEAKER_08: And when they looked up, they saw the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
SPEAKER_08: As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side.
SPEAKER_08: And they were alarmed.
SPEAKER_08: But he said to them, Do not be alarmed.
SPEAKER_08: You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
SPEAKER_08: He has been raised.
SPEAKER_08: He is not here.
SPEAKER_08: Look, there is the place they laid him.
SPEAKER_08: But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee.
SPEAKER_08: There you will see him just as he told you.
SPEAKER_08: So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them.
SPEAKER_08: And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
SPEAKER_08: The Gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_08: The Lord is risen indeed.
SPEAKER_08: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_08: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_08: Our readings this morning are designed not just to remind us of something that happened long ago, but to create some resonance in our lives as we prepare for the new life God intends for us again this year.
SPEAKER_08: When we hear the story of Genesis, I can't help but tell you my own story, my own version of what happens when God begins to create the world and there is watery chaos.
SPEAKER_08: When my daughter was two, we lived in San Diego, and I would take her to the park.
SPEAKER_08: It was about a half a mile journey, often in one of those jogging strollers.
SPEAKER_08: It's really the only thing I needed as a parent for my daughter.
SPEAKER_08: She was in love with cats.
SPEAKER_08: She was about this tall.
SPEAKER_08: We have arguably the perfect dog in the entire world, Maggie, our golden doodle, who is docile and gentle and in all other ways wonderful.
SPEAKER_08: We were walking to the park and there came a cat.
SPEAKER_08: And my two-year-old decided to dismount from the stroller unannounced.
SPEAKER_08: She called to the cat.
SPEAKER_08: The cat was wise.
SPEAKER_08: It ran from her.
SPEAKER_08: This was so important to her that I thought perhaps I could be a good dad and help coax out this cat.
SPEAKER_08: So I put the brake on the stroller.
SPEAKER_08: I tied Maggie up as if she needed that.
SPEAKER_08: I told Emery to wait and be still next to me.
SPEAKER_08: And very slowly I bent down and beckoned the cat.
SPEAKER_08: And this amazing turn happened.
SPEAKER_08: The cat started to approach.
SPEAKER_08: I could see Emery's eyes begin to light up.
SPEAKER_08: Her hands got that little bit of a twitch in them.
SPEAKER_08: The cat was as close to her as that table when primordial chaos broke loose.
SPEAKER_08: The dog bolted for the cat.
SPEAKER_08: Who would have thought?
SPEAKER_08: Lunging, the cat immediately arched all of the hair on its back, meowed, and started to run as the dog chased the cat.
SPEAKER_08: The dog, I'll remind you, was tethered, however, to the jogging stroller.
SPEAKER_08: The brakes were on.
SPEAKER_08: The jogging stroller weighs a good 40 pounds.
SPEAKER_08: Maggie, the perfect dog, lunged after that cat with such pep that she pulled the stroller over.
SPEAKER_08: And there was a bit of a boomerang, sort of bungee jump backlash.
SPEAKER_08: And because the stroller fell and a leash was short, Maggie went from pursuing the cat with great joy to being deathly afraid of the stroller.
SPEAKER_08: And so she ran and towed the stroller behind her.
SPEAKER_08: And I think we're all old enough at this service where I can say the dog was so afraid she took to urinating as she dragged the stroller behind her.
SPEAKER_08: And much like the painting The Scream, her hands came to her face.
SPEAKER_08: She screamed.
SPEAKER_08: And the world was like that when God started.
SPEAKER_08: It was a mess of cats and dogs and chasing and being followed and chaos.
SPEAKER_08: And of course, what we hear in the story is in the middle of that chaos, there is, of course, some beautiful potential, and this is what God does in Genesis chapter 1.
SPEAKER_08: God separates out these elements that are so blended so that there is room for a dog to be a dog, and there is room for a cat to be a cat, so that there is room for the sky to not be combined with water and for vegetation to be itself, so that there is room for light and darkness to be separate.
SPEAKER_08: And after God has made a place for everything, and this is really important, God makes a place for everything.
SPEAKER_08: God says it's very good.
SPEAKER_08: And we find ourselves this morning as we keep vigil, I think, with a need for God for us to continue in making room for one another.
SPEAKER_08: These women, you see, who came to the tomb, by the way, they were the faithful ones.
SPEAKER_08: The male disciples were at home scared to death.
SPEAKER_08: These women have come forward and they were not as you expecting the end of the story.
SPEAKER_08: We know what happens.
SPEAKER_08: They had no idea what was to happen.
SPEAKER_08: They showed up getting ready to mourn and grieve somebody who had touched their lives.
SPEAKER_08: We can say they should have listened to him, they should have known.
SPEAKER_08: But I'm afraid that they like us, they just didn't.
SPEAKER_08: And the tomb was empty.
SPEAKER_08: And notice how Mark ends.
SPEAKER_08: They did not wish one another happy Easter.
SPEAKER_08: They did not go to a brunch, even though these are things we enjoyed.
SPEAKER_08: They ran away screaming because they were afraid.
SPEAKER_08: This I think is the place we find ourselves at a vigil if we're quite honest.
SPEAKER_08: In fact, maybe there's room for this story to be retold in our own lives.
SPEAKER_08: You see, the women didn't come to the tomb believing that some victory had been won.
SPEAKER_08: They came to the tomb to grieve somebody they'd love who touched their lives.
SPEAKER_08: And when they found out that was not the end, please notice they did not say hallelujah.
SPEAKER_08: They were terrified.
SPEAKER_08: Now, I'm a strange person.
SPEAKER_08: Many of you know this by now, in the sense that all week I've been hearing things like, Happy Easter.
SPEAKER_08: And I think this story really matters because, friends, to be honest, there's not much happy about Easter even though it's joyful.
SPEAKER_08: You see, if we come too hard on this story and we say, look, since he's resurrected from the dead, it's all fine.
SPEAKER_08: We've forgotten what happened the last three days.
SPEAKER_08: And this I think is really, really important because if your life is like mine, you can say words like, there's victory in Jesus, but I don't always experience that.
SPEAKER_08: And if you're honest, you don't either.
SPEAKER_08: This is the day in which God separates God's truth from what we so often experience.
SPEAKER_08: Here's the claim from your priest.
SPEAKER_08: Suffering still exists.
SPEAKER_08: Chaos still washes over our lives.
SPEAKER_08: We understand, of course, that in the end God is going to get us.
SPEAKER_08: That's the proclamation of the day.
SPEAKER_08: When I say get us, I don't mean get you with the stick.
SPEAKER_08: I mean pick you up like Christ the Good Shepherd and hold you to God's own bosom.
SPEAKER_08: But we're living in the middle of our lives between now and then.
SPEAKER_08: And these women were living in the middle of their lives between then and later.
SPEAKER_08: Because Jesus rose from the dead, it is really important we remember that the wounds don't go away.
SPEAKER_08: Because Jesus rose from the dead, that does not negate the suffering he endured.
SPEAKER_08: This, I think, is really, really important as we approach Easter once again.
SPEAKER_08: We can't skip the middle part.
SPEAKER_08: You know the consequences of it yourself, skipping the middle part.
SPEAKER_08: That is when, in the middle of some existential crisis, or to use the church word hell, somebody will say, Why are you disappointed?
SPEAKER_08: Christ has won the victory.
SPEAKER_08: Not so much in the Episcopal Church.
SPEAKER_08: Of course, we understand that God is going to get us in the end.
SPEAKER_08: But we live between here and there.
SPEAKER_08: This is the important thing that we hear theologically.
SPEAKER_08: There is, as of this morning, no separation between you and God.
SPEAKER_08: There is nowhere you can go where God will not be, whether that is your own cross or the grave or a new life.
SPEAKER_08: God is there.
SPEAKER_08: But our experience is not always that way.
SPEAKER_08: We live between the end point and in the middle of the journey.
SPEAKER_08: We live, I think, so often in the story we hear about the Reed Sea, where notice the armies of the Pharaoh come and they themselves, forces of chaos, did you notice, get swallowed up by the chaos?
SPEAKER_08: And we know better than to take that reading so literally that we forget to take it seriously.
SPEAKER_08: The lives of those Egyptians matter.
SPEAKER_08: This, I think, is the important part.
SPEAKER_08: As we think about Christ being victorious, the victory that Christ has secured for us is not like the victories we are used to securing, because it doesn't come at somebody else's expense.
SPEAKER_08: This is not Jesus, the swarthy soldier who will beat down all opposition.
SPEAKER_08: But, friends, if you know anything about the tradition of Christianity in our country and in the world, you know that we have unfortunately used the idea of victory in Jesus to frankly be as bad and unkind and cruel as the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_08: The women run away from the Jesus who sanctions violence.
SPEAKER_08: They run away in terror because he's not there.
SPEAKER_08: We're invited to join them in their flight.
SPEAKER_08: The women they come looking for the Jesus that they're used to.
SPEAKER_08: And what do you know?
SPEAKER_08: He isn't where they left him.
SPEAKER_08: And if we're really fair today as a reminder that the Christ of faith will not be where you leave him.
SPEAKER_08: The story is very clear, he's going ahead of you today as a reminder that we're invited to follow him and not stay in the tomb or outside the tomb, or even worse, guarding the tomb so that no one else can see he is not in the places we've left him.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus is going always ahead of us.
SPEAKER_08: So no matter how radically inclusive you believe you are, the story assures us Jesus is ahead of you.
SPEAKER_08: And when we stop and say, Where's Jesus?
SPEAKER_08: He's not where I left him, that's because he's ahead of us.
SPEAKER_08: Ahead of us in radical inclusion.
SPEAKER_08: Ahead of us in taking God's truth that will happen when we die and working to integrate it into the lives that we live.
SPEAKER_08: You see, this is the challenge of the vigil and of Easter is to take God's truth and make it our experience.
SPEAKER_08: And I don't mean at only a personal devotional level.
SPEAKER_08: I mean that we are invited to so order our world and not just our personal piety, but our policies, our stewardship, so that it looks like God's truth.
SPEAKER_08: So that people in our community, in our city, do not have to live between then, between God's end and now.
SPEAKER_08: What I love about being an Episcopalian is that we know that because Jesus rose from the dead, we still get to wear masks.
SPEAKER_08: Because this is where we're living is now.
SPEAKER_08: And our invitation, of course, as we hear this story and renew our baptismal vows is to respect the dignity of every human being.
SPEAKER_08: If we make the jump between sorrow and victory too fast, what we don't realize is that there are people who are denied access to work because of the color of their skin.
SPEAKER_08: Becoming colorblind is not victory in Jesus.
SPEAKER_08: Respecting and celebrating our fellow human beings is living into the truth that God will lead us to later now.
SPEAKER_08: Offering equal access to protection under the law is not just our civic duty, it is our Christian responsibility.
SPEAKER_08: It is the way in which we make God's truth, which will happen when we die, available now.
SPEAKER_08: How is it, friends, that we can tell somebody good news?
SPEAKER_08: God will love you when you die, but I don't care for you now.
SPEAKER_08: This is the kind of spirituality, frankly, that needs a new life today.
SPEAKER_08: That God would give new life to.
SPEAKER_08: Most of you know that a disproportionate share of people who are homeless are veterans.
SPEAKER_08: And if we say mission accomplished, job well done, come back home, don't you see?
SPEAKER_08: We've skipped the middle of the story.
SPEAKER_08: Where people suffer.
SPEAKER_08: You can call it emotional labor.
SPEAKER_08: That's an easy term for it.
SPEAKER_08: Where soldiers are given no space for their Friday and Saturday and for the wounds that they have borne on our behalf.
SPEAKER_08: That's how critical this story is.
SPEAKER_08: And I want to suggest to you, even more radically critical, is that this story does away with the whole notion of victory as we understand it.
SPEAKER_08: God did not struggle with death.
SPEAKER_08: Since God created it, it was not really a struggle for God.
SPEAKER_08: God did not struggle with powers of opposition like the devil.
SPEAKER_08: God is not locked in some kind of war whose outcome is in question.
SPEAKER_08: In God's family, no weapon is drawn but the weapon of righteousness.
SPEAKER_08: Which looks a lot more like pruning hooks than it does like a K-47s.
SPEAKER_08: This story offers to bury and give new life to our notions of how it is we're meant to live as people who say we follow the risen Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus did not fight his oppressors.
SPEAKER_08: And yet we're very clear that there was a victory over death with a capital D proclaimed on this day.
SPEAKER_08: It is also a day, if we're fair, where we could walk away saying, look, it's all done, but I want to suggest to you again, it's our responsibility to make it done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_08: It is also a day in which we can say, Well, that's all been taken care of.
SPEAKER_08: God, thanks for doing that.
SPEAKER_08: When once again I want to suggest to you, we're invited to consider, what if we prevent this story from happening again?
SPEAKER_08: What if?
SPEAKER_08: God preordained from the beginning that God was going to take humanity into God's self, and we're the ones who chose, we're the ones who chose Friday.
SPEAKER_08: This story is a cautionary tale not to choose that again for our brothers and sisters at the border, for our brothers and sisters at the apartment complex, for our brothers and sisters who wear different clothes from us.
SPEAKER_08: This story is a reminder.
SPEAKER_08: We don't have to live into the same story of kangaroo courts isolating children from their parents, being unjust with our punitive models of justice.
SPEAKER_08: This is a story that asks us to consider that God would, in fact, reverse those things.
SPEAKER_08: God would reverse this core narrative that you see in every Disney cartoon that violence is redemptive.
SPEAKER_08: Because it is not.
SPEAKER_08: Heart in the Bible is the center of your will, and turn it into something that is fleshy and beating.
SPEAKER_08: And of course, what we know your heart does is it spreads life and oxygen throughout the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_08: God would turn our insular wills into ones that beat new life into the body of Christ and who belongs to the body of Christ, say the scriptures.
SPEAKER_08: Not just y'all, all y'all.
SPEAKER_08: And this is our assurance of faith that yes, God will catch us, but God will catch us when we die.
SPEAKER_08: And it's our privilege to beat that kind of life into our world right now.
SPEAKER_08: It's a bittersweet day, actually.
SPEAKER_08: That's why I'm not sure happy is the right word.
SPEAKER_08: And I think joyful is.
SPEAKER_08: Because as you know, happiness can't put up with contrary circumstances or cognitive dissonance.
SPEAKER_08: But joy is full of such things.
SPEAKER_08: We have the promise today in the person of Jesus, that no matter how often it seems, like our plans to join on God's side appear to be thwarted.
SPEAKER_08: Love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control, no matter how wounded they seem to be, God will accomplish new life from these, from these fruits of the spirit, from these roots of hearts of flesh that beat and pump oxygenated blood throughout the world.
SPEAKER_08: So with all that in mind, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_08: Christ is risen.
SPEAKER_08: Lord is risen indeed.
SPEAKER_08: The peace of the risen Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_04: And also with you.
SPEAKER_08: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_08: A joyful Easter to you, and thank you for worshiping with us here at St.
SPEAKER_08: Thomas as we celebrate and live into new life.
SPEAKER_08: Just a few announcements to call to your attention.
SPEAKER_08: One is that this coming Saturday is our parish work day.
SPEAKER_08: There are a variety of products, projects that will include sprucing up our grounds and being good stewards of this property that we own and maintain.
SPEAKER_08: So I invite you to come at 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_08: and we will have food served.
SPEAKER_08: If you've noticed something in the parish that's bothered you, today's your day to join us and we'll fix it.
SPEAKER_08: Because we have many things to do here.
SPEAKER_08: I also want to remind you that we have services this morning at 8:30 and 10:30 that are, frankly, dramatically different from this one.
SPEAKER_08: Shorter, they have different readings, and there are no candles.
SPEAKER_08: Huge thank you to a section of the Clear Brook Drumline.
SPEAKER_08: Thank you this morning for stimulating the great earthquake.
SPEAKER_08: I hope you found it well.
SPEAKER_08: Moving.
SPEAKER_08: And of course, we have to celebrate.
SPEAKER_08: I can't tell you how many hours in planning and rehearsal our gifted musicians, Garmin and Kathy and Liz and Ken, have not only done over the last year, but most certainly in preparation for today.
SPEAKER_08: So applause is the word.
SPEAKER_08: Thank you, and continue to walk in love as Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_08: And of your own have we given you.
SPEAKER_08: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_08: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more.
SPEAKER_08: So come, you who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_08: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_08: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ, and he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_07: The Lord be he with you, and also with you.
SPEAKER_07: You created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance.
SPEAKER_07: Countless throngs of angels stand for you to serve you who not hidden day, and beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you unceasing praise, joining with them and giving voice to every creature under heaven.
SPEAKER_07: We are claim you and glorify your name as we say.
SPEAKER_08: We acclaim you, holy Lord, glorious in power.
SPEAKER_08: Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.
SPEAKER_08: You formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our care, so that in obedience to you, our Creator, we might rule and shepherd all your creatures.
SPEAKER_08: When our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death.
SPEAKER_08: In your mercy you came to our help so that in seeking you we might find you.
SPEAKER_08: Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation.
SPEAKER_08: Father, you love the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.
SPEAKER_08: Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, he lived as one of us, yet without sin.
SPEAKER_08: To the poor, he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners freedom, to the sorrowful joy.
SPEAKER_08: To fulfill your purpose, he gave himself up to death, and rising from the grave this morning destroyed death and made the whole creation new.
SPEAKER_08: And that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose for us, God sent the Holy Spirit, God's own first gift to those who believe, to complete Jesus' work in the world and bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.
SPEAKER_08: When the hour had come for Jesus to be glorified by you, his Heavenly Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
SPEAKER_08: At supper with them, Jesus took bread.
SPEAKER_08: And when he given thanks to you, he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_08: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_08: Do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_08: After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_08: And when he given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_08: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_08: Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_08: Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption, recalling Christ's death and his descent among the dead, proclaiming his resurrection and ascension to your right hand, awaiting his coming in glory, and offering to you from the gifts you've given us, this bread and this cup, we bless you.
SPEAKER_08: We praise you, we bless you, we give thanks to you, and we pray to you, Lord our God.
SPEAKER_08: Lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your Holy Spirit may descend upon us and upon these gifts, sanctifying them and showing them to be holy gifts for your holy people, the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_08: Grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ, to the praise of your name.
SPEAKER_08: Remember Michael, our presiding bishop, Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Jim, Bill, and Lillian, and all who minister in your church.
SPEAKER_08: Remember all your people and those who seek your truth.
SPEAKER_08: Remember Chris, Sean, Jerome, Mark, Janice, and Leslie.
SPEAKER_08: The congregation is invited to share their own petition silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_08: Remember all who have died in the peace of Christ, and those whose faith is known to you alone.
SPEAKER_08: Bring them into the place of eternal joy and light.
SPEAKER_08: And grant that we may find our inheritance with all the saints who have found favor with you in ages past.
SPEAKER_08: We praise you in union with them and give you glory through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_07: Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, all honor and glory are yours, Almighty God and Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and the first time.
SPEAKER_08: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_08: And the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: Therefore, let us keep the feast.
SPEAKER_08: Alleluia.
SPEAKER_08: These are the gifts of God for you, the people of God.
SPEAKER_08: Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on in your heart by faith and with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_08: And I invite you to receive bread or a blessing by coming to the aisle closest to your right, coming down the front and returning to your seat on the far side.
SPEAKER_02: We thought it already many days has late.
SPEAKER_02: Love has come, I can't bring that back.
SPEAKER_08: Almighty and ever-living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your Son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.
SPEAKER_08: And now, Father, send us out to do the work you've given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_08: To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and forever.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: And now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do God's will, working in you that which is well pleasing in God's sight.
SPEAKER_08: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you this day and remain with you forever.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.