So.... what are you people doing here, at this time of night? We’re none of us usually here on a Saturday night, are we? Church on a Manhattan Saturday night? Bit odd, isn’t it?
You can bet most New Yorkers are not in church tonight. They’re out and about, tasting some of what this amazing city has to offer. There’s that new play “War Horse” across Broadway at Lincoln Center that the critics are raving about. The film adaptation of “Water for Elephants” opened this weekend just around the corner at the movie theater. Further uptown there’s a concert called “Beyond Tango” at Symphony Space which sounds interesting. The curtain goes up at 8:00 pm all over Broadway tonight just like every Saturday night. There are tables at a gazillion restaurants around town. A bit later there will be lively crowds at the various watering holes on the Upper West Side.
And if it starts to rain again, well, there’s probably something pretty good on your TiVO at home.
So, what are you people doing here this time of night? Like many before you, this service of the Great Vigil of Easter seems to have got you out of the house and into church tonight. It’s a very old Christian observance, the Vigil of Easter. A Spanish pilgrim named Egeria wrote about her late fourth century vacation, pilgrimage really,to Jerusalem and she told her friends about attending the Easter Vigil on a Saturday night in the holy city where all the events we commemorate this night actually took place. The fourth century was a long time ago, but we’re still up to it, in much the same way as Egeria witnessed.The liturgical day is a bit different than the work day, or even the calendar day. The liturgical day begins at sundown as did the Jewish Sabbath in Christ’s day and in our own. So, the church takes advantage of this holy horology and celebrates the mysterious miracle of Easter just as soon as we can – just after sundown on the eve of Easter Day.
As you’ve already seen, this service of worship is quite different than our usual. Instead of a bright Sunday morning, we enter in the darkness of night, and sit in that darkness while a new flame is kindled and a special candle is dedicated as an evening sacrifice to Christ, our morning star.
It was at this particular liturgy each year when the early Christian church baptized adult converts to the faith. Tonight, in lieu of any baptisms, we renewed our own baptismal vows and got newly blessed baptismal water sprinkled on us.
So, this night is a night that has long been associated with the rebirth we receive at our baptism as well as the resurrection unto eternal life we proclaim in Jesus Christ. It is as the Apostle Paul tells us in our reading from Romans tonight, “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... 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.” (Rom 6:3-5)
Tonight, we celebrate the resurrection and we proclaim that the Lord is risen in glory, and so too shall we rise in glory on the last day. There are plenty of folks, though who believe no such thing. There are plenty of folks in this neighborhood, in this great city and in the world who find what we believe to be so much fantasy. And they likely think what we do in response to our belief – going to church on a Saturday night to sit in the dark, to be sprinkled with water and the like – they think the things we do are so much hokum, so much silliness. And they probably think there’s something strange about us.
They doubt the efficacy, the miraculous possibility of rebirth in baptism and resurrection into eternal life. They don’t believe it can be true. I’m going to call these doubters ‘rebirthers’ because they have a lot in common with those folks called ‘birthers’ – they just can’t bring themselves to accept the fact that something so unexpected, so miraculous has, in fact, taken place.
And that puts you and me on the margins a bit, doesn’t it? It puts us out there on the fringes. We’re not among the great throng crowding theaters and restaurants tonight. The new life we are born into in Christ makes us do odd things and hold strange beliefs. Things that put us at odds with others. We show up at church on, of all things, a Saturday night to celebrate an improbable resurrection.
And in believing in Jesus’ resurrection, we also believe in what he taught us. We believe that we are called to seek justice for the oppressed, to counter the material values of our culture. We feel called feed the poor, comfort the sick, welcome the stranger. Come to think of it, some of these things put us at odds with a good many if not most of our fellow Christians in this country, those Christians who seem to be more concerned with sex than justice, and more apt to seek power than to challenge it.
But like them, we are compelled to believe in the miracle of the resurrection of the dead and to hope and believe in a life to come, a life that unexpectedly begins in the tomb, but ends in glory everlasting. Strange things, miraculous things. Things that will get you out of the house on a Saturday night, and draw you near to the altar of God.
++++++++++++++++
Anyway, Lady Gaga’s recent hit single was written with a particular purpose. Like many of us, Lady Gaga was strongly affected by the recent spate of suicides by gay teens in America, suicides that seem to have been caused by bullying from their intolerant classmates. In response and out of what I expect is a real affection for these kids, Lady Gaga put out a pop song, really an anthem of sorts, called “Born This Way.” The chorus of the song goes like this:
I’m beautiful in my way,‘cause got makes no mistakes,
I’m on the right track, baby; I was born this way.
Ooooh, there ain’t no other way,
I’m on the right track baby; I was born this way.
In addition to selling lots and lots of records, or probably I should say downloads, Lady Gaga sent a message of hope and acceptance to some kids who might otherwise feel marginalized, left out of the mainstream, unloved, unaccepted and misunderstood by the majority of their peers.
We too are out of the mainstream, we Christians. We believe strange things and do strange things as a result of those beliefs. We work for justice and peace, we help the less fortunate. We believe in a life beyond all that we can know in this life. We go to church on Saturday nights, of all things.
Well, so be it. It can be tough at times, but when you believe, you believe. There’s no getting around it. But I’d like to offer you a word or two of Easter comfort and consolation.
When you feel like the world is too much for you and what you believe puts you too much at odds with the majority of your neighbors or seemingly at odds with the majority of Christians. Remember your rebirth and the hope of the resurrection. And remember a word or two of the gospel a la Lady Gaga.
You are beautiful in a godly and holy way, and God makes no mistakes.
You’re on the right track, baby, you were reborn this way.
Oooo, there ain’t no other way, you’re on the right track baby,
you were reborn this way.”
Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
As you’ve already seen, this service of worship is quite different than our usual. Instead of a bright Sunday morning, we enter in the darkness of night, and sit in that darkness while a new flame is kindled and a special candle is dedicated as an evening sacrifice to Christ, our morning star.
It was at this particular liturgy each year when the early Christian church baptized adult converts to the faith. Tonight, in lieu of any baptisms, we renewed our own baptismal vows and got newly blessed baptismal water sprinkled on us.
So, this night is a night that has long been associated with the rebirth we receive at our baptism as well as the resurrection unto eternal life we proclaim in Jesus Christ. It is as the Apostle Paul tells us in our reading from Romans tonight, “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... 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.” (Rom 6:3-5)
Tonight, we celebrate the resurrection and we proclaim that the Lord is risen in glory, and so too shall we rise in glory on the last day. There are plenty of folks, though who believe no such thing. There are plenty of folks in this neighborhood, in this great city and in the world who find what we believe to be so much fantasy. And they likely think what we do in response to our belief – going to church on a Saturday night to sit in the dark, to be sprinkled with water and the like – they think the things we do are so much hokum, so much silliness. And they probably think there’s something strange about us.
They doubt the efficacy, the miraculous possibility of rebirth in baptism and resurrection into eternal life. They don’t believe it can be true. I’m going to call these doubters ‘rebirthers’ because they have a lot in common with those folks called ‘birthers’ – they just can’t bring themselves to accept the fact that something so unexpected, so miraculous has, in fact, taken place.
And that puts you and me on the margins a bit, doesn’t it? It puts us out there on the fringes. We’re not among the great throng crowding theaters and restaurants tonight. The new life we are born into in Christ makes us do odd things and hold strange beliefs. Things that put us at odds with others. We show up at church on, of all things, a Saturday night to celebrate an improbable resurrection.
And in believing in Jesus’ resurrection, we also believe in what he taught us. We believe that we are called to seek justice for the oppressed, to counter the material values of our culture. We feel called feed the poor, comfort the sick, welcome the stranger. Come to think of it, some of these things put us at odds with a good many if not most of our fellow Christians in this country, those Christians who seem to be more concerned with sex than justice, and more apt to seek power than to challenge it.
But like them, we are compelled to believe in the miracle of the resurrection of the dead and to hope and believe in a life to come, a life that unexpectedly begins in the tomb, but ends in glory everlasting. Strange things, miraculous things. Things that will get you out of the house on a Saturday night, and draw you near to the altar of God.
++++++++++++++++
Not too long ago a pop star released what became a big hit single. I’m talking about Lady Gaga, Nigel’s favorite singer... right, Nigel? Just the other day, I asked our organist and choirmaster Nigel Potts if he liked Lady Gaga, but he claimed he didn’t know who she was. Now, this is in spite of the fact that, just around the corner on Broadway, just a few steps north of 69th Street is a bus shelter and on that bus shelter is a huge ad, you know how big those things are, right? Like 8 feet by 5 feet or something. Anyway, this bus shelter ad is for Lady Gaga’s upcoming HBO special and it features a huge photo of one of the world’s biggest pop stars, in a blonde wig with fireworks shooting out of her... well, never mind
Anyway, Lady Gaga’s recent hit single was written with a particular purpose. Like many of us, Lady Gaga was strongly affected by the recent spate of suicides by gay teens in America, suicides that seem to have been caused by bullying from their intolerant classmates. In response and out of what I expect is a real affection for these kids, Lady Gaga put out a pop song, really an anthem of sorts, called “Born This Way.” The chorus of the song goes like this:
I’m beautiful in my way,‘cause got makes no mistakes,
I’m on the right track, baby; I was born this way.
Ooooh, there ain’t no other way,
I’m on the right track baby; I was born this way.
In addition to selling lots and lots of records, or probably I should say downloads, Lady Gaga sent a message of hope and acceptance to some kids who might otherwise feel marginalized, left out of the mainstream, unloved, unaccepted and misunderstood by the majority of their peers.
We too are out of the mainstream, we Christians. We believe strange things and do strange things as a result of those beliefs. We work for justice and peace, we help the less fortunate. We believe in a life beyond all that we can know in this life. We go to church on Saturday nights, of all things.
Well, so be it. It can be tough at times, but when you believe, you believe. There’s no getting around it. But I’d like to offer you a word or two of Easter comfort and consolation.
When you feel like the world is too much for you and what you believe puts you too much at odds with the majority of your neighbors or seemingly at odds with the majority of Christians. Remember your rebirth and the hope of the resurrection. And remember a word or two of the gospel a la Lady Gaga.
You are beautiful in a godly and holy way, and God makes no mistakes.
You’re on the right track, baby, you were reborn this way.
Oooo, there ain’t no other way, you’re on the right track baby,
you were reborn this way.”
Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!
© The Rev. Mark R. Collins
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