The Rev. Joseph Farnes
All Saints, Boise
Easter Vigil
April 8, 2023
Mini-Homily 1: The Creation
On this most holy night, we gather to tell the stories of our salvation and redemption. They are our stories. Some are ancient stories that is true in the literary, but not literal, sense. On this most holy night, we take our place in a long lineage of salvation.
We proclaim these things to draw them close to us, to place ourselves in that sacred reality. They are not history long past – they are history that is alive in us.
And we begin with the beginning: the creation. The skies, the vast expanse of space, the stars unfathomly distant … and the atoms and molecules that make up our bodies. Each atom in your body draws its existence from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. Each molecule of iron in your blood forged in starry explosions billions of years ago, and the air you breathe cycled over and over again, passed down from organism and atmosphere and earth itself over millions of years.
Every bit of you alive right now reflects that loving purpose of God, that salvation, that healing, that life that was spoken into existence billions of years ago, a life that is good, a blessing, a gift.
The beginning was God’s first act of love for you, for us, for all things – a love that is older than creation itself.
Mini-Homily 2: The Exodus
The waters of the Red Sea parted, and Israel emerges into freedom. Those who held them in slavery are no more, and Israel is free. And we, we who have been submerged in the waters of baptism, we proclaim our own freedom: freedom in spirit, freedom from sin, freedom from evil, freedom from those things on earth that bind us. Where the water of baptism is, so is the water of the Red Sea. These holy days are our Passover, and we are set free. And on the shores of the Red Sea, we join with our ancient forebears in their song of triumph.
And yet, we know that the waters that have set us free have also come crashing back upon the Egyptians, the warriors of Pharaoh. Pharaoh demanded that the Israelites be slaves, that they were property, that he deserved the wealth he gained from their forced labor. The powers of the world do not give up their power easily, readily, or willingly. The Israelites are freed, but the Egyptians will mourn their dead.
We sing a song of triumph, but we are also the ones who lie in the bottom of the sea. We are both Israelites and Egyptians. We are human, after all.
And God loves both the Israelites and the Egyptians. As our Jewish siblings have recorded in the Talmud, “At that time [of the Exodus] the ministering angels wanted to chant their hymns before the Holy One, blessed be God, but God said, The work of My hands is being drowned in the sea, and shall you chant hymns before Me?”[i]
We sing a song of triumph, that one day all may pass through the Red Sea into the freedom and joy and life of God.
Mini-Homily 3: Salvation for All
If you are thirsty, come to the water! If you are hungry, come and eat! The blessings pour out – for one and for all.
Thus the world is turned on its head. Salvation is not for the select few, the righteous and the best. Salvation is for all. The rain and the snow fall on the earth, to feed the grasses and plants, the animals, all creatures, and these blessings will bear fruit.
God’s abundance is not restrained and restricted. God’s gifts call the whole world to the waters, the waters that God gives.
Waters of creation, poured out gratuitously and freely. Waters of the new creation, to set free and make new.
Waters of the liberation at the Red Sea and the waters of Baptism. Waters we gladly share, not because they are ours – we share the waters of new life because the waters are from God, and who are we to hold tight God’s blessing, these waters that God gives out of love to one and all.
Mini-Homily 4: The Valley of Dry Bones
Hope is a necessary virtue, at all times but especially in the times we find ourselves in. There seems to be no way out of the chaos, hatred, ignorance, greed, and endless thirst for power in the world around us. It might seem impossible that good things can ever happen again. We are left waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Will there be justice and fairness? Will there be truth and accountability? Will there be prosperity for the many, and not just for the few?
We feel as alive and as hopeful as a valley of dead, dry bones.
But there is hope. Not a sweet hope, not an easy hope. This isn’t optimism.
This is a hope that comes from deep within. This is a hope that comes from God.
God is faithful, and God will bring good to fruition. We can only see death around us, but God can make even these dead bones live. God will bring goodness, love, wisdom, generosity, community flourish. God can make a way out of no way. We have a reason for hope!
And you can only feel it in your bones.
Mini-Homily 5: Gathering of God’s People
God turns shame into praise. The outcast and the lame will find welcome and wholeness as they are. The rejected, the despised – they are called to the Kingdom.
God turns shame into praise. God takes an instrument of shameful death – the cross – and turns it to the means of our healing and salvation. Nothing, no one, is outside the love of God. There is no worldly punishment that is stronger than the love of God.
We will rejoice, we will celebrate! God restores our fortunes, God lifts up the poor and the oppressed, God lifts up the sinner and sets them free. We who have mourned and wept will gather together with songs of praise. We will gather and celebrate the goodness of God which knows no bounds.
Mini-Homily 6: The Resurrection
An earthquake, an angel, flashing like lightning. The brave soldiers shake and fall faint, but the women stand firm to hear the angel’s message of the Resurrection to take back to the others. The women believe – with great fear and great joy. Great fear, because this powerful wonder of God has taken place! And great joy, because the Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
And Mary and Mary Magdalene rush off. But before they can reach their destination, they encounter a greater joy: Jesus himself! They rejoice, they worship him. God incarnate stands before them, his life more powerful than death!
And these two women are the Church. Mary Magdalene is the Apostle to the Apostles, as the Church has proclaimed throughout the ages. And the other Mary, likely the mother of James, she joins with Mary Magdalene to proclaim the Gospel, to proclaim the Good News that Christ Jesus has risen from the dead!
And we, too, down the ages share in this great joy. Jesus Christ is risen, and his life restores us to life and brings us to the fullness of God’s own life. We are a new creation in Christ. We are set free through the waters of baptism. All are called to this great hope, and we celebrate with great joy.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
[i] Babylonian Talmud, Megilla 10a