by the Rev. Craig Lemming
Let us pray: A new heart God will give us, and a new spirit God will put within us; and God will remove from our bodies the hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. God will put Christ’s spirit within us. Amen.
This Great Vigil of Easter is the most beautiful protest against demonic Empires. Empire has been, is, and will always try to erase lives. This Easter Vigil has been, is, and will always be our radical refusal of Empire’s attempts to erase any life. We refuse to forget who we are and whose we are. Despite Empire’s recent efforts to erase the lives, legacies, and literature of icons like Marsha P. Johnson and The Episcopal Church’s Pauli Murray from public historic records, Maya Angelou says:
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your lies,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like life, I’ll rise.[1]
As a colored Zimbabwean who survived one of this world’s worst dictatorships, I know that it is in sacred vigils like this that we remember eternal truths in indelible stories. Sacred narratives of peoples who refuse to forget that God created every life; God loves every life; God saves every life. In times of tyrannical, demonic, hostile government takeovers, the Great Vigil of Easter reminds us that our identity has been, is, and will always be found in the Holy Scriptures, in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, and in the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood. Despite Empire’s attempts to erase the sacred human documents of God’s creation, God’s handiwork will never be erased. God’s handiwork refuses to be disappeared by Empire. God’s handiwork will always come out of Empire’s tombs and rise to new life.
It is not easy to remember this truth. Empire uses violent chaos to erase, deport, disappear, imprison, and crucify inconvenient lives. Lives like our beloved Palestinian-Jewish migrant, refugee, criminal, lover, healer, and troublemaker Jesus. Fear and willful ignorance are Empire’s tools of amnesia. Empires try to make us forget God’s truth. This leads to an identity crisis. We forget who we are and whose we are. When we forget that all people belong to God, to one another, and to creation, we become infected with Empire’s stone-cold-heartedness. We forget our sacred stories. Empire twists forgotten proclamations of God’s Word into idle tales. Empire tries to get us to refuse to believe prophets like Ezekiel. Empire tries to make us refuse to believe those first Apostles – those faithful women who told the ultimate truth: that God has destroyed death in Christ. Tonight’s Gospel proclaims the sacred truth that defeats all crucifying Empires including this one:
The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the angels said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen… Then the women remembered Christ’s words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.
There is nothing life-giving about Empire. And yet, we are tempted to fixate on and idolize Empire’s arrests, deportations, imprisonments, and erasures. Tonight’s Gospel asks each of us: “Why do we look for the living among the dead?”
Tonight, we find ourselves caught between the cold comfort of coddling our victimhood or choosing to actually believe Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women; then do something with that truth.
Tonight, with Christ, we stand between resentment and resurrection.
We stand between Roman, imperial, colonial crucifixions and Christ’s humble, decolonial liberation of all bodies from Empire’s tombs.
We stand between the death of Empire and God’s resurrection of all Creation.
Tonight, with sweet baby Josephine, we cross that threshold.
Like Harriet Tubman, Moses, and Miriam we wade into deep rivers of grief and loss, through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, and cross over into camp ground.
Tonight, we taste and see the goodness, truth, and beauty of Christ’s Body and Blood and are all raised to new life with God’s New Creation.
Tonight, we hold fast to God’s promise proclaimed by the Prophet Ezekiel:
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you.”
This Great Vigil of Easter removes Empire’s fears, erasures, and stone-cold-heartedness and replaces God’s holy, loving, and liberating spirit within our hearts of flesh. Christ’s love fills us so fully that we too come out of Empire’s tombs.
The Great Vigil of Easter will always be the most beautiful protest against the death and destruction of demonic Empire. Easter creatures will never be erased!
Tonight, God fills our hearts of flesh with Christ’s Spirit.
Tonight, we refuse Empire’s erasures of lives God created.
Tonight, we come out of Empire’s bitter, resentful tombs.
Tonight, like Diana Ross, we’re coming out – to love and serve all people.
As we share the Peace, I invite you to stand now, as you are able, and remember:
Out of Empire’s tombs, in God’s love, we’re coming out.
As resurrected children of God, we’re coming out.
Out of fear, in the name of Christ’s love, we’re coming out.
Out of death into life, we’re coming out.
By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, we’re coming out, risen indeed!
The Peace of the Risen Lord be always with you!
Let us offer one another a sign of God’s Peace.
