"On this darkened night..."

A sermon preached at the Easter Vigil, at Faith Episcopal Church.

This is the only night of the year when we hear the Exsultet - that wonderful Hymn to the light of the Paschal Candle. The symbolism of this evening began with the lighting of the new fire – the spark that started it all came from a flint – not matches. Done so as to be a natural fire. Like the spark of God that got everything started way back when. The Paschal Candle is an ancient symbol of Easter, probably earlier than the fourth century. Often is it decorated with the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end, inscribed with the year and pierced by 5 grains of red incense to recall the five wounds of Christ. During the middle ages, the glorification of the Paschal candle reached epic proportions. The candle at Salisbury Cathedral was 36 feet high and during the reign of Queen Mary, Elizabeth’s older half sister, it was made from 300 pounds of wax. It has quite a history.

We can only understand the resurrection in terms of symbols and images because it is a mystery beyond our grasp. The Exsultet, the hymn to this pillar of fire puts this evening into its proper cosmic perspective. It begins in heaven. “ Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels.” From the beginning we are to understand that the resurrection is not the property of the church – “Exult, all creation around God’s throne! Jesus Christ, our King, is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation! ”

In that moment of resurrection – the God-life fills the Christ and spills out, over all creation. “ Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor, radiant in the brightness of your King. Christ’s glory fills the earth and Darkness vanishes for ever! ” Only after the whole creation receives the light of resurrection is the church mentioned. We must be careful in thinking that that means Christians – here I believe that the Church is humankind. We receive Christ’s glory because we are a part of creation. The power of God that enlivened Jesus in the tomb shoots through creation like an electric current. Imagine what that would feel like in you – a holy defibrillator. The Exsultet describes it – “This night dispels all evil, restores lost innocence, casts out hatred, brings peace and humbles earthly pride.” You cannot escape your oneness with all of creation as you share the same cosmic electricity. That is the magic of this night. “Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth.”

To help us understand creation’s exaltation, the older version of the Exsultet lifts up the lowliest of creatures to be the hero of the candle – the bee. “Therefore in the joy of this night…Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God. For it is fed by the melting wax, which the mother bee brought forth to make this precious candle. Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night.

In his book Awakenings, Father Thomas Keating describes what is possible tonight in this way. “You may even experience something like a volcano exploding inside you – a tremendous burst of joyful energy coming from the deepest place inside of you, which causes you to forget all your own thoughts, the fatigue of the evening of the Paschal Vigil. If you have such an experience, you are well prepared to celebrate the Paschal mystery. You touch the reality about which all the symbols of this night’s liturgy are stammering. You penetrate the mystery of the resurrection of Christ. You identify with Christ when you forget yourself and are filled with his joy.”

For this night to work its cosmic wonder in us, we must be open to it. In his book The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Matthew Fox challenges his readers to reclaim a living cosmology. He defines ‘cosmology’ as a three part way of understanding our existence. First he says we need a scientific story about the origin of our universe. Second we need mysticism, “ That psychic response to our being in a universe; and third we need art which translates science and mysticism into images that awaken body, soul, and society. When we have all three then we respond joyously to the awesome universe. Fox often quotes Meister Eckhart, a medieval German mystic who said

“ though we are God’s sons and daughters, we do not realize it yet.” Understanding tonight’s cosmic significance, the presence and power of the Cosmic Christ, will help us realize who we are.

We are the vessels of the resurrection. We are not only the stewards of creation we are every sunset, every beach fouled by pollution, every wild place taken over for commerce, we are every suffering child and we are therefore their hope. Whether on this night we are drawn into Christ or Christ is drawn into us, we become his body.

In the movie Contact, when Jodie Foster is making her journey into the unknown in the time/space travel machine she sees incredible images of stars, galaxies, impossible light and colors and she is moved to tears by the beauty and breathes her sense of inadequacy “ They should have sent a poet! ”

There is no greater poet for this night than St. John of the Cross and his haunting Dark Night of the Soul as interpreted by Loreena McKennitt.

Upon a darkened night
the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house while all in quiet rest

Shrouded by the night
And by the secret stair I quickly fled
The veil concealed my eyes
while all within lay quiet as the dead

Oh night thou was my guide
of night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

Upon that misty night
in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without a guide or light
than that which burned so deeply in my heart
That fire t'was led me on
and shone more bright than of the midday sun
To where he waited still
it was a place where no one else could come

Oh night thou was my guide
of night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

Within my pounding heart
which kept itself entirely for him
He fell into his sleep
beneath the cedars all my love I gave
From o'er the fortress walls
the wind would his hair against his brow
And with its smoothest hand
caressed my every sense it would allow

Oh night thou was my guide
of night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

I lost myself to him
and laid my face upon my lover's breast
And care and grief grew dim
as in the morning's mist became the light
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair