The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

Luke 24:1-12

March 30, 2013

It is night, the dusk of the 20th century.

And every age gets the heroes it deserves.

Or rather, our artists look into our collective soul and give us tales that echo what they see there.

In these days, we no longer tell stories to each other.

Instead, we watch them together.

What models of virtue have our creative types dredged up from the communal yearning?

Who are the heroes that engage our attention these days.

These days and nights that are the dusk of the 20th century?

It's easy to find the answer.

I remember once picking up the Virginia Pilot and checking out the list of the top 20 video rentals in Tidewater.

There's the manic Mel Gibson of the Lethal Weapon series;

the brooding Steven Siegal who is Hard To Kill;

the dark knight of Gotham known as Batman;

and, best of all, a hero who is literally-- while not out of his body-- at least out of his skin.

The appropriately named Darkman, perhaps the most representative icon of the desires that drive us.

Notice: all of these "heroes" are flawed.

What drives them is vengeance.

They are out to right a wrong that has been done to them.

But we cannot approve that entirely because it seems, well, a bit selfish.

We side with their quest for justice even as we hobble them with our disapproval.

So we label them as heroes of the dark, of the night.

By defining them negatively, we keep our distance even as we applaud their exploits.

Did any of you who saw Darkman not secretly hope that he would succeed in ridding the world of the people who had done him in?

Of course not.  Like me, you kept hoping him success all the time knowing it was vengeance-- not justice-- that fired his soul.

These dark heroes.

They are us.

We told our artists, whose antennae are most sensitive to the currents coursing in our souls,

that this is how we would like to see the universe:

One flawed person standing against many enemies and overcoming them through extraordinary endeavors.

It is night, the dusk of the 20th century.

And we have gathered here to listen to the story of a hero who swims against the tide created by these dark knights of our contemporary spirit

Literally, "swims against the tide" because water is such an important element of our gathering.

This Jesus is not Darkman but Lightman!

He is not out of his body but in it-- in it to an extent that will astound us when we ourselves experience it in our personal resurrections from the dead.

It is night, the dusk of the 20th century.

O blessed night in which we celebrate our corporate vengeance over evil!

This is no selfish adventure we share this evening.

There are new heroes here, waiting to be born of the water and the Holy Spirit.

What we do is not for ourselves alone.

Our story will not allow it.

It is never enough to create the good life just for ourselves.

Jesus will not allow it.

We have touched our hero's cloak and life will never be the same.

It is night, the dawning of a new age even as those around us turn out so many lights.

We lit a fire tonight and shared it.

That was not just a symbol.

That is what we are about as co-heroes with Jesus.

We must cast that fire upon the earth and light up the night in which prowl the contemporary Batman and Darkman.

It is night, but we are about to bless water that will bathe bodies with the anointing of life.

It is no longer dark and dangerous.

Our God has led us through the waters into the light.

We may blink but that is to our credit.

Outside this sacred assembly, our eyes are veiled.

Here, we see.

That is why we can say:

It is no longer night.