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The Great Vigil of Easter, April 10, 2004
Romans 6:3-11, Matthew 28:1-10
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev. W. Lee Shaw
This is for me the most incredible night of the year, far surpassing Christmas Eve in its sense of tradition and the holy. Tonight, during these 24 hours of sunset Saturday to dawn on Sunday, millions of Christians are gathering to rehearse the ancient liturgy and tell again the stories of our relationship with God and Gods redeeming love for us. During this same period thousands of men, women and children are being baptized into the Christian faith. We here at St. Stephen's in West Valley City, Utah, are connected tonight through prayer and scripture and the waters of baptism to millions of other Christians around the globe.
Tonight is the traditional time for baptisms Baptism is a border rite. It sits on the border between church and non-church, between Christian and non-Christian. Soon we will recite the ancient baptismal creed, the Apostles' Creed. Then we will renew our baptismal covenant, the promises we made and now renew before God and each other. We recommit ourselves to follow the Christ as we welcome a newly baptized member into the Christian faith.
Paul writes: “Do you not know that 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 by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
This “newness” of life is what we are about as Christians. In baptism we are brought into the new life of the resurrection through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we are now called, challenged, to walk in a “newness of life.” How do we do that?
I'm one of those people who likes lists. I make lists of things to do so that as I do them I have the reward of marking it off my list. It is a small symptom of being mildly anal-retentive. Some time ago I found a wonderful list of how to “Follow the Christ.” It was composed by Fr. Thomas L. Jackson, of the Order of Christian Workers, Tyler, Texas. I have a rather colorful poster of this list in my bedroom where I can look over it every day. Let me share his wisdom with you in how “To Follow the Christ.”
This list is for me a guide to living in the “newness of Christ.” I don't do it all, or all of the time. Nor do I check them off. But this list is a guide that helps keep me with a sense of balance and hope in myself. From this night of the Great Vigil of Easter, may you walk in the “newness of Christ” into the Great Fifty days of Easter and beyond as you follow the Christ.