Great 50 Days of Easter

Lessons from the Great Fifty Days of Easter

"I looked and saw a nurse, dressed in white, standing by a bed in the improvised ICU. Why do you seek the living among the dead?" she asked, pulling back the curtain to reveal an empty bed. In my confusion, I turned and walked outside, leaving the hospital as if it were a tomb and going into the streets.

There were hundreds of people there, people laughing and talking, people strolling hand in hand, children playing in the parks, people hugging one another as they met on busy sidewalks. The shops were full. The streets were full. The city was overflowing with the sounds of life, joyous and unending, beneath a clear and sunny sky. I stood transfixed. Then I remembered: it was Easter Day!"—Steven Charleston's Facebook Page, Easter 2020.

Langley Easter New York Grace Church

In case you did not see this previous Easter Facebook Page by Bishop Charleston, here it is! He tells us what the resurrection of our state, country, and world will look like. He constantly reminds us to look fear in the eye. He shows us what hope looks like. Reread the resurrection stories of Jesus. So often, he says, "Fear not. Do not be afraid; Peace be with you."

Not being afraid means knowing God is beside us and cares about us. God walks beside us today so that we, again this year, can take the joy of Easter out of our churches. The Easter Parade is a reminder of a movement into our streets, shops, and workplaces to share the good news.

Easter Parade

Customs and traditions can also help us remember the love of God walking with us, especially during a joyous holiday such as Easter. My granddaughter Zoe and I have a custom of watching the movie Easter Parade on Holy Saturday. Later, one Easter Day, after lunch, I watched the Easter Parade with our oldest granddaughter, Langley, who had never seen it. That night, she showed me pictures of that day's Easter Parade in New York City. It was very different from the past, but still joyous.

This Easter, Langley, who is now in school in New York, sent us a picture of the Easter parade at her church in the city. A tradition even celebrated when we are apart.

We need traditions to remind ourselves of life and love in the past. We also live in the present and bring the traditions forward to keep remembering. Customs can be as simple as watching a movie with people you love. Traditions help us remember a past time of God's love and promise. Sometimes, we can enjoy the experience even more in our memories.

The joy of the great fifty days of Easter is an excellent time to celebrate family traditions and memories of love.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Chant: Exsultet Easter Vigil

Chant Exsultet Easter

“Chant calls us out of chronological time, in which ‘now’ can never be located, and into the eternal now, which is not really found in time.” —David Steindl-Rast in The Music of Silence: Entering the Sacred Space of Monastic Experience (HarperOne, 1995).

David Steindl-Rast reminds us that when we use this ancient voice of praise and prayer to God, we are standing in the presence of ancient angel choirs. We are changing the way we address God and each other. The words become notes. The message we chant sounds different. The sounds of the chant are soothing and comforting.

The music takes us to another place and another time. The sounds open our world to a new dimension. Chanting slows down the words of the message. The squirrels running in the cage in our heads slow down and become a bit quieter. Sometimes, time seems to stand still, and we feel at peace. We are home.

The chant that deacons most often sing is the Exsultet, which follows bringing the newly lit Christ candle back into the church at the Easter Vigil. This music becomes part of my body long before Lent begins, even if I am not the deacon designated to sing this lengthy Canticle.

Jason Pennington, the music director at one of my previous churches, describes the Exsultet as “one of the most difficult chants of the Church’s treasury of song, sung at the opening of the Great Vigil. It is the culmination of the events of the Holy Triduum, as the congregation holds their candles in the shadow of the one Paschal Candle. The choir, not yet allowed into the stalls, stands in the nave with the faithful as that most beautiful of Canticles is intoned and promises us all the immeasurable gift of salvation.” 

I keep a note from Jason from our last Easter together, when I began having more mobility issues, and standing for a long time was more difficult.

Jason

“She faced excruciating physical pain to stand for the lengthy Canticle as she drew each breath to acclaim its message of life. She paced it well, taking her time and savoring every single phrase as if it were the very first. This was a beautiful gift of ministry, a Holy Spirit gift that put ministry before self. And isn’t that exactly the lesson to have been learned at the Mandatum not two nights before: ‘I give you a new commandment, that you should love one another.’ Joanna’s lovely, quiet chanting voice was tremulous with pain, yet was filled with joy. This was Easter.”

I keep Jason’s note to remind me and others that chanting is always an offering, never a performance.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Remembering Easter Vigils

A Memory Book of Past Easter Vigils

“How blessed is this night when earth and heaven are joined, and man is reconciled to God.”  —Book of Common Prayer (Church Publishing 1979) p. 287.

I revisit this past Holy Week and remember especially some beautiful stories of the excitement of the Easter Vigil at each church where I served. I remember one priest telling us at his homily many years ago that our presence at the Vigil didn’t give us extra points with God. We weren’t getting more stars in our crown for being there. Being among the first ones at the empty tomb was a privilege to meet the risen Lord.

One of my favorite surprises was waiting to see how the Altar Guild would decorate my larger harp for the Easter Vigil.

Many congregations then follow the Vigil service with an elaborate reception or dinner late at night at church or someone’s home.

Once at Trinity Cathedral, as the deacon tilted the candle ever so slightly to light its wick from the first fire, oil ran out of the top of the candle, and the fire became surreal, like the tongues of fire described at Pentecost. At St. Margaret’s, we did the Vigil in the Columbarium garden, and I played a smaller lap harp as I chanted the Exsultet to stay on key. I cannot describe the exhilaration of shouting in the great outdoors, “The Lord has risen indeed!”

At St. Luke’s, a lector reading one of the Old Testament Lessons had difficulty seeing in the dark. In the middle of the long reading, my dear friend put her candle closer to the microphone at the lectern, catching the microphone’s foam covering on fire. She so elegantly promptly blew out the fire and didn’t miss a beat in the reading.

Also, at St. Luke’s, one of the fantastic teachers of the children’s ministries and her two children planned a flashlight egg hunt for older children after the Vigil. The young people searched outside around the church, which was a huge success and increased the number of people who came to the service!

If you look online at a virtual Vigil during the pandemic at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, the Easter fire looks like it is coming out of the air! Spectacular!

It is now more contained but still very moving.

We recently handed out bells for people to ring during the Great Alleluia. At the end of the service, our other deacon, Susan, and our associate priest, Patricia, spontaneously began ringing their bells whenever there was an Alleluia at the closing hymn, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Alleluia.” The congregation soon joined in ringing their bells. It was incredibly moving, since we could not sing because of COVID restrictions, but we could ring!

The Vigil is so unusual that it is easy for clergy to get caught up in the many tiny details of this once-a-year liturgy and view it as a performance rather than an offering. The Vigil is a service to be enjoyed and celebrated.

We can always count on the Vigil to bring surprises, as it did this year and the first Easter.

Joanna. joannaseibet@me.com