Coming and Going

Within the next couple of weeks we’ll be doing our annual Instructed Eucharist as our Sunday morning worship. Many of you will remember that an instructed Eucharist is a normal Eucharist, straight out of the Prayer Book, but with added commentary or explanatory notes. My hope, of course, is that these explanatory notes will deepen your understanding of what we do in worship, and that this deepened understanding will, in turn, deepen your worship experience. The point is to draw us closer to God.

This year’s instructed Eucharist will focus on what we might call Episcopalians’ decorations and decorum for worship. We will talk about church furnishings and liturgical color schemes, things like lighting (the candlepower variety) and appropriate liturgical dress. Just as social discourse and interaction have physical gestures that are expected and understood (like a handshake or a kiss), physical gestures can add meaning to the discourse of worship as well. Just as certain table manners are appropriate at a family’s Sunday dinner, certain table manners are customary at the Lord’s Table. Yet, with very few exceptions, none of these sorts of things are required for Episcopal worship. They are customs, customs that at their best can add depth and order to our worship, but just customs. None, with very few exceptions, are written down in the Prayer Book. None are codified in church law. None are sacramentally necessary. No particular customs are "right" as opposed to others that are "wrong". For example, nowhere is it written that we are required by the church to use red on Pentecost. Some of you might leave the church if we didn’t, but there are no binding church directives on colors.

Nor does the Prayer Book have much to say about candles. Candles seem such an important part of our worship services, but the Prayer Book hardly mentions candles at all. With one exception. One candle has virtually a whole service dedicated to that candle alone. It could be argued, too, that this candle’s service is the most important service in the Book of Common Prayer. It is the Easter Vigil. From the first centuries of the church the Easter Vigil has been the first service of Easter, the most glorious and awesome proclamation of the resurrection. It is the service that defines us as Christians, that describes us as a people saved from the deepest darkness and sin and death by the everlasting light of Christ. "Dear friends in Christ," the service begins, "on this most holy night." This most holy night. Holier than any other. The liturgy of the Easter Vigil begins with the lighting of the Paschal Candle.  The Paschal Candel is the centerpiece of the Easter Vigil service.

Not "a" candle. Not any of the other candles. Not "the big candle", as the acolytes often call it. The Paschal candle. This candle. Paschal means Easter. Sometimes it is called the Christ candle, but it is even more than that. It is the candle of Christ’s resurrection. An Easter candle. The Paschal Candle. And the Prayer Book points out that it is customary for the Paschal candle to burn at all services from Easter Day through the Day of Pentecost.

Throughout these Great Fifty Days of Easter this candle has burned here to enlighten our worship. This light of the resurrected Christ has been for us a light to read by, so that the words of Scripture might be heard and understood in light of the resurrection. This light has been a light to sing by, its flame dancing with joy, encouraging us to raise our voices in praise. This light has been a light to pray by, so that we might always find a flicker of hope in the darkness. Most importantly, perhaps, this light has been a beacon, like the light of a coastal lighthouse, guiding us safely through danger so that we might draw closer and closer to God… leading us to safe harbor in the presence of God. This is the Paschal light of Christ.

Surely when Jesus himself walked the earth among his disciples he was for them the same sort of light. He opened up to them the word of God, enlightening them with the Scripture’s meaning. He was bright with the joy of God so near that they could see it and feel it. He brought them healing and peace. He calmed the storms of their lives. He gave them hope. This was the light that his presence brought.

The light of Christ will never go out. But today, the Day of Pentecost, is a time of transition. Today the Paschal light is transformed beyond past limitations to shine in new ways and new places. These are the stories we hear in today’s readings. After today the Paschal candle will no longer burn just there in the midst of our worship. After today, it will burn as Pentecostal tongues of flame in the hearts of each and every member of the church. It is the custom of most churches to use red hangings and vestments on Pentecost as reminders of the fire of Pentecost. The Pentecost story is the one we heard read from Acts this morning. "And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit." It is all the same light, God’s light. The Paschal light of the resurrected Christ. The divided tongues, as of fire, that rested on each of them.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection and ascension, his physical presence did not remain with his disciples, but, as today’s gospel tells us, the presence of God remained with them just as powerfully through the gift of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus breathed upon the disciples and gave to them the gift of the Spirit, he instilled in the heart of each of them the very presence of God.

The eternal flame of God did not die when Jesus died in Jerusalem. The light of the resurrected Christ did not leave the world when Jesus ascended to heaven. The Paschal Candle is not limited to a single flame that burns for just fifty days in the sanctuary of St. Patrick’s Church. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, this light, this flame, burns in all times and all places within the hearts of women and men of faith. It burns within us.

Worship, and all of the customs and decorations with which we adorn worship, draw us closer to God. This Paschal candle is a significant beacon for and symbol of that journey. This candle is a beacon by which we, as individuals, come closer to God. Each of us, in our lives of faith, is on that journey, seeking to draw near to God, to come into God’s presence. Without that journey our lives would have no meaning.

Yet this Day of Pentecost is a startling reminder that our individual journeys of coming into God’s presence are only one part of our religious lives, our lives of faith. Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit." The absolutely fundamental, inescapable nature of the Christian life is to be sent. Sent with the same purpose with which Jesus was sent, sent to carry the Good News out into the world. When the Pentecost tongues of flame descended upon the disciples, the immediate effect on the disciples was to make them preachers, to enable and empower them to communicate God’s power to others. In these stories, the life of faith inspired by the Holy Spirit isn’t about individual disciples coming to God, it’s about a community of apostles going out into the world, spreading the gospel to others.

Coming and going. Our call as Christians is to always be meeting ourselves coming and going. Meeting ourselves coming and going.  In worship we come—come into the presence of God. As individuals drawn by the light, we come into communion with Christ’s own presence in the breaking of the bread. And in that communion we are united with Christ and with one another. We are transformed into a community. A community that is sent, sent to go out bearing the presence of Christ into the world. Coming and going. Neither piece of our religious life can stand alone.

"Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ…"  Coming into the presence of God.  And going.   "Send us now into the world in peace, to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord."

Sermon Index
Comments are welcome.  Send to krisorr@att.net