As promised, we began with the Service of Light. From the fire burning outside the church doors, we lit the Paschal Candle. As the candle was carried into the church in the procession, every one in the church received the light of Christ. What a meaningful way to confess and enjoy the light of Christ in His resurrection. His light of salvation and life has overcome the darkness of our sin and death. The only things to do are to rejoice and enjoy the Light of Life Himself!

Then we prayed and heard God speak through the stories of His redemption. We heard the stories of Creation, Noah and the Flood, the Crossing of the Red Sea, and the Three Young Men in the Fiery Furnace. The Easter message brings us into the new creation of God’s forgiveness and life, and we are saved through water, just as Noah was saved through the Flood and the Israelites were saved through the Red Sea. Then we heard how Christ is with us even in the place of death to rescue us and bring us out unharmed and alive! What joyful stories and promises of salvation–joys that we still feast on in Christ and His Body and Blood.

Then we celebrated Holy Baptism, remembering for ourselves what gifts we have from our Lord by speaking again the promises of God in Holy Baptism. What a miracle that our Lord has added to His number through such simple means as water and His Word. And to witness 4 baptisms that evening, and to also welcome two adult members into the congregation! Thanks be to God for His gifts!

How special it was to hear in the darkness that wonderful cry: Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! And then to sing out with our full voices that This is the feast of victory for our God! Alleluia! The chancel was beautiful with all the flowers as the lights came up. The Altar was prepared for that very victory feast.

Finally, we celebrated the Lord’s Holy Supper of His life-giving Body and Blood. After the acclamation that “Christ is risen,” what else should we do but joyously celebrate and feast? We’ve been ushered out of darkness into the light of Christ, we’ve heard the stories of redemption, we’ve seen God at work adding to his Church, and now we celebrate the victory of Christ’s resurrection. That victory comes to us as we are joined together in the Eucharist at the Lord’s Table.

Please don’t think of this as “just another service.” In the Vigil we were treated to a wonderful feast of God’s life and salvation. Who minds the longer service when it’s so chock-full of the wonderful promises and gifts of our Lord? To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the time did not bother us, because our attention was on God and what He was doing in our midst.

Thank you to all who participated in the joys of this Easter Vigil. We ushered in the great Easter Season, and the celebration continues until the day of Pentecost, which is on June 4th this year! (And don’t forget about the Feast of the Ascension, on Thursday, May 25th. There will be a dinner before the 7 p.m. Divine Service.)

Pastor Michael Schuermann

There’s a “most sacred” time during this sacred time of Holy Week. It’s called the Holy Triduum–the Holy Three Days–which are Holy (Maundy) Thursday, Holy (Good) Friday, and Holy Saturday. Let’s see how these Holy Three Days teach us what we need to know about Christ and His merciful work of dying to give us His life.

Holy (Maundy) Thursday
We know the Thursday of Holy Week as “Maundy Thursday,” the night when Jesus not only instituted the Lord’s Supper (also called the Eucharist, the Sacrament of the Altar, or Holy Communion), but He also gave the command “that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you love one another” (John 13:34). Hence the name “Maundy Thursday,” which comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means command.

But Holy Thursday is about much more than Jesus’ command to love one another as He has loved us. That’s important, but there’s more. Jesus showed His love by washing the disciples’ feet and giving the prime example of living as Christians, that is, in humble service to one another. On this holy night of Holy Thursday, the somberness of Lent and this week of Christ’s Passion will lighten a bit as we put white paraments on the altar.

The prime event that we celebrate on Holy Thursday is Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper. As He and His disciples observe the ancient festival of Passover, they celebrated God’s great deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. And they did it with a meal given by God–the meal of sacrificing the Passover lamb, painting its blood on the door frames of the houses, eating the roasted lamb, and then being rescued from slavery to serve the living God (see Exodus 12:1-14).

As Jesus celebrates the Passover meal, he transforms it, so to speak, into the Lord’s Supper. In this holy meal, Jesus is our Passover lamb, His blood is on us as we eat His Body and drink His Blood, and so we are freed from our slavery to sin and death. No wonder this is called Holy Thursday! Here our Lord Jesus Christ is making us holy by forgiving our sins, by giving us eternal life, and by rescuing us from our worst enemy: death.

Holy (Good) Friday
When the altar is stripped at the end of the Divine Service on Holy Thursday, we are reminded that we go from joy to the sadness of Christ’s death on the cross. Good Friday puts us at the foot of the Cross like no other day in the Church year. The brightness of Holy Thursday turns into the stark darkness of Good Friday.

On this day we hear the whole story of Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion from the Gospel of St. John (chapters 18 and 19). It is a long reading, longer than any other Gospel reading of the year, but it is well worth the time to listen and meditate. We will hear how Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, how he endured the mock trials before the High Priest and before Pontius Pilate, how He took the place of the criminal Barabbas, how He was mocked and beaten, how He submitted to the decision of the God-appointed governing authority for Him to be executed, how He hung from the Cross and cried out “It is finished,” how His side was pierced, and how He was buried in another man’s tomb.

On this holiest of days we actually fast from the Meal of Christ’s Body and Blood so that we can ponder and meditate on the bottomless depth of God’s love shown in Christ’s selfless yet painful sacrifice. “For God loved the world in this way, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

On Good Friday, we leave the altar and chancel itself bare, save for some cloths draped over the crosses. The service is more subdued. After all, death takes away our joy, even as we rejoice in Christ’s death that tramples down death. We will also hear from Isaiah (53:4-6): “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by His stripes we are healed.”

Holy Saturday
The third of the Holy Three Days is Holy Saturday. We’re probably not used to celebrating this day, because we’ve become used to using this day to get ready for the big Easter celebration on the next day. Whether in Church: put out all the flowers, prepare the music, decorate the sanctuary, etc.; Or at home: color the Easter eggs, get the big meal ready, do the last minute shopping for food or new Easter clothes. But these activities in some way miss the spirit of Holy Saturday. On this day we remember and celebrate Jesus resting in the tomb, and we may well do that best by resting ourselves. Yet how do we truly rest? Remember the third commandment explanation: we truly rest as we hear the Word of God and are restored and refreshed by it.

Just as God rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath day, after He had created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 2:1-3), so also Jesus Christ, the Son of God in the flesh, rested on the seventh day of Holy Week. He rested because He had just finished recreating the heavens and the earth by rescuing all of humanity from death and hell and restoring us to His image. As we rest, we certainly want to ponder all that our Lord has done for us out of His goodness and love. We meet at 9 a.m. in the morning for prayer and to hear Matthew 27:57-66. Here we learn not only how Jesus died and was buried, but also what affect His work of saving us has on us and all creation.

Then, as Holy Saturday comes to a close in the evening (remember, in the ancient world the day began at around sundown on the previous evening), we start to look ahead to the Easter celebration. The Holy Three Days at the end leads us into the grand celebration of Easter, the seven weeks of celebrating our Lord’s victory over death and His gift of divine and eternal life to us. We begin this celebration by observing the Great Vigil of Easter on Holy Saturday evening, waiting for the announcement of Christ’s resurrection.

May our Holy and blessed Triune God grant you a most blessed Holy Week and Easter celebration. Very soon we will shout out together that marvelous Easter greeting and proclamation: Christ is risen!…

Pastor Michael Schuermann

As far as the “Easter” part goes, this draws us back to the great Hebrew pesach (in Greek, pascha); that is, the Passover. Celebrating the Old Testament Passover was no hasty mental recollection of what happened a long time ago. Rather, it was ancient Israel’s way of “reenacting” or “participating in”–even “owning”–the reality of God’s salvation given in His mighty works of rescue and His meal of deliverance. After the first generation of freed Israelite slaves had perished in the wilderness, Moses prepared the second generation of Israelites–who had not known the burden of slavery in Egypt–to continue celebrating the Passover. In Deuteronomy 6, Moses exhorted them: “When your sons asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”

Note the first person plural pronouns. Not just “they,” but we were slaves in Egypt. The Lord delivered us, not just “them.” The second generation (and all future generations), who had not experienced first-hand the slavery nor the Lord’s exodus, were to celebrate the same rescue and the same meal as their very own. This is the same thrust in the Easter Vigil: the story of Christ’s pesach/pascha/Passover–God’s salvation in the Word made flesh, from beginning to end, from creation to crucifixion/resurrection and beyond–that story is our story. We own it because, by God’s free gift, He makes it our very own.

We do that most powerfully in “Vigil”: in patiently waiting, in eagerly watching, in joyously taking our time to re-hear and re-live the whole story of Christ’s salvation–again, from beginning to end, from creation to crucifixion/resurrection and beyond. Practically speaking, the Easter Vigil is our time to throw out those dreaded time-keepers–clocks, watches, and phones that keep us enslaved to a schedule. Put them aside, at least for one evening. Pastors and parishioners need to be prepared for and embrace a longer service, and intentionally so. We will gladly sit for a two- or two-and-a-half hour movie or sporting event, so we can certainly manage to carve out a couple hours to re-hear and re-live our most authentic, most meaningful, and most true-to-life story. There’s no need to rush through what God Himself delights to proclaim and give over and over again through time and into eternity.

The Movement of the Vigil
So what does this Vigil look like then? What will we make sure to take time actually doing, hearing, and seeing? What follows is a brief overview of the Vigil. We’ll look at it in more detail, in order to prepare and practice, during Sunday Scripture Study beginning in March. Lutheran Service Book gives a six-part outline to the Vigil: 1. the Service of Light; 2. the Service of Readings; 3. the Service of Holy Baptism; 4. the Service of Prayer; 5. the Service of the Word; and 6. the Service of the Sacrament. When congregations choose to do so, the Rite of Confirmation can take place within the Service of Holy Baptism.

Ideally, the Service of Light begins outside–weather permitting, of course–and moves us from darkness into light bit by bit. A fire may be built outside, to symbolize the light penetrating the darkness and to facilitate the lighting of the paschal candle (that’s the candle that sits at the Altar during Easter and by the Baptismal Font the rest of the year). The candle symbolizes the presence of Christ with his people, the risen Lord shining in the splendor of his resurrection. As the children of Israel were led by a pillar of fire from slavery to freedom in the promised land, so the church is led from the slavery of sin to the glorious liberty of the children of God in the heavenly land of promise. Again, a pillar of fire, the candle, leads the way. After an opening address and prayer, the paschal candle is lit according to certain detailed instructions in the Altar Book. There are ritual actions of tracing the Alpha and Omega, placing the year on the candle, and inserting five nails, which communicate the focal point of the whole service: Christ crucified and risen is coming to bring us out of darkness into His most marvelous light. Then, those gathered enter into the Church and all in the pews light their own individual candles from the paschal candle. Now there’s a little more light! Then the song of the Easter Proclamation–the Exsultet– is sung by either the Pastor, one of the Assistants, or by a choir.

Next is the Service of Readings. There is an option for a total of twelve readings to be heard. However, in the Vigil, the emphasis is on the beautiful Gospel word optional. At a minimum, the accounts of Creation, the Flood, and Israel’s Deliverance at the Red Sea are read. If you add a fourth reading, that’s the account of The Fiery Furnace. After this, as time permits, other readings may be added. Certainly for this first year–and probably for the first few–we’ll leave it at the four readings. We’ll go over the list of all the possibilities in Scripture Study so you can see what’s included. The point in this part of the Vigil is to know that the entire scope of God’s saving work in Christ may be heard, read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested. We’re not rushing; we’re waiting, savoring the wonderful story of God’s rescue of His people, and it’s our story.

Next comes the Service of Holy Baptism. This is a slightly shorter version of the usual baptismal rite. What makes this special is this: it’s always used, even if there’s no one to be baptized. No matter what, the entire congregation gets to remember the joys of Baptism once again. There’s an option to sprinkle water on the congregation as part of this remembrance, too. We won’t do this at first, but I’ve been at a congregation where this is done and it’s a wonderful embracing of our sense of touch to recall what God has done for us through water. If congregations choose to do so, the Rite of Confirmation also takes place during this portion, immediately after any baptisms that take place and the remembrance of baptism.

Next is the Service of Prayer. This uses a modified version of the Litany (which we use during our Lenten midweek services, and which I hope you’re using at home during Lent): the Litany of the Resurrection. This responsive prayer weaves together the Holy Week and Easter stories into our prayers to God to “have mercy on us.”

Next is the Service of the Word. At this point we’re definitely ready to burst forth in joy and praise. Here, the pastor shouts out “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” and all respond for the first time of the Easter season. The lights come up fully, and we sing “This is the Feast” for the first time since setting aside our liturgical Hymn of Praise after Transfiguration. The candles are all lit. The Table is prepared for our Lord’s Supper. Darkness has finally given way fully to light. Death is defeated; life is ours! The Holy Gospel from John 20 is read. A very brief sermon is preached.

And then finally, we feast on the body and blood of our crucified and risen Lord Jesus in the Service of the Sacrament. This portion of the service is just as we’re used to every Divine Service. As we receive the Body and Blood, we hear wonderful Easter hymns being sung (and look forward to singing them again the next morning and for weeks to come)! That’s it; that’s the Vigil!

Pastor Michael Schuermann

The Easter Vigil
The Easter Vigil is celebrated as part of the “Triduum.” On the Church’s liturgical calendar, Holy (Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are called the Triduum Sacrum, which means “the holy three days.” During these three holy days we commemorate and participate in the central events of the Christian faith: the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. On Holy (Maundy) Thursday we hear how Jesus, in great sacrificial love, washed the feet of His disciples and then instituted His holy meal called the Eucharist (or Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion). On Good Friday we hear of and ponder the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ to reconcile us to God. But Holy Saturday seems a bit foreign in our modern times.

On Holy Saturday, we begin the day focusing on Jesus resting in the tomb. But we end the day celebrating His victory over death. When Jesus was wrapped in cloths and placed in the unused tomb, He was fulfilling what happened on the original seventh day. On that original seventh day God “rested…from all His work which He had done” in creating the heavens and the earth (Genesis 2:3). When Jesus rested in the tomb on the seventh day of Holy Week, He rested from saving, redeeming, and recreating us and all of His creation. So Holy Saturday is best observed by cutting back on activity and simply resting. What a great way to ponder and appreciate our Lord’s sacrifice to restore us to life with God!

What seems odd to us is that we start to celebrate Easter already on Saturday evening. After all, doesn’t that take away from or detract from Easter Sunday? Not at all. In fact, it heightens and increases the celebration! First, let’s remember that in the ancient world, including when the Church began celebrating Easter, the evening was considered the beginning of the next day. Sunday actually began at sundown on the Saturday evening prior (usually around 6:00 p.m.) So as the Church reckons time, the evening of Holy Saturday is the true beginning of the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The evening of Holy Saturday is the beginning of the eighth day.

Since this celebration begins in the darkness of evening and night, the Church began the Easter festivities by keeping vigil. People would gather for prayer and eagerly wait for the grand proclamation that Christ has risen from the grave. As people gathered for prayer, Scripture was also read–and not just any Scripture, but the wonderful passages telling of God saving His people throughout history and preparing them for the coming of His Son: the ultimate, final, and complete act of rescuing us from our disease of sin and death.

Along with praying and hearing Scripture, early Christians would also welcome new converts into the Church so that they too can enjoy and celebrate the newness of life in Christ. As the more mature Christians waited and watched, prayed and pondered, the new converts were baptized and confirmed in the Faith.

Making Disciples by Baptizing and Teaching
Traditionally, the Easter Vigil service has served as the chief time for baptizing and confirming new converts into the Christian Faith. Catechumens (that is, those learning the Faith) would go through as many as two or three years of learning in the Divine Service as well as by instruction from the pastor or his assistant. As the new believers were ready, they would be enrolled in the intense and final catechesis (instruction) during the season of Lent. Since Lent culminates with Easter, the new converts would be baptized on Holy Saturday, at the Easter Vigil service, so that they could take part fully in the life of the Church on Easter Sunday morning.

The book Lutheran Worship: History and Practice gives this historical note:

After A.D. 313 [when Christianity was legalized] the Easter Vigil was the prime time for baptisms of adult who had been instructed during Lent. It also ushered in the resurrection celebration. The Vigil thus focused on the saving power of Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). By A.D. 400 in Africa and northern Italy there was also a solemn celebration of light, since all lamps [i.e. candles] were customarily extinguished on Holy Thursday evening. The modern adaptation of this ancient service remember the Exodus from Egypt, celebrates the death and resurrection of Christ, includes the sacrament of Baptism, looks forward to Jesus’ return, and may conclude with the Lord’s Supper. (p. 169)

So when we gather on April 15 for the Easter Vigil, we will also have a service of Holy Baptism. If there is no one to be baptized, then it serves as an opportunity for all to remember their baptism. Likewise, if there are candidates for Confirmation or reception into the congregation, that also takes place during the Service of Holy Baptism. As you can see from the quote above, this is a fitting time – probably better than other times during the Church Year like Palm Sunday – for Baptism and for Confirmation or the reception of new communicants. On Palm Sunday, for example, our focus turns to the great humility of Christ in entering Jerusalem to die for us. But in the early hours of Easter Day (remember, beginning with the evening of Holy Saturday), our focus turns to new life in Christ’s resurrection. Here’s the most natural “fit” for Baptisms and Confirmations! [Note: This year, youth confirmation will remain on Palm Sunday.]

You may be asking yourself, ‘What about the Easter sunrise service? Where does that fit in?’ Well, the Easter sunrise service is really just a holdover from when the Church used to meet in the dark, keeping vigil in preparation for the sun to rise on the day of resurrection! As we in the west began to mark the beginning of days at sunrise instead of sunset, the idea of a Vigil on the evening of Holy Saturday became odd and the common practice of an early morning prayer service on Sunday became a special service on Easter Sunday. Does this mean this practice is wrong? By no means! But as it replaced the older practice of the Easter Vigil, something very special was lost in our congregations.

All of these practices in the Easter Vigil celebrate two great things: 1) Christ’s once for all victory over death, and 2) Christ’s ongoing victory in bringing other people into the Christian Faith through baptizing and teaching.

Next month you can look forward to more details about the Easter Vigil service itself. We’ll also spend some time in Scripture Study in late March and early April walking through the service and getting familiar with it before we celebrate it for the first time on April 15th at 7:15 p.m. Until then, may our gracious, life-giving Lord bless you through all that you receive from His good and gracious hand.

Pastor Michael Schuermann

So I ask you: Can you “do the Vigil”? Now, I don’t mean some kind of new dance or the latest diet craze to hit the stores. What I mean is, can you watch and prepare for a great religious feast? Can you actively set aside the pressures of the world, and all the things that you think you have to do, and join with others in God’s family to anticipate a joyous celebration? Can you “do the Vigil”?

I ask this question because on Saturday, April 15th (yes, a Saturday…and in the evening!) we will have the privilege here at Good Shepherd for the first time to “do the Vigil”–Easter Vigil, that is.

This thing called a “vigil” might sound like a foreign language to you. However, we often do vigil activities in other areas of life. For example, when a loved one is injured or severely ill and is in the Intensive Care Unit in the hospital, we naturally keep vigil. We sit by the bedside praying and reading Scripture with our loved one. We wait in the waiting room for updates. We support and encourage our family members, and we give them a should to cry on when they sob with tears and sorrow. We sit with our injured or ill loved one and hold his or her hand. We’re waiting and watching. That’s keeping vigil.

We often see another example of keeping vigil when an eagerly anticipated movie is about to debut. When one of the Star Wars movies comes to theaters, people often “camp out” outside the theater to buy their tickets or get their seats at the first showing. That’s keeping vigil–waiting and watching for the big event to come. Another example is when we keep Vigil on Christmas Eve at the candlelight Divine Service, hearing the Word and receiving the Sacrament as the hours turn over to Christmas Day at midnight.

When you look up the word “vigil” in the dictionary, you see how closely the word is tied to the life of faith:

vigil…1 a: a watch formerly kept on the night before a religious feast with prayer or other devotions b: the day before a religious feast observed as a day of spiritual preparation c: evening or nocturnal devotions or prayers … 2: the act of keeping awake at times when sleep is customary; also: a period of wakefulness 3: an act of watching or surveillance (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary: 150th Anniversary Edition,1981, p.1295).

As Christians, we get to “do the Vigil” for the most important event ever to occur: the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. On April 15th this year we will prepare for the “big event” of Easter with a Vigil. We will prepare spiritually by means of hearing the stories of God saving His people, by celebrating Baptism, and by partaking of the Sacrament of the Altar. We will have to work actively on “keeping awake” (in a way), because this service will happen at night, and will last longer than normal services. But please don’t let that keep you away from keeping vigil! After all, if we can routinely watch 2 hour movies of fictional stories (or even longer sporting events) in the evening hours, we can most certainly set aside time and make the effort to spend time hearing and celebrating the true, life-changing story of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us.

So plan now to “do the Vigil”–the Easter Vigil–on April 15th. Watch the church calendar for the time we’ll start, and read upcoming newsletter articles for more information about what will happen in the Easter Vigil and what it means for our life together in Christ’s Church.