Keeping Vigil

Tonight we keep vigil. Actually we kept vigil—past tense. The vigil ended a few minutes ago with the first resounding alleluia of Easter. But the dominant character of this worship service is keeping vigil. If we were to truly keep the vigil as the earliest Christians did, we would have prayed and sung the vigil throughout the entire night, welcoming Easter’s "happy morning" in the morning as dawn flooded the world and darkness gave way to light. To be honest, I don’t know overall if that would be a wondrous, awesome experience or just a grueling one. Staying up all night is generally not a positive experience, even (I suspect) staying up to wait for the risen Christ.

But the idea, the practice of keeping vigil is a very good one. And learning how to do it will enrich our Christian lives well beyond this service or any other vigil worship service. And I don’t think it matters too much how long we actually keep the vigil, or even whether we do it at night. What matters is that it is a vigil. A vigil. It’s a wonderful word, a wonderful practice.

Keeping vigil. Keeping vigil always involves some time, the passage of time. And it always involves the expectation of some future, momentous event. Not necessarily positive, but momentous. We expect something to happen in the future that will have a significant effect on our world. The present is not all there is. We are certain that change lies ahead. And it matters how we get from here to there, how we spend the time between now and then. That’s the vigil, getting from now to then across time. In a sense, that’s the whole of the Christian life.

We keep other vigils in our lives. Other than this Easter Vigil. We keep vigil at the side of a loved one who is approaching death. Many would probably describe pregnancy as a vigil. Shakespeare tells us that King Henry V kept vigil on the eve of St. Crispin’s day before the battle of Agincourt. Those who maintain the so-called Doomsday Clock keep their own sort of vigil. After Jesus’ death, when Joseph of Arimathea had the stone rolled across the door of the tomb where Jesus lay, Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. Keeping vigil. Something that will change the world, in one way or another, lies ahead. And it matters how we spend the time between now and then.

So how do we spend the time? What are the characteristics of keeping vigil?

The Easter vigil is traditionally kept at night. Maybe it is the darkness that reminded me of another evening service, compline. One of the Scripture lessons suggested for compline comes from the First Letter of Peter. In the King James, it reads, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Be vigilant. Be alert, not just passively waiting, but searching with all of your senses for signs of what is coming. Eagerly alert. A vigil is characterized by vigilance. So should be every day of our lives as Christians. We should always be vigilant… Eagerly, actively alert, always looking not only for the devil prowling as a lion, but for Jesus reaching out in healing and love. Be vigilant every day, straining eyes and ears for the times and occasions when Christ will burst into our world.

Vigilance. One characteristic of keeping vigil. It also seem to me that when we keep vigil we bring a sense of self-offering to the task. Think of those who keep vigil by a deathbed. It is because they care. They offer their presence. They invest themselves in the outcome, whatever it may be. They give their time, their lives, to be a part of this vigil. Disguised as a common man King Henry walked among his soldiers the night before the great battle. He listened, he encouraged; he shared their anxieties and their hopes. He invested himself in their future.  Self-offering is a part of every celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Before we come to the altar, we offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, to God. We invest ourselves in God’s kingdom. Self-offering as a part of keeping vigil reminds us that self-offering is not just an occasional component in the Christian life, restricted to Sunday morning Eucharists. Self-offering is an ongoing, persistent day-by-day quality of Christian life. It is what we do with our lives between now and the coming of God’s kingdom.

Self-offering. A second characteristic of keeping vigil. A third is patience. By definition, a vigil spans a period of time. By definition, a vigil’s fulfillment (revelation, resolution) lies in the future. As I said, the Easter vigil originally took all night. And through that night, the stories of God’s saving works were shared. Stories that spanned the expanse of history, telling how, over time, from Creation to the Exodus to the proclamation of the prophets to the resurrection of Christ, God led God’s people to the Promised Land and to salvation. The salvation story is a story that unfolds over time. To hear the stories while keeping vigil requires patience. To live the story of salvation in our own lives requires patience. Patience to wait, knowing that fulfillment lies ahead. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."

Patience. A third characteristic of keeping vigil. Whether we like it or not, a vigil forces us to practice patience. Finally as a quality of keeping vigil, loyalty. Or you could call it commitment, or you could call it faith. But I like loyalty. To undertake a vigil, any vigil, for any purpose, requires loyalty. To keep a vigil, whether for a few hours or for a lifetime, requires loyalty. Loyalty is the conviction that the course is worth staying. Loyalty is the resolve, the will to be true.  At baptism we vowed our loyalty to Christ. That was the beginning of the vigil of our lives as Christians.

It’s a wonderful and noble practice, keeping vigil. A practice characterized by vigilance, self-offering, patience and loyalty. A good model for the Christian life at all times, not just the night before Easter.

But participating in this Easter vigil offers us one more thing. Yes, it trains us in qualities that will make us better, more faithful Christians in our daily lives: vigilance, self-offering, patience and loyalty. But remember how this particular vigil began. It began with the lighting of the Paschal candle. This vigil began with the light of Christ. We were never alone in our vigil.  We were never alone in the darkness. Never was there a time when the light of Christ was not with us. Never.