Jaimie: After a little debate and the always alluring promise of post-church falafel, Courtney and I decided to attend the Easter Vigil hosted by The Crossing at St. John the Evangelist Church. The Easter Vigil is a service within the liturgical journey of Holy Week that pauses between the death and despair of Good Friday and the Joy and resurrection of Easter. Candles are lit. Hymns are sung. Communion is taken. Faith is proclaimed. And important stories from the Bible are told. This Great Vigil of Easter brought together Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and Unitarian Universalists in a service of worship and connection unlike any I’d previously experienced. Both Courtney and I were incredibly moved by this experience. We decided to collaborate on a joint “dialogue blog” in order to capture the beauty of the service and explore our very different experiences of this kind of worship.
Courtney: As Jaimie mentioned, the Vigil brought together people from a vast array of Congregations, and Traditions. Methodists, Lutherans, Unitarian Universalists, Episcopalians etc. Naming the traditions does not begin to express the beauty of the diversity present in that room that night. A vast array of ages and walks of life were represented in both the congregation as well as the clergy. For me the greatest moment was Communion. All of these people around the Altar, serving each other, collectively involved in the sacrament. In my immediate area during the Feast there were a number of older ladies who looked like the Church ladies I grew up with. There was an older couple holding hands like newlyweds next to a lesbian couple looking equally as in love. There was a homeless woman. There were a few members of the Trans community and people of all different colors and shapes and sizes. And an old lady with pink hair, which as a wearer of the colored hair myself, I very much adored. All labels aside, standing in the midst of the most beautifully diverse group of people I had ever encountered, I was struck with joy. I was overcome and moved to tears. In that moment I saw God and his Kingdom. In that moment I experienced Grace. These people, from all stretches of life, sharing in God’s holy feast, not just sharing, but serving each other, reaching out, and being in communion and community with one another, it was truly magnificent to behold.
Jaimie: Courtney spoke about the inspiring diversity present at this service. I firmly believe that if we are going to champion diversity and ecumenism, then we needed to provide worship that feeds a diverse, multi-faceted community. As is customary with Easter Vigils this service, featured a reading of ten Bible stories. To be perfectly honest, I was not looking forward to this part. I figured I would quietly and politely wait through the readings, hoping for a hymn or two to break up the monotony. What I found instead were some of the most innovative, beautiful and moving recounts of the Bible that I’d ever heard. (On a side note, I should seriously stop approaching worship services with negative expectations, because I am almost always proven wrong.)
In an effort to be more inclusive, or to breathe some new life into an ancient traditional service, The Crossing brought in creative readings of the Gospel. The Binding of Isaac, was told from the first person perspective of Isaac. The horror he felt, as the father he loved and trusted raised the knife above him was palpable. And then the melancholic relief when the ram was sacrificed instead, was punctuated by Isaac finding kinship and unity with that animal. The Valley of Dry Bones was told through song by a quartet of clergy folk. The Annunciation Mary brought together the voices of three young women, speaking three different languages. Each of these old stories were made new again in their innovative retelling. But, nothing hit me quite like the retelling of the Crucifixion.
“Hands Up!” she said. “Don’t Shoot” we responded. Instead of the traditional crucifixion story, one of the members of the Crossing slammed a poem about systemic racism, police brutality and her own experiences of privilege as a white person and oppression as a queer identified person. Her poem captured the anger and the pain over the treatment of brown bodied people in our country. I was moved to tears by the honesty and raw emotion of this piece. The parallel between the death of Jesus and the death of young black men like Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and so many more at the hands of the authorities, made me so angry. How can we have let this pattern continue for 2000 years? I’m furious, but I’m thankful for this new way to experience the story. This reading of the Crucifixion made the story personal and real in a way that I’ve never felt before. It was sobering though, because at least in the Christian narrative Easter brings Jesus’ victory over death. I’m searching for a victory over the systematic racism and oppression that continues to permit the senseless murder of young people of color. I’m committed to that goal, but unlike Easter, this victory seems to be a long way off. My heart broke again listening to this retelling of the Crucifixion, but it also moved me to fury and to action, in a way I did not expect.
The Crossing’s creative re-imagining and retelling of the Biblical story brought new life and new emotion to these ancient stories. This made the vigil engaging and transformative for the diverse crowd present.
Courtney: I Grew up in a mostly Methodist world. I had done some exploring into the rest of the Mainline Protestant churches as I got in to my later years of high school and early in College. Beyond that, until I got to New England, I had not had much ecumenical exposure. The conglomeration of liturgies, practices, expressions, and stories at the Easter Vigil was breath taking. I know Paul in Galatians 3:28 says “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (NRSV) I had never experienced that verse, I had never seen what that might have looked like, that is until Saturday Night. I love my tradition, and there are many things about the United Methodist church that make me Happy. There were a number of things that made me uncomfortable about the service. Incense is weird, and it made me want to leave a few times as an asthmatic it made me cough. Having all of the saints around me, and the giant crucifix hanging of the ceiling also made me uneasy. Having said that, I have learned that that uncomfortability is okay, and helps me grow in my own journey with God. The Service was intense, and emotional, and weird, and unexpected. I can not think of an experience that more represents the way the disciples must have felt following this crazy, weird, unexpected Rabbi around.
Jaimie: As a Unitarian Universalist I really value inter-religious engagement. After attending a beautiful Passover Seder on Friday, I was so pleased to participate in the Easter Vigil. The commitment to ecumenism that Courtney mentioned was clear, in the ritual of the service. Fire jugglers and fire breathers began the service with an exciting, mildly terrifying display. Their fire was used to light a central Chalice and from that Chalice the Christ candle was lit. What an incredible way to intentionally include UU folks into a Christian ritual. I recognize that particularly at holy week, it isn’t always appropriate to make a service interfaith, but this small gesture was meaningful and helped me feel welcome and worshipful in the space. I have been learning so much about my religious roots through as a Unitarian Universalist by participating in Jewish and Christian worship, but it was particularly moving to be met half way with the inclusion of a ritual I hold sacred.
Courtney: The fire breathers fed the Chalice, and the Chalice provided the light for the Christ Candle. The Lutherans fed the Episcopalians, and they fed the Methodists and the Unitarian Universalists alike. The interdenominational and interfaith interaction left a lasting impression on both Jaimie and I. While we both came to the Vigil with different expectations, and from different Traditions, we were able to find meaning and spiritual food in the service. Even if we were both uncomfortable at times, either from the Fire Breathers and their proximity to open flame, or the unfamiliar liturgy, we were able to share in those moments. To me, those shared moments of spiritual growth, compassion, and uncomfortability were the most precious of all. In those moments everyone in that room found common ground. What more could you ask for on Easter?