mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate) (11/24/89)
>Recently, the Great Vigil sevice for Easter has become very popular,
In my opinion, the Vigil is the glory of the 1979 BCP. The very pages of it
fairly glow with the spiritual power of the liturgy.
Let me recollect for you some of my experiences of Holy Week.
My highschool chapel has a magnificent reredos. In the center is Jesus
holding out his hands on the cross, and below him Andrew and Peter. In two
rows next to this are scenes from the life of St. Andrew. The wholething is
flanked by two doors, each of them hinged in the center. At the beginning
of Lent, the doors are shut halfway so that only Jesus can be seen. Then,
after Maudy THrudays services, the doors are shut completely; the back of
the doors are bare except of the outline of a cross on each. Let me tell
you, the shut reredos is as forbdding as a tomb. It was here that I first
came to the Vigil. The one chaplain who led the service chanted the Lumen
Christi and the Exultet; this was itself a thing of great power, as he only
chanted on the rarest and highest of occaisions.
At my present parish, we have footwashing and strip the church on Maundy
Thursday. Then on Good Friday, I go to the National Cathedral for the
midday services, a habit I set down in college. The cathedral services have
a very different quality: more rarified, passionate in a very deep and quiet
way. Then in the evening I return to my parish church. We have started a
tradition of singing the gospel, which I (as one of the singers) find an
intense and difficult experience (for one thing, it is an incredibly long
piece of singing). Then, the Vigil. Imagine standing in a huddle around a
brazier on a cool and windy night, outside a dark church. The priest lights
the holy fire, and then lights the Paschal Candle, which is borne carefully
into the church to the threefold song of the Lumen Christi. The flame casts
dim flickers all about the church; then there is a halo of light about the
building as the lessons, psalms, hymns and collects are read and sung by the
light of a miriad of candles. Then the easter acclamation, and a great
clash of bells as the church lights are brought up. Then baptism (or a
renewal of vows) and the first eucharist of Easter.
I think the vigil has become popular for a variety of reasons. For one
thing, it is patently a powerful act of liturgy arising out of the most
ancient of traditions. Second, it is among the most well-executed rites in
the new BCP. Third, it provides a refuge from the dreary task of catering
to C&E christians. Even with its innumerable options, the vigil is a rather
uncompromising service, and one which demands participation.
The vigil's main problem is exhaustion. Currently, my parish has the vigil
timed so that the offertory falls at midnight, which is the earliest the
rector will permit the first eucharist to fall. Then we have the usual
morning services. At the end of the day, the rector and those choristers
who have sung at all the services are completely exhausted. I myself do not
go to tenebrae on Wednesday simply because I don't have the stamina.
This year, I think we will try an experiment and do the Vigil just before
sunrise instead of in the dead of night. That way, the rector and the choir
can get a little sleep....
I highly commend the vigil service to all.
--
C. Wingate + "Our God, to whom we turn When weary with illusion,
+ Whose stars serenely burn Above this earth's confusion,
mangoe@cs.umd.edu + Thine is the mighty plan, The steadfast order sure
mimsy!mangoe + In which the world began, Endures, and shall endure."