Easter Vigils

[edoughty]

My home congregation has been doing the Great Vigil of Easter for over 40 years, so I grew up with it.  I did it for 12 years in my first parish, and will be conducting my 8th in this place on Holy Saturday.  We do the whole shooting match (although we now only use 7 readings instead of 12).  As for the reading for Daniel 3, I always reserve that one for myself!  Crack up every year reading that puppy!  For me, it just wouldn't be the Vigil without it.  I especially like listening to my acolytes "go bump in the night" as they decorate the entire sanctuary for Easter during the singing of the Litany of the Saints.  (They also strip the altar on Maundy Thursday while I read Psalm 22.)  We practice for three hours on Saturday afternoon for the Vigil, going from bare altar to Easter splendor several times.  The new acolytes usually say, "Hey, this is easy."  Then one of the older acolytes will inform them that they will actually be doing this in the dark.  I love the look on their faces when so informed!  We average 30-60 here, depending on if their is a baptism or REmembrance of Baptism.

By the way, have any of you incorporated the Roman blessing of the baptismal water during your Vigil, chanted like the Exultet?  (Again, I grew up with it in my home parish.) 

We do not chant a blessing of baptismal water.  Though I think there *is* something spoken.  If it is not the Flood Prayer it is very similar.

We decorate the church after "Christ is risen!"-- once the Easter Proclamation is done (in three languages-- Greek, Latin, and English) we sing the Taize "Surrexit Dominus vere" (http://www.taize.fr/en_article498.html) in canon, over and over, while all members of the congregation who wish to go into the library (the room right next to our nave) and bring something back-- art, flowers, paraments, candles-- and decorate the church.  The song ends when everyone's back in their pew and the church is fully adorned for Easter.

Here is our sanctuary, after decoration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikmsp/2354408429/

[peterm]

One year, instead of reading the Genesis Creation, I did "The Creation" from James Weldon Johnson's collections of poem-sermons, "God's Trombones."

If I had unlimited time, I would show the video of James Weldon Johnson's poem in lieu of the Genesis reading and the Veggie Tales "Shad, Rack, and Bennie" in lieu of Daniel.

Ducking to avoid  pelting by chocolate eggs.....

That would be great!

[edoughty]

One year, instead of reading the Genesis Creation, I did "The Creation" from James Weldon Johnson's collections of poem-sermons, "God's Trombones."

If I had unlimited time, I would show the video of James Weldon Johnson's poem in lieu of the Genesis reading and the Veggie Tales "Shad, Rack, and Bennie" in lieu of Daniel.

Ducking to avoid  pelting by chocolate eggs.....

That would be great!

What, pelting him with chocolate eggs?  I agree!  ;-)

Actually, while we don't change the readings, we have experimented with different translations.  This year we may be using "The Message" as a tool to help people -- whose minds may wander during the readings!-- hear them anew.  I like The Book Of God -- Wangerin is a great storyteller -- but I don't know that he has all the Vigil readings in there.  (Does he?  I don't have his book handy.)

[Michael_Rothaar]

My impression is that the Easter Vigil is probably a bit more common in the ELCA, but is gaining in popularity in the LCMS (we're always a little behind!).  Personally, having been baptized and confirmed in an LCMS congregation, I knew nothing of the Easter Vigil until I was a student at Valparaiso University. 

I don't have statistics, but apart from some "outliers," I think the Vigil was almost completely unknown and uncelebrated in the ALC and LCA prior to the 1978 publication of LBW. (I was one of the outliers, mostly because Gene Brand browbeat us with that "liturgical nexus" stuff in seminary.) I may be wrong, but I don't think even the Valpo Liturgical Institute was featuring it until well after that.

BTW: Ed, Richard and Thomas have changed my mind about the Daniel reading. I'll allow myself a snicker. Still not sure about the Veggie Tales version. Maybe next year.

[Richard Johnson]

BTW: Ed, Richard and Thomas have changed my mind about the Daniel reading. I'll allow myself a snicker. Still not sure about the Veggie Tales version. Maybe next year.

You've got to do more than snicker. The reader should make the voice of Nebuchadnezzer suitably egotistically wrathful. He or she should play on the horn, pipe, lyre, sequence, as well as the satrap, prefect, governer sequence, with recognition that it is written that way both to make a humorous point and to facilitate memorization, and so the sequences should be read almost in a sing-song, rote memorization kind of manner. It should, in short, be read as if to young children, who love not just the words but the tone.

[Michael_Rothaar]

to facilitate memorization,

Now you've lost me. Why on earth would I want to memorize this?

I have enough trouble with all the verses of "Down by the Bay." (I can only get as far as the whale with the polka-dot tail.)

[loschwitz]

The are a few congregations in major urban areas that have a champagne reception following the Vigil.  The idea is to extend the festive mood of the holy day.  Any Forum members keep a magnum or two on hand?  Needless to say the practice got its start with them fancy pants Episcopals.

[edoughty]

No champagne here.  We have, upon occasion, used sweet wine for the festival Eucharist.  Sweet occasion = sweet wine (port, in this case).
Not doing it this year, though-- forgot to order the stuff.

[Revbert]

One parish near me (ELCA) does a champagne thing after Vigil. But then again, they do about a one-hour service at 8 PM that is, by all reports, pretty weak as Vigils go, so one probably needs the champagne to deal with the poor liturgy....

[Richard Johnson]

to facilitate memorization,

Now you've lost me. Why on earth would I want to memorize this?

I didn't mean for you to memorize it, though, to quote a great line I heard from an old Methodist bishop once, "There's no particular virtue in memorizing Scripture; but there's not particular virtue in not memorizing it, either."

What I meant was that this was a literary device for people memorizing stories in pre-literate societies, or societies where literacy was low. It's like with children: "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll BLOW your house down!"

[Michael_Rothaar]

to facilitate memorization,

Now you've lost me. Why on earth would I want to memorize this?

I didn't mean for you to memorize it, though, to quote a great line I heard from an old Methodist bishop once, "There's no particular virtue in memorizing Scripture; but there's not particular virtue in not memorizing it, either."

What I meant was that this was a literary device for people memorizing stories in pre-literate societies, or societies where literacy was low. It's like with children: "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll BLOW your house down!"

I like that line from the Methodist bishop. One of my personal regrets from jr. high catechesis is that they made us memorize a lot of bible passages but didn't insist on the citation being part of it. That's meant a lot of stuff to hunt for through the years. Kind of like when I failed to memorize the article along with the noun when learning German.

And yes, I got the idea of the reading "to make an impression." My "snicker" line was because I'm going to be listening to this text. In fact, I usually try to read Scripture expressively, and, especially with the narrative texts, as I might "tell" them to my grandchildren. (This is more difficult, for example, with the book of Hebrews, except that Melchizedek is as fun to say as Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty.)

I also note that -- like me -- you seem to have time on your hands during the Triduum. Morning service done, all is in readiness for the next five. And I'm chatting on Lutheran Forum because cleaning my desk sounds like no fun at all.

[Jeff-MN]

Our congregation kinda-sorta has an Easter Vigil.  It consists of the Service of Light (Exsultet), the Service or Readings - several readings with Chanted responses to each (or at least most), the rememberance of Holy Baptism.  It concludes abruptly with the reading of the Easter Gospel.  BUT, no Mass is offered.   Pastor says maybe some year.  University Lutheran--LCMS, Mpls.

[Jeff-MN]

Although there is no Eucharist offered, the Easter Vigil is done very well - very reverently.  Fr. Kind is an awsome liturgist.  Any of you Twin Citians would be most welcome.  Service begins quite early at 7:30 pm.  Begins outside with a procession into the church following the Service of Light outside.  (No champagne afterwards).

[Charles_Austin]

So you read the Easter Gospel and then stop?
No eucharist?