For those of you who have not been able to celebrate the vigil at the churches you lead-- what is the ultimate roadblock for you and your congregation? I recognize there are always various dynamics at work, but as a pastor who is called to preach, teach, and administer the sacraments, could you not say, "I will be celebrating the Great Vigil of Easter at 7 PM on Saturday in the sanctuary, and if anyone else wants to join in, that's wonderful," . . . and then do it, joyfully?
I mean. . . yes, people will object. Doesn't any "new" service at a congregation meet with objections ("We've never done it that way before," et cetera)?
I am thinking here of my own current congregation; its roots are Free Church Lutheran, so I'm sure at its beginnings it didn't have a vigil and probably there was resistance when whichever pastor started one floated the idea past the worship committee. I am guessing the first few years, there wasn't much in the way of attendance at Vigil either-- maybe the pastor, assisting minister, musician, and their families (and lectors). But now it's a service many look forward to. It doesn't get the same attendance as Easter Sunday morning, but the church is more than half-full now and the service is established.
For that matter, when we started a Saturday afternoon service there were objections, too. Now that service is also a regular, established one. It took effort and persistence for several years.
But don't all new services kind of start small that way? Or is it just a "you gotta pick your battles" sort of thing?
Curiously,
Erik