Rejoice now heavenly hosts and choirs of angels ... Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth ... rejoice and be glad now, Mother Church. For this is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin and are restored to grace and holiness of life, when wickedness is put to flight, when sin is washed away, when innocence is restored to the fallen, and joy to those who mourn. This is the night when heaven and earth are joined, and man is reconciled to God. This is not some fine poetic wish. On this proclamation depends the dependability of God. This is not some weak wish, it is the heart of our faith. It is everything we able to offer to the world, it is everything we can count to receive. The human heart so often sighs: If only. If only I had it all to do over again. If only all of that had never happened. If only I could start out fresh, begin again, if only all the old past mistakes could be corrected, if only I had a another chance. This is the night that declares that all of that is possible. This is the night that declares that all of that is not wishful thinking, it is the eternal and unbreakable will of God for us. All of that longing tonight comes true. All of the pain of the past is put way. All of the sins of our former days are forgiven and forgotten. We are, this night set free from all that once was. This is the night we are set free, this is the night we can begin again. This is the night we can start all over, with no regret and no remorse, set free from shame. All of the sin, all of the wrong, all of the mistakes, all of the horror, all of the humiliation, has, all of it, gone down to grave, and none of it will be raised by God. We are set free, risen to new life, reconciled to God. The rest of it is over and done. I know that. I don't just know that at one remove, as a priest of the church who has seen or heard of heartbreak in the lives of his people. It is not only from my faith that I know that is true, it is from my life. Your yourselves are witnesses, long-suffering witnesses. You saw me go down into Egypt into slavery and bondage by my own hand, and you saw me brought forth by the outstretched hand of the Lord. You yourselves saw and grieved as I went down to the grave, and rejoiced with me and sustained me and welcomed me when I was raised up. How all of this happens I do not know. Why all of this happens I do know. Because God loves us and will not let us go, he will not let us die and go down to the Pit. Lesson after Lesson after Lesson tonight presents the unending truth of our faith that this is how God acts, always has, always will: Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. The Lord will fight for you, you have only to be still. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will save the lame and gather the outcast and I will change their shame into praise. I will restore your fortunes before your eyes A new heart will I give you and a new spirit I will put within you. I will renew you in my love. And you shall be my people and I will be your God All of this is precisely what is offered to us in the salvation of our God, in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. A chance to begin again, as though it were all genuinely over, for it is. Egypt is behind us, the land of promise before us, a new heart of flesh has replaced the heart of stone, the disaster is removed and the shame has turned to praise, and our fortunes have been restored before our very eyes. Here we wait, gathered quietly in the heart of the night, waiting to hear the first Easter cry of triumph. With us, all creation stands breathless, quiet, waiting for the manifestation of the power and glory of God in the Resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Lord and Father is bringing us to life, bringing us out of bondage, leading us forth from Egypt, calling us out of the tomb, bestowing on us new and unending life. Think of what a new life will bring to you, as that new life is even now stirring in the tomb, and the great body of our Lord, the body of which we are members stirs again to life. Think of what the resurrection can mean if you are facing death or the death of one you love. Think of what new and unending and more glorious life means if you have lost your job or it is unsatisfying or unsafe or impermanent, think of what new, risen life can mean to worn and frayed relationships showing signs of death. Think of what new life will mean and how it will unfold in your life if you are alone and feeling abandoned or unloved, think of what it can mean if you have lost your passion and your trust and your joy. Remember and rejoice: he is restoring our fortunes before our eyes, calling us out of darkness, raising up the body, rolling aside the stone, breaking the seal of the tomb Remember and rejoice. Remember that the resurrection is not an example, it is effective. Rejoice that the resurrection does not show how it can be, it makes it that way. Egypt is behind us, with its slavery and its shame, the Resurrection is upon us. In the midst of this dark night, light and life and love and light are returning even now. Rejoice and be glad. For this is the night when heaven and earth are joined, and we are reconciled to God.