Easter’s passage from darkness to light

Christians worldwide will gather next weekend in darkness-shrouded churches, awaiting Holy Saturday vigil services.

The vigil is held in the shadow of the crucifixion, between sunset on Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day. It portrays the movement from the dark despair of Christ’s death towards the brightness of Christ’s resurrection.

Holy Saturday signifies the time that Christ was dead in the tomb. It’s the time when those closest to him were bereft, engulfed by an unbearable darkness of the soul. They stayed fearfully behind locked doors.

Traditions and practices vary; however, the essence of the vigil service remains the same. At its beginning, congregants holding unlit tapers while clergy stand in gloomy quiet. Some will have spent the day in silence, prayer, fasting and contemplation, or in preparation to renew their baptismal vows. The priest recites ancient words. As the priest traces with their fingers the candle’s inscription of the cross, the alpha symbol above and omega symbols below it, a new paschal candle is blessed.

Five incense-bearing studs, representing Christ’s wounds, and the aromatic spices with which his body was prepared for burial, will be driven into the candle by the priest. The pascal candle is lit from a new source of flame, the Easter fire, while the priest says, “May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds”.

The candle is then processed into the darkened church. Three times the candle bearer stops and proclaims, “The light of Christ” and the congregants respond, “Thanks be to God”. The congregants light their tapers from the paschal candle. Gradually faint light silently passes through the sacred space. When the paschal candle reaches the sanctuary, it is enthroned in a stand usually adorned with a ring of flowers. The deacon or priest sings the Exsultet, the Easter proclamation. The vigil service continues with readings, prayers, and pauses.

At the Gloria bells are rung and lights are turned on, bringing instant light. Light and dark are familiar physical and figurative phenomena. In the natural world, darkness often falls quickly. Daylight comes in slowly. Human experience is like that. Accident, illness, changed circumstances, and death can come in an instant. Recovery, grief and adaptation take time, resources and effort. There’s no button to flick on for instant brightness.

In Richard Gillard’s popular Christian hymn The Servant Song, one verse reads: “I will hold the Christ-light for you in the nighttime of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.”

In miserable times, sometimes all that we can do is to be there for one another. We know that huge numbers of people across the world live in real darkness, not only of the heart and mind, but of their body. In the Middle East, Ukraine and across Africa, violence, destruction, trauma and suffering are horrendous.