The Great Vigil of Easter Sermon, The Rev. Michael A. Bird "Reclaim, Recall, Retell"

“There’s this thing in us that just can’t imagine that love can win.” Preaching at the Great Vigil, the first Holy Eucharist of Easter, the Rev. Michael Bird, Trinity’s Vicar, offers us a gentle reminder about how easy it is to get comfortable with darkness because we understand despair, brokenness, and pain. However, the challenge of Easter is to look for the growing light in the sky, for the new sprouts in the flowers among us --- and in our own lives --- and to move forward in the hope of God’s promise. Watch the sermon. The readings, more numerous than any other feast of the year, are Genesis 1: 1-2: 4a; Psalm 136: 1-9, 23-26; Genesis 7: 1-5, 11-18, 8: 6-18, 9: 8-13; Psalm 46: 1-6, 9-12; Exodus 14: 10-31, 15: 20-21; Canticle 8, The Song of Moses from the Book of Common Prayer (page 85); Isaiah 55: 1-11; Canticle 9, The First Song of Isaiah from the Book of Common Prayer (page 86); Ezekiel 37: 1-14; Psalm 143: 1-4, 9-12; Zephaniah 3: 14-20; Psalm 98; Romans 6: 3-11; and Mark 16: 1-8.