By Ryan Boettcher
As a young Anglican church plant, with a majority of folks who were new to Anglicanism, most of our congregation was unfamiliar with the Easter Vigil. Many had heard of or celebrated the other important services of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday), but few knew much about this “Great Vigil of Easter,” one of the earliest known liturgical services that has been celebrated by many around the world for centuries. But in the Anglican tradition, many churches opt to celebrate Easter on Sunday mornings, so we had to make a decision whether or not to adopt the Great Vigil in our liturgical year. We, ultimately, decided to take the deep dive and go for it. The decision was worth the effort, as our congregation soon regarded it as the highlight of our church’s year. It is something that we collectively began to look forward to each year.
Of course, not all Anglicans can and should hold an Easter Vigil, for a variety of reasons. But, if you are one of the courageous few who are preparing for a Vigil this year, or are considering implementing it in the future, here are a few ideas that we’ve discovered make for a memorable Vigil.
1. Invite the whole church to participate.
If there were ever a time when liturgy is truly the “work of the people,” it is at the Easter Vigil. The Book of Common Prayer even highlights this: “It is customary for all the ordained ministers present, together with lay readers, singers, and other persons, to take active parts in the service.” Invite the whole church to participate in various ways: music/worship, the Old Testament readings, preparing the Altar table after the acclamation, preparing the Holy Fire, etc. All of what I’m about to share couldn’t happen without the participation of the whole church.
2. Consider the timing of the service.
Traditionally, the Easter Vigil begins at sundown. Every congregation is different, but if you have many families with young children, you may consider moving the time of the service before sundown. It took us awhile to find the ideal start time for our church, but we settled in at 5:30pm. Though we had to sacrifice the “after sundown” aspect of the vigil, it was much better for our families with small children. And we did our best to keep the service tight and stay within 2 ½ – 3 hours (a length which took some getting used to, but our folks seemed to embrace it over time).
3. Find ways to get creative with the service.
The length of the Vigil is unique and unfamiliar to many who are new to Anglicanism, so it is important to find creative ways to engage in the service. During the “Service of Lessons,” which narrates high points in the history of salvation in the Old Testament, we invited families to be heavily involved in the readings. One example: for the Creation story, we invited children in the church to create artwork for each of the first six days of creation ahead of the service. During the reading, the children came to the front when their “day” was announced and lifted their artwork for all to see.
The creativity of the service is, of course, dependant upon the gifts and sensibilities of the people in your congregation. Pay attention to those gifts and how they might be used in the service. For us, we had a talented hip hop MC who adapted the Ezekiel dry bones passage into an incredibly creative call-and-response piece. That same year, one of our gifted worship leaders wrote an antiphon that was sung in between each OT passage that tied the entire “Service of Lessons” together around the Ezekiel passage.
4. Lean in to the liturgical elements of the Vigil.
From the holy fire to the Exsultet to the holy noise, there are so many incredible moments in the Easter Vigil. This is a high liturgical moment in the church year, and as much as we got creative with our service, we also embraced the liturgical aspects of the service. Vestments, incense, aspergillums and all. We chose to go traditional with the Exsultet, and invited a trained vocalist to sing it for us. But there are contemporary settings to the Exsultet available. And we leaned hard into that pivotal moment of the Easter Acclamation and Holy Noise–we invited everyone to bring their own noisemakers, and went crazy while the altar table was being prepared (the kids love this!). As best we could, we curated the tenor and mood of the music to shift dramatically toward celebration after the Easter Acclamation, with as many Alleluias as we could fit in.
5. Always remember to remember your baptism at the Vigil.
The Easter Vigil is traditionally one of the most prominent times to have baptisms during the church year. And it is central to the narrative arc of the service, as it highlights that “through the Paschal mystery…we are buried with Christ by Baptism into his death, and raised with him to newness of life.” This is an important moment in the service because it demands that we be more than passive observers of this overarching story of salvation from Creation to gathering around the Eucharistic table. We are invited to participate in the story through our baptism. We had the privilege of having baptisms on many occasions at the Vigil. But even on the years that we didn’t, we made sure to carve out time to renew our baptismal vows. So come prepared with your aspergillum/pine branch and holy water to remind people of their baptisms!
6. Have a party afterwards!
After everything I’ve shared about the Vigil, this last idea might sound a bit crazy…because it is a bit crazy. But if your congregation is up for it, consider having a potluck/party after the service! Extend the time of Easter celebration into a communal time of celebration together. We opted for a dance party to especially highlight the celebration (and to relax a bit after all the work of the service). But this celebration could also take the form of a Sunday potluck brunch after a simplified Easter Sunday service. In any case, the celebration is only started with the Easter Vigil. So if the party can’t happen on the night of the Vigil, be sure to celebrate sometime during the Easter season!
If you are thinking of holding an Easter Vigil, either this year or in the future, and you have questions about the service, don’t hesitate to contact Ryan, or you can reach out to Laura McClain, our Diocesan Worship Resources Coordinator.