April 2015 – A Seminarian’s Letters Home

APRIL 2015 Seminarian’s Letter Home

To the membership of Circle of Faith Parish:

Greetings to you all from Evanston, IL! Finally, the snow is melting, temperatures are rising, and the days are getting longer. Spring is here! With spring comes Holy Week, and for the first time as Circle of Faith, our celebration of Holy Week will include the Easter Vigil. It’s something that every Christian needs to experience, the night when heaven and earth, past and present, mingle and meld. It’s different from some worship services that we know, especially in terms of how much Scripture we read.

In the “full Vigil,” we’re supposed to read twelve Old Testament stories, sing a Psalm in between each one, then read a piece from Romans, then the Gospel – twenty-six readings in all! I once attended a Vigil where the pastor asked why we needed a sermon, since we had just listened to pretty much the entire Bible! We won’t be doing all those for our Vigil, I assure you, but we’ll be doing several. The reason is that we begin where all things began – at creation. We go through Scripture – Noah’s ark, the rescue from Egypt and walk through the Red Sea, the fiery furnace, the valley of dry bones – all the way to the resurrection. Then the story actually goes one step further, when we either baptize new Christians or reaffirm our own baptisms. The story of how God acted throughout history, the story of how it all began and how it all will end – in the hands of God – stretches out to us on that night. We’re part of the story of what God does everyday. Seems like that’s something worth spending time with, isn’t it? We do that every Sunday in small pieces, but on the Vigil night, we really get a fun view of it.

Preparing to celebrate Easter’s feast of new life and new light, we pray for God’s blessing, using these words:

Almighty God, you give us the joy of celebrating our Lord’s resurrection. Give us also the joys of life in your service, and bring us at last to the full joy of life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. [ELW, The Resurrection of our Lord]

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Your fellow member and pilgrim,

Carl P. Rabbe, M.Div.