Easter Eve, sung by the Junior Choir was a service of Vigil and New Light. There was no first mass of Easter Day at all.
Sung most reverently by the young choir, which for the second week in a row surprised us pleasantly with their talent, we sat in a brightly lit but bare church and listened to old testament readings recounting salvation history, interspersed melodically with psalms and anthems.
We were then plunged into darkness and processed after the altar party outside into the graveyard. There the first fire was lit in a brazier on what looked like a small stone crypt. No messing with little bits of wood and straw, here the branches and last year’s holy oil went up in a burst of flames with the first spark. The fire was sensed cautiously, the flames had to be dodged, and then sprinkled with holy water. The large Paschal Candle was inscribed and lit and then we processed back into the church, ceremoniously halting at designated stops along the way for the priest to chant,
“The Light of Christ.” to which we, the congregation, responded,
“Thanks be to God.”
Once back at the altar the candle was placed in the centre of the chancel. Servers then brought us fire with which to light our candles and we remained standing to hear the Exultet proclaimed.
Still in darkness, save for our candles, we processed to the North transept singing. We stopped at the montage, set on a vintage bier, of the Garden of Gethsemane, the hill of Golgotha with three crosses and the tomb.
We then renewed our baptismal vows around the font and were blessed with holy water sprinkled from a large branch of rosemary.
The lights went up with an Alleluia! We blew out our candles and exchanged the sign of peace.
“The Lord is Risen!” we said to each other.
“He is Risen indeed!” we responded.
We were then sent off with more Alleluia’s ringing in our ears followed by an organ voluntary to speed us through the night and into the light of the Easter morn.