Easter Fire

The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling

“We had reached the point in the service when the Paschal candle is lit as a reminder that in spite of the darkness of Jesus’ tomb, the radiance of new life is coming. ‘The light of Christ,’ the priest said as he held the fire to the candle. The little flame caught and flickered in the darkness, disappeared, then returned, quivering on and off in a draft of wind. I thought of the line I’d written in my journal earlier in the week. ‘I feel as if a candle has blown out inside me.’ Suddenly the priest lifted his hands and cupped them around the flame. As the light of the candle grew stronger, the sight of him cradling that little spark of fire burned into me. It was an image of bare, unscripted grace, the light of Christ. I carried that tiny piece of Easter fire inside me. The Christ-life is like the Paschal candle sputtering in the darkness. We need gentle hands cupped around it, coaxing the flame to grow stronger.”

Sue Monk Kidd

“Here I’m offering two snapshots of Easter grace for your consideration. One is of my colleague Tamra Tucker, who lit the New Fire and held the paschal candle on the cathedral plaza on Holy Saturday, surrounded by a handful of worshipful people while hundreds of others, indifferent to the rite, drove by or walked past listening to podcasts, earbuds in.”

Dean Amy McCreath, Cathedral Church of St. Paul

Indifference is not a word I would use during these pandemic times, as we all navigate our way through life. Indifference, no. Flickering flames of hope, yes. Winds blow from all directions threatening to snuff out our fire. What’s a person to do?

Return to the mystery. Get lost in the wonder of creation. Sing new songs. Plant new seeds. Roll away the stones that block the light of Christ, and let Easter come in. Then let HIM easter within you. 

Hands of the great high priest are cupped around us, our flickering flames of hope and quivering bodies of fear. His hands are marked and scarred by nails, raised in divine blessed assurance. Know that there is a tiny piece of Easter fire burning within you, an eternal flame of Resurrection Life that will never die.

“Let Him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us, be a crimson-cresseted east.” 

Gerald Manley Hopkins