Vicar's View

Easter   

As April begins, we are still in the season of Lent moving into Passiontide and then through Holy Week before the great celebration of Easter. I have a problem because there is a word that we don’t use in our services in church all through Lent and I am now going to use it – “Alleluia” .It is the Latin form of the Hebrew word “Hallelujah” which means “praise the Lord”.

“Burying the Alleluia” is a custom that dates to medieval times. Some churches have the practice of symbolically “burying the alleluia”, bringing in a sign with the word alleluia written on it, and then symbolically placing it in a box and burying it under the earth. On Easter day it’s brought out of its hiding place and displayed or waved around during worship to jubilantly proclaim Jesus is risen! The intention is to let the word rest so that when it reappears on Easter we might hear it anew and experience the joy of Christ’s resurrection in renewed and meaningful ways.

Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” means different things to different people, and it references many religious or biblical images and words. There are many cover versions by numerous artists. It contains a line "Love is not a victory march...it's a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah." Apparently, this particular line wasn’t written by Cohen or Jeff Buckley whose version is my favourite but, by John Cale. I don’t know what he had in mind in that phrase a “broken hallelujah”, but it makes me think of Jesus’ broken body on the on the cross. Love’s arms were not raised in triumph; they were stretched out on the cross. The joy of Easter and the celebration of victory over death arise only after the pain and reality of the broken breathing of the final breath and, the lifeless body be laid in a cold tomb. What has been revealed in Jesus’ life is also seen in his death.

As the poet Gideon Heugh puts it - Love is strong because it is vulnerable, it overcomes because it serves, it is powerful because it does not strive for power. Love doesn’t climb ladders to get ahead, it gets stuck in at ground level. Love is not desperate for the dawn, it sets up camp in the dark night of the soul and builds afire. Love does not dominate, segregate or accumulate. Love would rather get nailed to a cross in a posture of inclusion that take up a sword to conquer. Love wins because it is willing to lose. 

I invite you to experience what it really means to shout out the response “He is risen indeed- Alleluia!” on Easter morning. Whoops I said it again! Travel through Passiontide, Palm Sunday and Holy Week and, by coming to these services in church participate in the remembrance of our salvation. As we light the Pascal Candle from a new fire, your Easter Alleluia or “praise the Lord” will be richer and more meaningful for it.

What has been revealed in Jesus’ death is also seen in his resurrection. Remember your divine heritage. Remember the holy sacrament poured out for you in the form of a gentle man’s blood. Remember that the cold shackles of death could not hold him, could not stop him coming back for you. Look for the return of the Alleluia on Easter Sunday to be a celebration because, you know that your redeemer lives! This isn’t a holiday. This is the Holy Day.

Ian