Easter Devotional
The Easter Vigil:
How the early church celebrated Resurrection Sunday
Dr. Nathan L. Soice, Atlanta Christian Church

[March 30, 2018]  There are a variety of ways to celebrate Easter and various emphases that can be placed on the season. But from the early days of the church, the Easter Vigil was the primary means by which Easter was observed. This practice has evolved in modern observance into the Easter sunrise service that many churches observe, but its history is much richer.

From the earliest days of the church, the Easter Vigil was primarily a means of preparing new converts for baptism into the Christian Faith, which was normally done on Easter Sunday as the focal point of the entire year. This preparation traditionally arises from a set of Scripture readings from the Old Testament that recounts the unfolding of God’s creation of a people in the Exodus, and a promise of restoration from Zephaniah.

Following the lead of the Gospels themselves, this provides a crucial link between the revelation of God in Christ and the creation of the church with God’s past revelation of himself and the creation of his people Israel. This important emphasis on the continuity of the church with the Old Testament’s witness to God also helps define the nature of the church and its mission in the world, thoroughly grounding it in the ongoing work of God in history.

The Gospel readings at the Vigil are not normally read until after sunrise on Sunday, or at the very end of the Easter Vigil.

The Vigil itself can begin at any time after sundown on Saturday, although there has been a tendency in Protestant churches to begin just before sunrise on Sunday and conclude the service just after the Gospel readings while singing praises at sunrise. In more temperate climates, this is often an outdoor service.

In the early church, the Easter Vigil service was done on Saturday evening and concluded with the baptism of new converts, celebrating not only Jesus’ resurrection from death to life, but also the new life that God has brought through the death and resurrection of Jesus to individual believers.

Those baptized changed into new white clothes to symbolize their new life in Christ, which is the origin of the tradition of buying new clothes at Easter.