Let us rejoice in the Lord our God, who has sent his Son to be a ransom for us.
For tonight, we remember the joy of our new life in Christ. Through the blood of Christ we have forgiveness of our sin. Through the resurrection of Christ we have the promise of abundant and eternal life.

Tonight we come together again as one Body, who rejoice in the Passover of our God - we, like Jesus, have been raised from death to life.

For in Christ's triumph over death, we as his body share in his resurrection.

In this most ancient service, we join a long - standing tradition of telling the story of our salvation through symbol: of darkness, light, water, and word,- a tradition that goes back two thousand years to that first day after the Sabbath, and those first women at the tomb. Can you imagine what it must have been like for them?
They too began in darkness, but upon reaching the tomb, the light emanating from the angel overwhelmed them. Darkness, light, and the comforting word of the angel set them upon their feet again, as they followed its light into the tomb. "Come and see," the angel said, and they did. And afterward, speechless with wonder, the angel gave them what they needed - he told them what to say as the first witnesses to the resurrection - "Go and tell," he said, and they did.

And then, with minds on overload, with the conflicting emotions of fear and great joy, they went on their way, And in the midst of their journey, they
Met the risen Christ -

Tonight we have been invited into the empty tomb-
To "Come and see" along with the 2 mary's - through the symbols of darkness, light, word, and water.

We have revisited salvation history, beginning with the Light of Christ coming into the world, and God's moving in creation, the crossing of the red sea,
and the promise of resurrection in the valley of dry bones.
We have witnessed light,
we have listened to the word,
we have blessed the water.
We rejoice with the families of five persons that were baptized tonight.
And soon we will once again gather as a community around this altar to share together in the body and blood of Christ, given for us.

And we, like the women at the tomb, are invited to "go and tell" - to proclaim, by word and example, as our baptismal covenant says, the Good news of God in Christ
- the news that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and now is Risen!, that we too might walk in newness of life.

There is a godly play story entitled "The part that hasn't been written yet."
The story consists of an empty book, and the message to the children is that the story of Christ is not finished.
The rest is up to us.
The opportunity to meet the risen Christ has been placed in our hands;
the message to "come and see" is ours to spread.
And the pages of the story not yet written are ours to fill as we "go and tell" the message of Christ's salvation to a hungry world.
Alleluia! Alleluia! The Lord is risen indeed.