In this service, the first of Easter, we begin in darkness, telling the story of redemption as it unfolds from the Old Testament to the New. We then go outside the West Door (close to the font, the beginning of our Resurrection journey) where the New Fire for Easter is kindled in a brazier and the Paschal Candle lit from it, pierced by the five nails that pierced Jesus’s own body.
The light is taken up the nave and acclaimed as Jesus’s resurrection light; all the congregation’s candles are lit from it. As the Paschal candle is put in its stand, Jesus’s resurrection is affirmed in the singing of the Exultet, the hymn of praise to God’s new life; the lights come up, a joyful noise is made, and the Gloria sung for the first time since Lent began. Baptisms and confirmations then take place in the context of a joyful Easter Eucharist, presided over by the Bishop.