presented by Marion Smith
in Guelph.
A few years ago I recall standing right here and guessing that many of you – maybe most of you-- had had some event that reckoned how you thought of your own life story. I was talking about those things that separate your life into two parts: stuff that happened Before and stuff that happened After. And that thing that happened finds its way into all our stories on some level. When we tell our stories we pin them in time to that big event. Our memories start to figure out its meaning.
I don't need to “guess” any more. I am certain that we have some enromous shared experiences that will – for sure! – shape our mutual life stories, our congregation's story, going forward. But I think we can still find some lessons in the way these stories work. And as Christians we will take a look at our founding story – the Easter story.
Our milestone stories have markers in them like these: It was before we had kids. It was just after I met your mother. Before we lived in this house. After the war. Before we sold the church.
Maybe the big event was just yours alone. You had a baby or experienced a big accident, or retired or won the big prize or went bankrupt.
Or maybe it's a family event; something you all talk about when you get together for birthdays, or Christmas. Or maybe it's really huge and touches the whole community, or the whole nation or everybody in the world hears about – like a World War or 9-11. We're barely remote enough just yet but there is no doubt we're in a Post-Pandemic era. Who remembers the “before”?
Some of our events are good news, but sadly, those tragic ones start to pile up in our inventory of life changes, don't they? Oh yes, we recall the Royal Weddings, the moon landings, the gold medals. But the disasters have a tendency to push the good news stories to one side and hog all our attention. What do the news people say? If it bleeds, it leads.
Some of those events really are big enough to change whole nations, even for generations. In the middle of time, something so amazing did happen to change everything. The whole world, even those who never heard the story, count time according to that event. The event Christians celebrate today, the Resurrection.
It is also true though, that some have never heard the story. Hard to believe isn't it? But think about your own family stories.
Maybe your ancestors were starving in the Irish potato famine and your great great great grandparents brought you all to Canada to begin life in a new country. Who could forget a story like that? And yet, some of the grandchildren forgot, and then some of the great-grandchildren. If you were lucky, one of them decided they'd better write it down or it might be forgotten altogether. So they asked the elders for their memories and along with the memories came the meaning. It's how our brains work; we're always looking for the meaning!
Let's listen to those who first told the Easter story.
****
I don't need to “guess” any more. I am certain that we have some enromous shared experiences that will – for sure! – shape our mutual life stories, our congregation's story, going forward. But I think we can still find some lessons in the way these stories work. And as Christians we will take a look at our founding story – the Easter story.
Our milestone stories have markers in them like these: It was before we had kids. It was just after I met your mother. Before we lived in this house. After the war. Before we sold the church.
Maybe the big event was just yours alone. You had a baby or experienced a big accident, or retired or won the big prize or went bankrupt.
Or maybe it's a family event; something you all talk about when you get together for birthdays, or Christmas. Or maybe it's really huge and touches the whole community, or the whole nation or everybody in the world hears about – like a World War or 9-11. We're barely remote enough just yet but there is no doubt we're in a Post-Pandemic era. Who remembers the “before”?
Some of our events are good news, but sadly, those tragic ones start to pile up in our inventory of life changes, don't they? Oh yes, we recall the Royal Weddings, the moon landings, the gold medals. But the disasters have a tendency to push the good news stories to one side and hog all our attention. What do the news people say? If it bleeds, it leads.
Some of those events really are big enough to change whole nations, even for generations. In the middle of time, something so amazing did happen to change everything. The whole world, even those who never heard the story, count time according to that event. The event Christians celebrate today, the Resurrection.
It is also true though, that some have never heard the story. Hard to believe isn't it? But think about your own family stories.
Maybe your ancestors were starving in the Irish potato famine and your great great great grandparents brought you all to Canada to begin life in a new country. Who could forget a story like that? And yet, some of the grandchildren forgot, and then some of the great-grandchildren. If you were lucky, one of them decided they'd better write it down or it might be forgotten altogether. So they asked the elders for their memories and along with the memories came the meaning. It's how our brains work; we're always looking for the meaning!
Let's listen to those who first told the Easter story.
****
Readers read scripture passages from Mark ( four women, stone rolled away, a young man, the women were afraid and told no one) Matthew, (now an angel, two women, fearful, but ran to tell the disciples) John (1)the other disciple who entered after Simon Peter, but believed immediately (2) Mary Magdalene, alone, mistakes Jesus for the gardener and then runs to tell the disciples “I have seen the Lord!”
One of John's grandchildren didn't want us to forget that he believed immediately-- as soon as he saw the evidence of the empty tomb. Maybe it was Mary Magdelene's great granddaughter who'd heard that story about the gardener around the Passover table and lobbied to put her in. That was easy-- they all remembered her. Some of the other old ladies persuaded the writers to list all their names, but all but Mark forgot Salome. Simon Peter's name is shifting. Was that when he started to use the new name?
I can imagine how all those differences got into the Scripture stories. After all. It was 70 or 75 or even a hundred years before anyone actually wrote them down. Nobody was writing things down when it happened. They were so excited. They were too busy changing. They were all new. Life was different now. Things they did last week, last year, yesterday no longer had the same meaning.
No more hiding, no more anxiety about Roman soldiers or temple rulers. It was time to start living a new life, a resurrection life. They needed to remember his words. What did he say about the poor? About living together? About sharing and healing?
As a storyteller I know it's not the differences that make their stories important. It's the timeless truth that lives in the middle of ALL the stories. Something big and important and truly life-changing happened that week. They thought it was going to be the crucifixion. They all remembered where they were when that happened. The details of that part of the story are vivid and we still remember the crown of thorns, the cross, the nails the darkness. The horror.
But the real Easter story is harder to pin down. The details are vague-- they depend on who's telling the story. Scholars and historians and theologians struggle to find one clear account of what actually happened that morning. It was Sunday, the Lord's Day for sure. That changed forever. Followers of Jesus set aside the old Sabbath and lifted up the new Lord's Day.
But then the details get muddled. Because the story gets personal.
Was it really Mary Magdalene who said it first? “I have seen the Lord.” Maybe, maybe not. But there is the meaning.
There it is: the Timeless Truth of the Easter story. A group of frightened, cowardly, oppressed people, confused and hiding behind locked doors were changed forever into a new community. Within days, weeks, months, we really don't know. It depends whose story you hear. They became a people who now knew that the one they had followed and thought to be dead was alive. They told each other their very personal stories. The time they saw him in the midst of their own lives.
They started calling themselves Followers of the Way. The tomb could not hold him. The timeless Truth was that he lives and that he still lives. Those who have seen the Living Christ can't keep the story to themselves. They remember his words, but more important than the words is the life. They try to live as he lived in love. Joy, peace, hope. The order of the words gets changed. It all depends who's telling the story. They see him everywhere.
If you have heard the story, if you have felt its timeless truth, then you too become a story teller. And somewhere inside that story is that Easter message: I have seen the Lord.
Once you have seen the Lord your life changes. Once we truly acknowledge and recognize ourselves as resurrection people we have to realize that nothing can alter that identity as people who see his divine presence all around us. We share his mission to create and build up sacred communities, to build up loving relationships wherever we find ourselves.
This is the message of Easter.
It's not our job to prove, to convince, to convert, or even to reconcile the differences in the details. It is just to share the relationship we have with that living divine presence you find as you try to live the Way. As you come out of your locked places and create communities of joy, hope, love and peace.
No change is so daunting that it can defeat true Resurrection People. The future awaits us.
One of John's grandchildren didn't want us to forget that he believed immediately-- as soon as he saw the evidence of the empty tomb. Maybe it was Mary Magdelene's great granddaughter who'd heard that story about the gardener around the Passover table and lobbied to put her in. That was easy-- they all remembered her. Some of the other old ladies persuaded the writers to list all their names, but all but Mark forgot Salome. Simon Peter's name is shifting. Was that when he started to use the new name?
I can imagine how all those differences got into the Scripture stories. After all. It was 70 or 75 or even a hundred years before anyone actually wrote them down. Nobody was writing things down when it happened. They were so excited. They were too busy changing. They were all new. Life was different now. Things they did last week, last year, yesterday no longer had the same meaning.
No more hiding, no more anxiety about Roman soldiers or temple rulers. It was time to start living a new life, a resurrection life. They needed to remember his words. What did he say about the poor? About living together? About sharing and healing?
As a storyteller I know it's not the differences that make their stories important. It's the timeless truth that lives in the middle of ALL the stories. Something big and important and truly life-changing happened that week. They thought it was going to be the crucifixion. They all remembered where they were when that happened. The details of that part of the story are vivid and we still remember the crown of thorns, the cross, the nails the darkness. The horror.
But the real Easter story is harder to pin down. The details are vague-- they depend on who's telling the story. Scholars and historians and theologians struggle to find one clear account of what actually happened that morning. It was Sunday, the Lord's Day for sure. That changed forever. Followers of Jesus set aside the old Sabbath and lifted up the new Lord's Day.
But then the details get muddled. Because the story gets personal.
Was it really Mary Magdalene who said it first? “I have seen the Lord.” Maybe, maybe not. But there is the meaning.
There it is: the Timeless Truth of the Easter story. A group of frightened, cowardly, oppressed people, confused and hiding behind locked doors were changed forever into a new community. Within days, weeks, months, we really don't know. It depends whose story you hear. They became a people who now knew that the one they had followed and thought to be dead was alive. They told each other their very personal stories. The time they saw him in the midst of their own lives.
They started calling themselves Followers of the Way. The tomb could not hold him. The timeless Truth was that he lives and that he still lives. Those who have seen the Living Christ can't keep the story to themselves. They remember his words, but more important than the words is the life. They try to live as he lived in love. Joy, peace, hope. The order of the words gets changed. It all depends who's telling the story. They see him everywhere.
If you have heard the story, if you have felt its timeless truth, then you too become a story teller. And somewhere inside that story is that Easter message: I have seen the Lord.
Once you have seen the Lord your life changes. Once we truly acknowledge and recognize ourselves as resurrection people we have to realize that nothing can alter that identity as people who see his divine presence all around us. We share his mission to create and build up sacred communities, to build up loving relationships wherever we find ourselves.
This is the message of Easter.
It's not our job to prove, to convince, to convert, or even to reconcile the differences in the details. It is just to share the relationship we have with that living divine presence you find as you try to live the Way. As you come out of your locked places and create communities of joy, hope, love and peace.
No change is so daunting that it can defeat true Resurrection People. The future awaits us.
*****************
Marion Smith, 2024.
quoted here with her permission.
Thank you for sharing this online, Marion, and Dennis.
ReplyDeleteAmen, amen, and amen.