Last month, I traveled to South Carolina to spend some time with my parents. I always enjoy time with my mom and dad, and this visit was no different. One of my favorite parts about spending time with my family is that we know how to tell stories. I think this is a hallmark of Southern culture. There is an art to storytelling, and several of my close family members are particularly gifted in this art! During my visit in March, I noticed how often we repeated stories. "You might remember the time when," my dad would begin, and I'd know I was in for a treat. I never want to stop a family member from retelling a story, because the stories are so good. Sometimes they're funny or ridiculous, other times they're tender and meaningful. Often they're all of those things in one.
There is great power in retelling stories that we know by heart. When we repeat a story, we reinscribe its meaning, year by year and generation by generation. Nowhere is this more evident for Christians than in the stories of the Bible. When I refer to the biblical narratives as "stories," I don't mean that they aren't true. The stories of Scripture are true in the deepest sense; together, they tell us who God is and who we are as God's beloved ones. The Bible isn't a science or history textbook, and it isn't a straightforward morality tale or ethics handbook. I sometimes say to my Confirmation students that the Bible is more like a library of books that tell us about God's love for the world and our call to share that love. And the stories in that library are some of the best and truest stories ever told.
This month, Christians all around the world will retell the story of Jesus's death, resurrection, and ascension. We will journey through Holy Week together and hear those stories of betrayal and suffering, life and triumph, some of us for the first time and some of us for the hundredth time. Each time we hear the stories retold, our own experiences of the stories change. We are different people this Easter than we were last Easter. We are a different global Christian community this Easter than we were centuries ago. The story remains the same, but we grow and change, deepening in our own experience of God's grace.
This is also true, of course, of the music we sing. We may sing "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" with organ and brass every single Easter morning, but as we change, our experience of that hymn changes. The music of the Church remains with us year after year, accompanying us as we journey through the stories of our faith, texturing those stories with melody and harmony. I wonder how you will experience the stories and music of Holy Week and Easter this year. I wonder what new mysteries will be revealed, and I wonder how God's grace will appear to you anew.
Blessings on this holy season,
