The Sacred Story

First off... Whoa!!!! Nice new look!

It's been a long time sice I've posted something here. Lot's going on lately. Home side, and church(es) side. I wouldn't necesarilly say up heaval. We can certainly deal with this, but all in all, stressful. So, I've been otherwise distracted.

So, Good Friday... I know what it's all about, and why. We tell the story every year, as we do for Christmas and Easter, and all the other important days of the church year.
Some people feel the sacred and some people don't. Isn't that the case though with any of our church services?

Yet is there something scared about "telling the story"? I heard a story about some Native American elders telling their children to not share their sacred stories with the white people because the whites might take these stories and want to hear more, might want to learn more. Then they learned that the White people had Sacred Stories too... but when they learned how the Whites "listened" to theire stories, they began to tell their children it was okay to tel their stories to the Whites... because to them, those stories were just stories.

Actually, although I do know there are some Native Peoples that do not want Whites to be part of their traditions, to be fair... the Native People I've known have been more than gracious about sharing their customs, traditions, and most importantly their stories with me.

Like in many aborigional peoples, to the traditional Native Americans, these stories just are sacred! There is an expectation that when these stories are told... things are different; everyone pays attention, the teller speaks in a different way, the "feeling" is different. In some ways, it's like the tellers and the hearers are "there" all over again. It's like they are reliving the events. Tell the story about how the Creator made all things, and you're there... witnessing it all come into being.

Ever been around a camp fire with friends, you're all talking and sharing things. Then someone begins to tell a story about their lives, or some experience they had, or something like that. At some point while the story is being told, everyone knows something different is happening. People begin to pay attention in a different way, the planets ahve lined up, and the overall tone is a little different... a little more sacred maybe. People just seem to know not to ruin the moment. People begin to remember... begin to go back to times and places in their lives that evoke what the speak might be saying. And they too begin to tell their stories. And they add to the sacredness.

Is that true? Do we listen to our Sacred Stories as just stories? And if they are "Sacred", what makes them that way? Let's go back to the campfire story... what makes moments like that "sacred"? Did we make them like that... or did we just find ourselves in the right place at the right time? Do they come unbidden, and hopefully we're ready to recognize them as such? Or do they wait for us to get our hearts and souls ready for such moments so they can then come... and not be wasted?

And what role does the church and "sunday mornings" play in all this? How many times have you ever felt Sunday morning as "sacred"? How often do you have those moments of "sacredness" on a Sunday morning?
Are people looking for that? Is Sunday morning a place where people really want to encounter the sacred -- like young lovers noticing every moment with their partner as a moment to be treasured. Or do we settle for -- "it was okay" -- like a couple long enough together where things are taken for granted a bit more, where expectations aren't as high anymore, where the love isn't as great anymore.

Sunday mornings -- I feel it. Not every moment, not all the time. But I feel it. Sometimes it just hits me like a ton of bricks! POW!!! Boy we're in it thick now!...
Sometimes it sneaks up on me while I least expect it. Often it's while I'm distributing Communion bread. Every pair of hands I see is attached to a body, a person... and every person has a "story". Not every part of the story is particularly happy, or joyous, but they're all "sacred".

NPR has this thing called "Story Corps", a space where people can share their stories, whatever they want to say or tell. Some are about pain, and how they dealt with it. Some are about the joys in their lives. Or they tell about a particular person that has impacted them and why.

This Easter season (Easter being one of those "Story" times for us) I invite you to tell your story. Do you have a "Resurrection" story? Do you have a story about "seeing life differently"? Any story you want to share? I have some stories I'll share, but I'll wait a bit on those.

If you're an author here on this blog... you can start your own post. If you're not an author, please feel free to "comment" on a post.

Maybe what makes a story sacred is not just the teller, but the hearer (or in this case - the reader). Help us find the sacred together!