Church family,
I can’t believe it is February 2021. Perhaps I feel this way for a different reason that you might anticipate. . . What I cannot believe is that it has almost been a year since the covid-lockdown began and we began to use a combination of virtual and in-person worship practices. During that time, we faced irritation together; many of us did not like what we were seeing. We were frustrated together by what we witnessed in our government's response. On multiple occasion we expressed, and lived into, a sense of hope that even though things were not working out as we hoped, believed, or planned, we could find God at work with us. As a church, Plains demonstrated adaptability regularly during this time. And I believe we will live into this practice again in 2021 as covid is still with us— and seems to be something we will work with for a while. But that is not the subject of this post.
Instead, I have been thinking a lot about something that JonMark’s girlfriend said to me back in April 2020 (truth be told it might had even been in March… I can’t remember that exact date. But her words are seared into my mind). In our conversation, Autumn and I were talking about how the 2020 Senior Class at Seneca Valley was not having a ’normal’ graduation experience. At that time we didn’t even conceive of the fact that the class of 2021 would have a far different year that would, in many ways, feel much worse. I looked at Autumn and said, “I am sorry that you are not having a normal graduation. It feels like you are being robbed of it.”
She smiled at me, as she often does, and said, “Well, at least we will have a great story to tell our kids one day.” Again, her words have been with me since she said them. I return to them often in my mind as I think about the response the church has practiced to covid and to the many other issues that have risen up over this past year. “We will have a great story to tell…” It has been almost a year, I wonder what story we are telling others about God, about the church, and about the hopeful future that sits before us.
If you pick up a book that Larry Golemon edits that is entitled, Living our Story, you will find these words tucked into a discussion about pastoral leadership. But they are no less applicable to each of us as the body of Christ. These words support what Autumn told me so many months ago. . .
“The emphasis on logic and rationality runs counter to how human brains actually work. [Daniel Pink] says, we are not built for facts. Instead we are hardwired for telling and remembering stories. Telling stories actually helps us assimilate facts and data by integrating the left and the right hemispheres of the brain together. . . .Thus story is essential to human understanding.”
And so, as 2021 has begun, and the issues and struggles of covid are still with us, I wonder are you listening to stories that are shared consistently and faithfully? I wonder what story you will tell when you are confronted in public, or in the worship space, and asked about your response to what you see happening “out there?” We do have a great story to tell and listen to, but will we?
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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