As part of ministry particularly in my earlier years, I
served as a hospice and hospital chaplain. When I stop to reflect on the things
I learned in walking with terminally ill patients and their families, one of
the first things that come to mind is the importance of story. Many times, I
have been privileged to sit with someone and listen to the story of his or her
life. Sometimes I will find myself at the kitchen table. Other times, I am
sitting with a spouse on a bench somewhere. Often, some of the deepest sharing
takes place at the bedside of a patient and many have taught me much about
faith. Wherever we are and whoever is speaking, one thing remains constant and
that is the need to share our story with another person. I have come to
understand, especially when dealing with the terminally ill, that one of the
most important activities for us to engage in as humans is a review of our
lives.
We need time to reflect, to think about the things we have
accomplished, and to voice the things that have mattered most to us. We need to
give thanks for those we have loved and those we have received love from during
the course of our days. This is the way we make meaning in life. Yet, I have
also come to believe that this is a way we can offer worship to the God who
created us. Often in scripture particularly in the Old Testament we have this
emphasised as a writer puts forward some of the guidelines that will help shape
the worship traditions of the nation of Israel for generations to come. One
such traditions is that as a worshiper approaches the priest with the offering
of first fruits, he or she is to recite to the priest the story of Israel’s
deliverance.
The story begins with their ancestors, people without a land
or a home. It remembers God’s blessings that were poured out upon the people,
causing them to grow in number and to flourish. It celebrates that God heard
their voices and delivered them from their Egyptian oppressors. It then concludes
by celebrating the blessing of the land itself, the land that bore the first
fruits, “a land flowing with milk and honey. It is worship that engages the
entire story of their life as a people.
It is worship that gives a central place to the sacrament of
remembering. As a member of the people
of Israel
you were to be the beneficiary of the long history of God’s gracious providence
and care. The Israelites were to give voice to this truth each and every time
they approached the altar in worship. The story of their lives was a story
marked by the grace and mercy of the Lord. When they began to remember exactly
how they had arrived in that place of blessing, their hearts turned toward God
in worship and thanksgiving. It was not only about remembering the past either.
People remembering the mighty acts of God in the past are also encouraged to
persevere and hope, even in the midst of present difficulty. When the
Israelites remembered the powerful hand of God at work in their past, they were
encouraged to trust in God. Rehearsing the mighty acts of God offered assurance
that the future was secure in God’s hands as well.
As we begin our Lenten journey, I can think of no better
place to begin than at the beginning. We are invited to overhear the story of
our earliest ancestors in the faith. We are encouraged to remember that even then,
when “a wandering Aramean” was our ancestor; God was at work to gather and
claim us as his people. God was seeking even then to redeem us and call us each
by name. There are other stories to remember as well. There are the stories of
other Old Testament figures that testify to God’s love and deliverance. We hear
the stories of Daniel, Nehemiah, Deborah, and Jonah—and they become our story.
There are the stories of the New Testament, and encounters with God’s Word made
flesh. We hear the stories of the disciples, of the lepers, of the paralytic,
and of Mary and Martha—and they become our story.
We hear the stories of the early church in the book of Acts,
and the stories of each church that has proclaimed the truth of Christ since
the day of Jesus’ resurrection — and they become our stories. Corporately and
individually, we all have stories to tell. We remember all the blessings we
enjoy. We think about the things we have accomplished through the power of God
at work in us. We give voice to the things that have mattered most to us. We
give thanks for those we have loved and those we have received love from during
the course of our days. This is the way we make meaning in life. This is the
way we worship.
This is the way we prepare to celebrate the greatest gift we
have ever received—the body of Christ given for us that we might live. During
these forty days in Lent, may we find a kitchen table, a bench in the yard, or
the bedside of a friend, and may we share our stories. May we worship through
the stories and if we listen closely, we will hear the good news of God’s
amazing love, being poured out for us in ways large and small. Some of the
places we see God at work may surprise us. Yet, at the end of the story, we,
and all those with us, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD our
God has given.
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