Stories and THE Story

--By Martin Geiger


"The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!" We've said it constantly since the Easter Vigil, but it never stops losing its thrill. Eucharist at Deaconess Anne refocuses us around the astounding story of Christ's resurrection, and reminds us to look for the wonderful and often scary moments of resurrection in our own lives.

One of the things I love best about the church practices we've developed is our "sermon" - Rebecca or Mark spends some time explaining the story they hear in the Gospel, and asks us to reflect about the experiences we've had that connect us to that story.
We tell a lot of different stories in that space - stories of closeness with God and others, stories about pain and difficulty and the times we've been hurt, and stories about where we found healing. I value the chance to hear stories from my housemates and our many visitors, to sit at the place where our stories and the words of the Gospel meet - not to solve all our theological problems, but to share where we are, and begin to think about our own stories as shaped by God's grace and the love our community has for each other. What we have on the altar when we celebrate communion together is more than bread and wine - it's our selves, soul, body, and story together, awaiting the transformation of the Spirit.