Wellspring UMC; Fourth Sunday after Easter; April 29, 2007: “Storytelling”:

-John 1: 1-5, 10-14 , Acts 9: 36-43

When I first read this story, I realized that this is a something one might pick up off a library shelf. There is this a person, loved by many who suddenly gets sick and dies. Her friends gather at the wake and share what a blessing she was. Then an old friend, a spiritual giant arrives to pay his respects. They talk a little, but then the friend sends them all out. The scene shifts and this friend, whether out of grief or desperation, drops to his knees and prays to God for the one who meant so much to so many. Then, as any good author is able to do, Luke throws in the twist. "Tabitha, get up," Peter says, and she does.

We can imagine the scene. We can see it in our mind’s eye. We can feel the grief, hear the conversations, and experience the joy and questions which came as this one whom they loved and who loved them, was resuscitated back to life. It's a great story, and yet it is more than just a story. It is THE story.

My ethics professor in seminary was Stanley Hauerwas. Hauerwas is an interesting person. Some people love him, and some can’t stand him. He can be perceived as a brash, no nonsense person who calls a spade a spade, but he also lays out some profound insights into theology. On the front of your bulletin today there is a quote from him.

It is a quote that, when I first heard it, stuck with me. I actually remember when he said it in class, because he had to repeat it a few times for us to get it down in our notes. Then I had to go through it a couple of times before I could get the concept down in my mind. Just so we're all on the same page, I've written it down for us.

Hauerwas' definition of 'Postmodernism' -- "You shall have no story, except the story you had, before you had no story." (2X) In other words, postmoderns, that would be us, seem to have this desire to live in a world where we want to write our own story. Society has this concept that no one can or should tell us who we are or what we should do, that we are our own masters. We are the creators of our lives. We are blank slates, upon which WE write our own destinies. We are in charge, and no one else. "You shall have no story, except the story you had, before you had no story."

Though it may sound as if Hauerwas is speaking is circles, the concept is solid. It is also uncomfortably applicable to modern life. If you doubt that, think about the last time someone tried to tell you what to do or who you should be. Take a look around at the ways in which society attempts to create itself into it's own grandiose ideas and ideals, usually at the expense of the minority and marginalized. Or look at the people around us, and if we're bold enough, look at ourselves, from the houses we live in, to the cars we drive, and to the debt we accrue, we're going to live for ourselves and be our own people, despite the other.

"You shall have no story except the story you have before you had no story."

And yet, we are Christians. We are a people of THE story. We are ones for whom it is impossible to live outside of the story of God's saving grace. We are people who believe in the Creator God, who is the author of life. We believe in the One who told us a story of redemption and new life despite ourselves. We are grounded in the story of the People of Israel, who in their ups and downs, ins and outs, were still connected with God. We are a people shaped by the story of the salvific grace of Christ, the One who revealed that true life comes when we enter into and live out the story that brings new life and hope. We embody a story passed on from generation to generation through saints and sinners, those who strove to tell God's story through their lives, which in turn invited others, even us, to be included as characters in the pages of salvation history.

We are a people of the story, and yet we live in a society that encourages all to have no story but to be “who they are” as rugged individualists. We are a people of God’s specific story but live in tension with a society that wants no story. We believe that through our baptism, God’s story has claimed us, and we have taken claim of God’s story, but society claims that no one has a claim on us. I would even go so far as to say that our call is not just be people OF the story, but to be people who BECOME the story through the lives we live, which marks us as far different than those who surround us.

Today we enter scripture hearing the story of one who embodied Christ’s story in many ways. In Joppa there was this woman, Tabitha, who was a great servant of Christ. In fact, Tabitha is the only woman in the New Testament named as a disciple. She was known for her good works -- doing good, helping the poor, and caring for widows. She was one of the key women among the Christ followers, and everyone saw Christ in her.

Unfortunately at the time, but fortunately in the end, Tabitha gets sick and dies. One day she is up, helping and caring for those in need, the next day she's down and life leaves her. Her friends prepared her body in the traditional way. They washed her, cleaned her up, and anointed her for burial, all the time grieving together but also sharing the story of Tabitha's life and witness.

This is a wake, and if you've ever been to a wake, you know how things play out. Stories abound as to who the person was and what they meant to those who cared. These women shared those stories together, even pulling out the clothes that Tabitha had made them, celebrating what a blessing she was and how she lived her faith in a tangible way...in a way that changed their lives. But they weren't the only ones who came. Someone had heard that Peter, the great disciple, was in a town close by, so they sent word for him to come and grieve with them, come and witness to Christ’s resurrection as they lay their friend to rest.

Peter makes his way there, and they immediately take him upstairs to the place where she has been laid out. The wake continues, but with a new character added to the story. They again, just like we would, recount who Tabitha was and what she did for them, even showing Peter the garments which had been pieced together by this saint of God.

Whether Peter wanted time alone with the body, was overwhelmed by the gaggle around him, or was prompted by the Spirit, we don't know, but we do know that he sent them all out of the room. There he prayed. Fervently he prayed. On his knees he prayed. Out of grief he prayed. For life he prayed. For Jesus he prayed. Then he turned with a faith larger than life and said, "Tabitha get up." Reinacting the story of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter, using the same words, giving the same command, "Tabitha get up." And she did.

She opened her eyes and looked at Peter, who helped her up to live another day. He called them in and presented her to those who cared so deeply. Then scripture says, and I want you to hear this, "the word spread...the story was told...and many believed in the Lord."

Did you catch that last phrase? Oh we’d expect that if someone came back from death the word would spread which would pique the interest of others. But if we look back at the story of Tabitha’s witness we see that she, herself embodied Christ’s story – from life, to death, to life again, she became THE story.

She embodied who Christ was in caring for those who were thrown away by society – the poor, the widowed, the sick. Then in her death, those who gathered shared together HOW she embodied Christ’s love in her life. THEN, through her resuscitation, the story became even more powerful, for she, like Christ came back from death.

In reflecting upon Tabitha’s witness...Tabitha’s story...we see an example of what true discipleship looks like. In her we see who we are called to be and how we are to live – to be Christ to the world, literally.

Now think about this. Can you grasp this? Can you catch hold of the ramifications of such a thing in your life? Do we even want to? Do we dare? For if we do, and when we do, then we understand that in become like Christ there is purity of love and care, but we also understand that the world will see us, not just an anomaly and idealist, but to some we are at the best an annoyance and at the worst hated, for if we are called to live Christ’s story, we seek redemption, forgiveness, healing, and wholeness in all things. Standing up for injustice and making way for ALL to be a part of the story which we strive to embody.

What is our story? What story are you living? We might be grounded in the story of Christ and believe it, but have we claimed it as our own? Have we claimed it so much that strive to become Christ to those around us? How and when do others see Christ in us? Maybe the best test is to ask ourselves, what will people say when we die? When they are standing around at the wake, will they say, "He was a good person"...or "I saw Christ in her.”? There is a difference.

Alfred Nobel was a Russian immigrant, Chemist, inventor, and writer whose chosen work was to research and develop explosives. His best known discovery was dynamite. In 1888, Alfred’s brother Ludvig died in Cannes, France. In a fateful turn, an obituary reported not Ludvig’s death, but Alfred’s. The headline read, “The merchant of death is dead,” and went on to say, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”

Can you imagine reading your own printed obituary? Can you imagine that obituary describing you as the ‘merchant of death’? Can you imagine that being your legacy...your story?

That premature obituary changed his thinking, changed his life, and in fact changed the legacy he would leave the world. In his last will and testament he set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes. Those coveted prizes awarded annually without distinction of nationality to those who have put forth an ideal or made important discoveries in the fields of science, chemistry, medical science or physiology, literary work, or the furtherance of peace. Nobel’s life may have brought about destruction, but his story was not one of death and destruction. That’s not what he’s remembered for, rather he establish that which would challenge and invite the greatest minds to accomplish great good for humanity.

The postmodern myth states that "we'll have no story except the story we had before we had no story," but the truth of God comes more profoundly in the One who became flesh and dwelt among us...who comes and becomes flesh in us...in the One who doesn't just live in us and through us, but whose greatest desire is that we become Him to the world.

Whether we like it or not, we are storytellers. We are telling a story every day and every moment. The question is, what story are we telling?