Deacon Tom Lindell

My Sisters and Brothers,

One of many human foibles is the desire/need to be led.

At the time Jesus lived, there was a yearning for the Messiah to come to lead them out from under oppressive Roman rule. A lament after Jesus’ death in Luke’s Gospel (25:21), “We thought he was the one to deliver Israel.”

His disciples who had followed him around the countryside had placed their complete trust in him. They felt rudderless and left bereft. While many of them claimed to have seen Jesus, he did not remain in that observational domain very long.

I am reminded of a story of a Senator who was a brilliant orator whose specialty was foreign affairs. He also had an outstanding speech writer. About the time he was scheduled to give a major address, he and his speech writer had a falling out. Despite that, he proceeded to offer his address with his usual eloquence. When he turned the first page over, it read “YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN!”

Jesus’ post-Easter disciples began to realize that what they had experienced was of value to others. It was up to them to carry the message to others, but how would they do that? Which stories would they tell? It seems clear that those early stories gained traction via oral tradition. These second and third hand stories ultimately became what we know today as the Gospels.

I have a favorite quote from physicist/cosmologist Brian Swimme, who raises the question, “What is the importance of story?” He goes on to say that without storytelling we lose contact with our basic realities in this world. Swimme continues, “To be human is to be in story. To forget one’s story is to go insane.” Stories are how we orient ourselves in relation to others.

Frederick Buechner once said, “The only thing we have to tell is our own story.” Are we willing to become vulnerable to others in relating aspects of our inner being?

While the disciples lost their leader, they did experience a living example of what it is to dwell in God’s Kingdom, and that needed to be shared with others.

—Deacon Tom