a cave, a grave

a day: arise, ascend

Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray always and not lose heart

~Luke 18:1

Each year, while it was only the early hours of June 14th, my mom would wake me up. Then, even before the sun would break on those short summer nights, she would tell me the story of the day I was born.

How she wanted me to have an Irish name. How a stranger said she waddled like a duck when she walked. How, when she came into the hospital because she was having contractions, the doctors told her it was too early; that she was just anxious. How that was the night I was born, though. How the doctor almost wasn’t ready! How there was a storm, and everyone had to go to the hallway. How I was sick, and how she didn’t get to hold me very long. And finally, the part that brought it all together, how it came out. How there we were, with her telling me that story again.

Over the years, even as I grew older and showing affection to parents was decidedly uncool, I continued to treasure that story. Each year, in the early hours of June 14th, I’d wait for my mom to tell me that story.

Growing up isn’t a cakewalk. Like typical brothers, Cody and I had a healthy rivalry. My father is an avid outdoorsman and can work with his hands. Cody has those traits more than I do. I remember times when it felt like I was different from Cody and Dad, that I didn’t belong.

That’s why I treasured the story my Mom told each June 14th. 

That story reminded me, year after year, that I belonged.

That’s what Holy Week, and especially Easter Vigil is. 

Those are the Great Three Days, The Night, The Church gathers her children together and says, “Let me tell you your story, the story of how you came to be.”

On Easter Vigil, The Church gathers her children as the sun is setting, and tells them the stories of stories. Then, She takes her children outside to light the Christ Candle. The Church gathers us around that flame, to remind us that what makes sense out of the stories we just heard, and the stories of our life for that matter, is The Story, the story of Christ —the light of the world.  

Then we take that Light back into the sanctuary that has been darkened since Maundy Thursday. Then, with that light returned, it’s time to celebrate. There’s bells and alleluias. There’s communion. There’s the declaration that light has defeated the darkness!

Then The Church sends her children back out into the night. 

She sends them out with a story to make sense of that darkness they will return home in. The Story that promises the night won’t last forever, that the Great Day will dawn when darkness will be no more.

Stories matter. This is the story that saves us from losing heart. Come to worship on Holy Week and hear The Story, Your Story.