On Easter Sunday, I will preach our final “I am” statement in the gospel of John, where Jesus declares in John, chapter 11, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Understanding Jesus as both the resurrection and the life can significantly impact how we perceive and navigate the world because it invites us to recognize that the resurrection isn’t solely a future event but a present reality. This realization becomes clear when we consider the significance of our life stories, as beautifully articulated by Frederick Buechner in Telling Secrets. Buechner emphasizes the importance of keeping track of our stories—the people we encounter, the challenges we face, and the moments of grace we experience—because it is through these stories that God reveals God’s self to us. We remember incredible answers to prayer, moments of grace and forgiveness, and times when God helped us through impossibly difficult circumstances. We get to see in a personal way the power of Jesus’ resurrection and life at work.
I enjoy hearing people’s stories, both as a way to get to know them better and to witness how God has been at work in their lives. With this in mind, I invite you to join us on Wednesday, April 3, for a special post-Easter MidWeek Fellowship gathering. We will be privileged to listen to the stories of Robin Barton, Bill George and Alec McLeod. I have asked Robin, Bill and Alec to reflect on various aspects of their faith journey, including questions such as: What is your earliest memory of encountering or experiencing God or a sense of the divine? How has your image or understanding of God changed over the years? What do you wrestle with the most in your faith journey? How does your faith impact your day-to-day life? During the MidWeek Fellowship at 6:00pm in the Fellowship Hall, I will have the honor of interviewing them and exploring these questions, and we will have the gift of receiving their stories.
—Carol