By Kathy Berken
On Deck
The story is oft repeated: Mary Magdalene and other women go to anoint Jesus’ body after his death and find the tomb empty. An angel instructs them to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen. After Peter and John recover from their skepticism, they also tell the others. Jesus’ resurrection is the pinnacle of the Gospel because it brings abundant and much-needed hope to his grieving followers.
Yet the resurrection would have been lost to history if not for the telling of it. From a strictly religious perspective, Jesus’ resurrection fulfilled the promise of everlasting life and his role in salvation history. However, on a human level, where we do not have universal access to all transcendent experiences (at least I don’t), the resurrection of Jesus might never have been told.
This brings us to the power of story. Mary and the other disciples’ sharing of the miracle awakened the spiritual imaginations of Jesus’ followers. No one would have known about the resurrection if that narrative was missing. The account of the details of that Sunday morning gave the disciples renewed dedication to continue practicing Jesus’ messages of love, faith and the coming of the Kingdom of God.
The Easter story, then, is an excellent example of the profound influence of telling just one story. The challenge, however, is that the potential for good or harm lies in the integrity of the storyteller. Although Jesus often told his disciples not to tell anyone about his miracles, his followers faithfully passed along those stories over the decades by word of mouth, stories that were eventually written into the Gospels.
I invite you to consider the art of storytelling as a foundational spiritual practice. One of my favorite experiences is telling family stories at informal gatherings and waiting for someone to say, “Grandma, we heard this story a million times!” I couldn’t be happier! Why? Because they know this story so well and will repeat it to the next generation.
Stories of all kinds have the power to bring us closer, to transform our views and to enrich our imaginations. The stories can be simple, funny, serious or of great historical significance. Although we do not have to wait for something big to happen before we share our stories, it is important to wait for the right time to tell them.
Our annual family camping trips are an easy venue for grandma’s stories. We sit around the campfire where we strongly discourage the presence of phones (a barnacle on the ship of family togetherness). When storytelling is a game that everyone can share, these stories will run from brief anecdotes to full-length feature film scripts!
For example, I’ll start with the time a raccoon tried to open my tent zipper in the middle of the night. A grandchild will follow with a story about the time a hungry raccoon got into a cooler that someone forgot to secure with bungee, which leads to the story about the family of raccoons that hang out in the campground dumpster.
Most of us enjoy telling stories anyway, but when we purposely shape our stories so that they become part of the fabric of our extended family life, we add to faith, hope and love in the world. When we engage in a positive way with others, we feel closer to each other, know that we matter, and share a common bond.
The best stories are the most authentic, conveying a sense of familiarity. When one story becomes “Our Story,” we follow in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John, who couldn’t wait to relate the Great News about Jesus, a story that created a Christian community that continues to give us faith, hope and love.
(Kathy Berken is a spiritual director and retreat leader in St. Paul, Minnesota. She lived and worked at L’Arche in Clinton — The Arch from 1999-2009.)
