We are still basking in the glow of a post Easter high at St Martin's. You can see pictures from Holy Week and Easter here. Although I have to say exhaustion seems to be an integral partner with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for our experience of our journey together through Lent and into the celebration of Easter's great three days. We breathe a sigh of relief that Lent and Easter are behind us as the temptation to return to business as usual takes hold.

 

I know this feeling intimately, and it disturbs me because if it's just to return to business as usual what has been the point of the spiritual work we put into Lent and Easter? I don't want to return to business as usual. I want to experience some kind of change. After all is this not the promised result of the Resurrection - new life, and new life, lived abundantly?

 

On Easter Day I preached on the conversation in Acts 10 between Peter and a centurion named Cornelius. While you can read and listen again to what I said here , my main point is that all we have is story. Story is the way we articulate our experience of the world, both to ourselves and to one another. Thus, we become molded by the stories we tell. This is a good and a bad thing, because if the story is a poor one, by which I mean it does not have enough room in it, we become constrained in our sense of identity and worldview. On the other hand, if the story is an expansive one, allowing us space to grow then our sense of self and view of the world expands to include more and more of what is needed.