Once Upon a Time...He is Risen!

By Lisa Kramme, Director of Faith Formation

Once upon a time, people told stories to each other.  They were face-to-face, maybe around a dinner table, maybe around a campfire.  Once upon a time, people told stories to each other because they couldn’t read, let alone write the stories down.  Stories were handed down like clothes, Grandma’s wedding ring, and the family farm. 

Then more people started learning how to read.  Then machines like the printing press were invented so the stories people told could not only be written down, but they could be mass- produced and shared with so many more than just the number of people that could fit around a table. 

But just like there’s such a thing as eating too many jelly beans at Easter, there’s also such a thing as having too many words to read every day.  A typical day for me includes reading Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts; work emails; personal emails; e-newsletters; websites; devotional materials; more Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts; several more websites; maybe three dozen more emails; and then a chapter in a book to wind down at the end of the day. 

All the words, the ability to read, the electronic tools that transmit up-to-the-minute information—these are gifts.  These are gifts of a modern world and technology.  These gifts are a privilege to have, and Jesus tells us when explaining a parable, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”  (Luke 12:48)

I think if Jesus was here, he might ask—or maybe demand—that we put down our smart phone, close out our email, and even lay aside our book for the evening.  Instead, I think Jesus might say it’s more important to pick up the phone (Jesus wouldn’t be totally anti-technology) and call someone.  Or he’d have us walk down the block or take the truck into town and order a cup of coffee at the café, look someone in the eye and say, “So—how’s your day going?”

When I visit with people about disaster relief in the Nebraska Synod, people don’t always know how badly the church building of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Dannebrog was impacted.  They always seem to make a mental note or write it down when I share that 81 of Nebraska’s 93 counties issued emergency declarations during this spring’s bomb cyclone blizzards and flooding. 

Is not knowing these stories of our neighbors caused by lack of interest?  I don’t think so.  I just think that, while technology can literally take us to places around the world, because there’s so much to read as we take all that information in, we miss what’s right here.

“He is risen!” we read in the Gospels.  Luke tells the story that Jesus appeared right in the middle of his disciples.  He stood among them, spoke with them.  They looked each other over, wounds and all.  They asked questions and probably shared stories of heartache, fear and surprise.  Jesus and his disciples ate together, and he offered them words of peace and blessing.

Jesus is risen!  And we are Jesus’ people.  How about we get out among Jesus’ other people today and in the days to come?  How about we ask our neighbors how they’re doing and share how we’re doing and then offer each other words of support because those are words of blessing?

He is risen!  That’s quite a story to tell.  Your neighbor has a story to tell, too.  So many of them do.