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I am in the middle of three novels right now! Technically, I am in the middle of more than that, but I have three currently on my shelf or my phone that I am reading. Don’t ask how many other books that I am technically reading right now as well. It is far too many! Books on theology, spirituality, justice, anti-racism, leadership, and church life rotate through my hands faster than I can read them. I think I need a little work on my focus right now! That is true not just in my reading habits, but in many ways the story of my life.
But, back to the fiction books. I have a few different types of Fiction that I read. One type is made up of mystery novels that usually involve a good plot alongside of decent writing that must demonstrate a commitment to character depth and development. The other type of book that I read are the “award winners.” Each year I read the book that wins the Booker Prize and often read the book that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Technically the mystery novels have won awards, too, since I read the Edgar Award winner, but I read those for fun and for distraction. I read the others to enter another world and experience the joys, trials, and travails of other characters. I get to live their lives, feel their hopes, and grieve their losses. It is what a good story does.
Of the three books I am reading two of them keep calling me back to them, because they are doing what they are supposed to do. I want to know what happens to Shuggie Bain and his mother Agnes in the midst of their pain, division, and brokenness. I want to go on Arthur Less’s travels and adventures around the world as he avoids the pain of a wedding back home in which a former lover is getting married to someone else! I live with them, I laugh with them, I fear for them. That is the power of a story – to pull you in and make you feel what the characters feel. That is what a story is supposed to do; it pulls you in and makes you a part of its characters’ lives.
A good story is powerful and can take you to new places, but you know that it is just a story. The Easter story is an “award” story as well, but it is more than just a story to read. The Jesus story, the greatest story ever told, is one that we live. Like any good story there are deep characters and a powerful plot that can grab you emotionally and pull you in, but when you are pulled into the Easter story you are not only entertained but you are transformed. The characters don’t just come to life – they bring life and bring it in abundance. In the Easter story we are pulled in and made a part of the story because resurrection power flows through us. Sure, some good fiction stories can have a life-changing effect on you, but a story that can truly make you a part of it changes everything.
That is what we are doing at Easter. We are entering into the story – and it is the greatest story ever told. That is the point of participating in the triumphal entry, it is why we will do a Maundy Thursday service, it is why we take time on good Friday to hear the story of Jesus passion and death. Because by entering the story we feel it all, and it can transform us. The more we truly enter into the story, the more the story does what it says it can do.
The other novel that I have been reading is the one that I have been working on the longest and it has travelled with me to several destinations. (That should tell you how long I have been reading it.) I started it back when we could travel! The characters just aren’t grabbing me, I don’t really care what happens to any of the characters. I don’t wonder what is going to happen next. I am not a part of it. I still read it, but I do it almost begrudgingly. I started it; I am going to finish it. It won the Booker award; I have to read it. Too often that is the approach we take to the Easter story. We are doing it because we are supposed to. We already know the story, we don’t really care to live it.
We need to let the Easter story enter into our hearts – we need to enter into it. That is what a good story does. And this story does more than make us feel it or entertain us – it transforms us. How are you approaching Easter this year? Are you going to celebrate it even if we can’t do it like we want? That might just be going through the motions. Or are you going to live it? Are you going to let the characters pull you in? Are you going to be a part of the story? That is the call.
My Lenten read (in the spiritual formation category – one of the many non-fiction categories on my currently reading list) is called The Deeply Formed Life and is written by Rich Villodas. The book calls us into the story of Jesus in a deep way, not just to hear the story but to practice it, to know it, to love it, to live it. “God’s abundant life and love, it’s all available to us… God is committed to our transformation. He is not in the business of simply improving our lives; he wants to infuse them with his life. Every day, he moves toward us in love, reaching, seeking, and pleading with us to pay attention… We have to open ourselves to God’s way of being. That is, we have to leave but enter back in through another way. Like the apostle Paul said, we are invited to ‘live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit (Gal 5:16).’ ”
That is the invitation this Easter. Move toward God and be animated and motivated by God’s Spirit.
