Stories are a part of us — as much a part of us as a heart that beats and lungs that breath. They are the woven thread that binds our relationships tightly to one another. It doesn’t matter what has convened a gathering of humans—a family holiday, a school reunion, coworkers on break time or just friends sharing a meal—it doesn’t take long for their shared experiences and memories to surface as “their” stories. You know the ones. They are the stories that only the group are in on. It could be about a good prank or an awkward moment. It could be recitations of battles fought, tragedies, falling in love or those food items that “nobody can make like…”. Even though it is the thousandth time of retelling, it doesn’t matter. It is the sharing of the power of the story mixed with the intimacy of the knowing that makes the magic of bonded lives.
There is power in the hearing, sharing, and not forgetting. Stories tell us of past times and events that we never lived through. Yet, the telling makes them a part of our living. These stories guide the living of our lives today. They help form the future as waymarks of the journey. When the stories are forgotten or untold, the reality they speak of disappears. The people vanish.
Slowly, subtly, quietly, the stories form who we are. Just as the waves of the sea, the churning of a river or the blowing winds carve the landscape of the earth around us.
We can learn much from our stories. We can learn much from listening to the stories of others.
Through their shared narratives, their history, their legacy, their joys and sorrows, pain and glories become visible to us, the hearers. And the magic of the stories works to transform strangers into friends. And the fruits of compassion, empathy, inclusion, friendship and love burst forth in bounteous perfusion.
That is the essence of this month of Black History and Legacy. It is a time of stories shared in all of their complexities and breadth. So that we who are not Black can hear, experience, sense and know, as best we can, the stories and journey. In so doing, the “otherness” dissipates and the “oneness” thrives. That is the dream of the heart of Jesus. The apostle Paul shares that dream in Galatians 3:27-28 NLT:
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
