This past Sunday I preached a sermon on John the Baptist’s testimony. In it I referenced the song “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” from Hamilton in which the cast (and in particular Alexander Hamilton’s wife, Eliza) reflects on the legacies that many of the founding fathers were able to write & tell themselves. But because of his death by dual to Alexander Burr, Hamilton is not afforded that same privilege.
You see, in the same way that John the Baptist pointed to who Jesus was & told his story, Eliza is asked to pick up the mantle for Hamilton in telling his story through her own life. In doing so, Eliza writes the story of Alexander’s life in her own hand, publishing many letters & allowing his writings to tell his own story. She also opens the Orphan Asylum Society, New York City’s first private orphanage, carrying on Alexander’s legacy of thriving against all odds as an orphan.
But in this past week, since giving my sermon I’ve reflected on the ways in which we tell our own stories are ways in which we, as Christians, are a part of telling our own stories.
On Sunday (1/18) during their usual service protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul, MN in the belief that one of the Pastors of the congregation, David Easterwood, was identified as the Acting Director of Minnesota’s ICE ERO division in St. Paul. In entering the service protesters disrupted service, got into a yelling match with the Lead Pastor & services were canceled for the Sunday.
In a planned protest on Friday (1/23) hundreds of clergy joined by a crowd of onlookers shut down traffic to MSP airport and were arrested while praying the Lord’s Prayer together.
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As we “tell our own stories” of what it means to be a Christian & even more so, what it means to be a Christian leader & Pastor. How do we embody Christ & tell our own stories of Jesus in our words & actions? Is it in prayer & protest? Or in service to the deportation of those deemed “illegal”?
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
Imagining a Changing Church 