Sharing Scar Stories

The Rev. Ranie Neislar

April 7, 2024

We do silly things when we first start to get to know people. I’m sure a few of you have participated in get-to-know-you activities often called “Ice-breakers”. Sometimes there will be a question thrown out to the group, like “if you could have dinner with any one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?” or “would you rather have the ability to be invisible or be able to fly and why?” And, sometimes this one: “tell a story behind a scar you have.” We often call these “scar stories.” Sometimes the stories happen naturally. One person in the group says, “oh yeah, that reminds me of this time that I fell out of a tree trying to sneak out of the house and meet up with my friends and I broke my arm,” and of course, they show you this huge scar. And then I would be all this is mine: I have epilepsy and was out running, up a hill and all the sudden, boom, I had a seizure and came down hard on my chin, but I’m a beast and yes I went running two days later!” We want to share our scars, there is something about sharing our triumphs during hard moments; the very fact that we lived to tell the tale after some physically hard moments of our lives is something so many of us feel defines our ability to persevere as human beings; we feel good about these outward signs of resilience and sharing these stories because they tell people more about what we are made of—they tell people about our character; we are individuals that endure, physically. The scars that Jesus shares with the disciples proclaim a different endurance, one that changes each of our stories about resilience. Jesus has died and risen—and has the scars to prove it! Not a single one of us will, most likely, have that experience because we are not God, and instead, we will wait eagerly for the second coming. After our physical bodies are dead we will wait with the rest of creation to be raised to what God intends for us in the fully realized Kingdom of God. And then, we will be the same but different, like we see in the raised person of Jesus—the same but different. But for now, we have this: through our union with Christ, we can begin to practice this resurrection in ourselves, with our neighbors, and in the rest of creation. We can have tastes of new life, the resurrection life offered to us through Christ now! Jesus didn’t “pay it all”, because our God is not transactional, Jesus gave it all, and through that gift we can experience some of the healing, the freedom, the peace, and the joy through our communion with Christ, Jesus.

You might be wondering where you can get this once-in-a-lifetime package deal, this experience that changes the trajectory of our lives. Well, you’re here. Since I’ve been here, I can’t count the stories of reconciliation I’ve already heard—people telling me about their experiences of healing, joy, peace, and newfound freedom they have found here, at All Saints. All this is here, now-- here in bible studies, here in the nave, here in Atrium, in the formation of our children and youth, through our pastoral care, through our dedication to learning and loving. I am finding out about this reconciliation because people are sharing their stories.

Jesus in being divine through and through was compelled by this reconciliatory reality. One way I like to talk about God, (and I invite you to consider ways in which you might talk about God in this way,) is as a reality. God is not a created thing… God is not another being, like us except bigger and better. God is wholly different, not a being, not a thing, so the closest way to talk about God, that I’ve heard from theologians is God as a reality. God’s reality blankets the world, always present but not necessarily always recognizable. When God limits God’s self in a person, in the person of Jesus, that reality is amplified as it is focused in the being of Jesus, God’s reality is channeled through this one person. So, risen Jesus, like the Jesus we hear about today with the disciples, with Thomas, bearing witness to the reality of God, in this reality, in our God we see a new life, the same but different, and Jesus is inviting the disciples, inviting us to take part in this new life. Now, like I said, Jesus is different. Jesus is fully human and fully divine, being fully divine Jesus cannot NOT share the story of God, the reality of God… the reality that being in a reconciled relationship with God and with others brings new life, it refines us, and brings challenges, but new life—being in that relationship brings healing, peace, joy, contentment!

Jesus speaks all this to the disciples: “peace be with you… forgive… put your finger here and see my hands… you may have life.” This is what we hear today. We hear that if we engage with the reality of the divine, as it is proclaimed in the death and resurrection of Jesus and therefore practice grace and love in relationship with creation, we will have the fullest life… we can participate in a new way of being a human in this world through the reality that Jesus brings.

Now, here is what else we hear, perhaps the hardest thing in some ways: “I send you.” Uh-oh. The disciples are being sent… (are we disciples?… does that mean we are being sent somewhere? I get anxious when I travel!) I’m so over this tired cliché of “Episcopalians don’t do evangelism.” It’s so over played. Also, it’s not true. We invite people into our lives and show them a freedom many Christians don’t understand, and in that sharing this good news. We act out evangelism daily, often without speaking a word. But, yes, Jesus is telling the disciples to go out and proclaim, with words, new life, to proclaim reconciliation between people and God… Jesus is calling us to do the same.

Our challenge, like it is for any Christian tradition, is to name, as individuals in our community, God’s reconciling work in our lives and share that with others. That is hard, it is like God asking us to share our scar stories, but instead of talking about that time you fell during a seizure and busted your chin open, you talk about how you couldn’t drive for two years. You talk about how you lost so much independence as a young adult with a disability and how the retired church women took turns taking you to the grocery store, picking you up for work… God is asking you to show your hands, the mark in your side, the signs of spiritual resurrection, the signs of new life. These spiritual scar stories are not often the ones we are willing to tell because they are not just physical signs of perseverance. Though, they can be physical, in a way, they often involve much more than that. They often involve telling of emotional, mental, and intellectual healing and peace you’ve found on the other side of a God-centered life, life after the scars have formed. The intimidating part of this sharing, the temptation to not share about this new life after the healing, is that it puts on full display our vulnerability, which is not a given like it is when we are talking about our physical bodies. Because, yes, of course if you fall out of a two-story building and land the wrong way it is pretty obvious to any human being you could break your arm. Living a disordered life, with thoughts that lead to painful thinking and behavior, painful to ourselves and others… those are not so obvious, some of us can hide those really well. But these are the healing stories we are called to share and people need to hear. People need to know that healing is possible and this is a place where it can start: All saints, a community centered on the reality of a loving, gracious, God.

Those are the stories we need to share with our friends and neighbors. On May 4^th All Saint’s is hosting an “All Saints Loves Homewood” lawn party. Of course, the parade will be going on later that day, but earlier on we are opening our campus up and inviting the neighborhood over for a party on a gorgeous May day. Basically, we are part of a huge block party and we want you to stop by our house for some food, a beer, lemonade, watch the derby, listen to some live music… dunk Brad in a dunking booth. We are inviting our neighbors over to hang out and enjoy being together, and over that ice cold lemonade, while sharing that beer, with some great music in the background, that moment may very well be the time to share a scare story—maybe it’s a food prep scar, you took a little bit too much off the top of your finger, but nonetheless, share your story, share about the new life, this whole new way of being a human, what centered you, and where you found it, talk about how we are living into God’s reality, God’s dream here at All Saints… because that new life, that new reality, it’s an open invitation, and just like any good lawn party, the more the merrier.