Tell me the old, old story,
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love;
…
Tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story,
Of Jesus and His love.
Arabella Katherine Hankey (1834-1911)
Holy week for pastors and ministry leaders can be…full. All kinds of full. Stressful. Awful. Painful. Powerful. Wonderful. Joyful. The liturgical calendar has condensed the central act of our Christian faith – and the actions that lead up to it – into a rollercoaster of a worship week. And like Advent and Christmas, the temptation (especially for those who have been serving in the same community for a while) is too often to make it “fresh” and “new” and “relevant.” Afterall, we know this story – we know what is coming…
Friends, hear the Good News. The Gospel does not need a revamp. There is no need for cleverness or shininess. You don’t have to come up with a new intro, a new angle, a new action step. Not this week. Just tell me – tell us – tell yourself – the story again. Tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
When my eldest daughter was very young, she would get fixated on particular books. Every night, she would pull out the same one from the many on the shelf. She would hand me the book, get into my lap, and point demandingly at the pages. “Read it again” she would say, never getting tired of hearing the same story, night after night after night. She got as excited and amazed at the familiar lines as she had the very first time she heard them. And she was comforted too.
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
G.K. Chesterton
We must never outgrow or tire of the Gospel story – the telling or the hearing.
Yes – we know the events and rhythms of Holy Week. But let’s do it again.
Yes – we know the Scripture passages. But let’s read them again.
Yes – we know the story from Palm Sunday to Easter Morning. But let’s tell it again.
Because not everyone knows.
And those of us who do know are a forgetful people.
The words of the hymn, Tell Me the Old, Old Story come from a two-part 50 stanza poem by missionary and nurse, Arabella Katherine (Kate) Hankey. The first part of the poem is called, The Story Wanted, and the second is, The Story Told. The familiar verses in the hymn continue,
Tell me the story simply…
Tell me the story slowly…
Tell me the story often…
Tell me the story softly…
Tell me the story always…
Tell me the same old story…
This broken world, which includes our faith communities, needs to hear the story.
Our calling this week is to simply tell it.
From “Hosanna”, to “Do this in remembrance of me”, to “Crucify Him”, to “It is Finished”, to “He is Risen!”
Tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story,
Of Jesus and His love.
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