Dear Beloved Community,
This week I’ve just begun a fantastic new book by Sharon McMahon titled The Small and Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement. You may know Sharon as “America’s Government Teacher” and if you haven’t yet followed her on instagram @sharonsaysso or listened to her podcast “Here’s Where it Gets Interesting,” I wholeheartedly recommend you do so. You see, Sharon has a way of telling stories that, I think, is able to cut right to the heart of what is true and beautiful without dismissing any of the hard parts. She often values the stories of underdogs and unknowns who throughout history and today work for the common good, without a certainty of accolades or recognition. Their stories have much to teach us.
Now, If your childhood and subsequent turn to adulthood has been anything like mine, many memories or stretches of time are intimately connected with the books you were reading, wanted to read, or were going to pick up next. The power of stories, especially those durable stories we considered with Pastor Emily on Sunday, are perhaps one of the most fundamental and life-directing powers we engage in throughout the ever-shifting seasons of our lives. From the stories we tell about ourselves- whether we’re the life of the party or struggle to get through the extrovertedness of the peace-passing each week- to the stories we tell ourselves about others, “We love all the same things!” or “We could not be more different”. The stories we tell and allow to carve the contours of our lives matter for how we show up in the world. So too, are the stories we take in. Whether you prefer non-fiction or history, thrillers or other imaginative fiction, classics, romance, philosophy, coming of age stories, religious history, poetry, or any other of the endless creative ways stories are told, I think we can agree that what we give our attention to shapes us. For so many of us I know that stories provide sources of hope, resilience, beauty, excitement, inspiration, challenge, guidance, new-found expansiveness and deeply-desired comfort.
It is perhaps partly due to my partiality toward stories that I find myself excited each year as the Bookmarks NC Festival of Books and Authors rolls around. A celebration of the power and importance of storytelling and community that unfurls just down the street from our Church House just feels like the perfect way to transition into fall and the long months ahead. Here at First on Fifth, we are glad hosts once again this year for two events connected to the Bookmarks Festival: the Festival Opening Keynote with TJ Klune on Thursday Evening (find any last tickets at bookmarks.org) and the Saturday Morning Keynote with Stacy Abrams and Zaila Avant-garde (this event is free and open to the public!).
As you have time this weekend, perhaps stopping by the festival, attending one of the keynotes, or simply working on your current “To Be Read” pile, I hope you’ll take some time to reflect on the stories that are meaningful to your life. I know many of them are stories wrapped up in this beloved community’s Life Together. For all the ways our stories intertwine, sustain, challenge, change, and hold us, there is no shortage of meaning to reflect on. I am grateful to have stories wrapped up with yours.
With love and hope,
Lena