Last Sunday, the very long Passion reading demanded to be followed by a really brief reflection. I knew what I wanted to say one week in advance, thanks to a fascinating article in the NY Times...lucky me!

So here is what I said (at all 4 services over the weekend):

I am going to ask you a few questions now,

And I would like you to raise your hand if the answer is yes, alright?

Do you know where your grandparents grew up?

Do you know where your parents met?

Do you know an illness or something terrible that happened in your family?

Do you know the story of your birth or of your adoption?

Last Sunday, in the Sunday Styles section of the NY Times,

I read a very interesting article

THE STORIES THAT BIND US by Bruce Feiler.

Mr Feiler writes about what happened when he asked himself

a couple of very good questions:

What is the secret sauce that holds a family together?

What are the ingredients that make some families effective, resilient, happy?

Good questions, right?

He did some research and it turns out that the answer is

the development of a strong family narrative.

In the mid-1990’s a couple of scientists at Emory University

started an experimental project.

They interviewed 4 dozen families asking them “Do you know?” questions, like the ones I have asked you before.

In addition, they taped those families at the dinner table

to hear what kind of conversations members were having with each other.

The results were then compared

to a battery of psychological tests taken by the kids

and it turned out that

the more the children knew about their family history,

the stronger their sense of control over their lives,

the higher their self-esteem,

and the more successfully they believed their families functioned.

There’s more: the children were reassessed after September 11,

a time of crisis, a time of psychological suffering

even for those not directly involved in the attacks,

 and the scientists discovered that

children who possessed a stronger sense

of being part of something bigger than themselves,

children who had a narrative that explained what their family was about,

were more resilient, better able to moderate the effects of stress.

This doesn’t only happen in families, but in most human groups.

Which is one of the main reasons why companies

aim to have a clear and solid mission statement,

and even in the military, the tendency now is to make sure

that the young recruits know the history of their service;

building up identity, knowing what “they are about”,

increases camaraderie and the ability to bond more closely with their unit,

strengthening not only the group but each individual.

Now this is all fascinating stuff, but not really surprising for us Christians, is it?

We know that if one wants a happier, stronger family

one needs to create, refine, and retell the story of the family’s positive moments

and its ability to bounce back from the difficult ones…

we’ve been doing that for centuries!

Every Sunday when we get together for worship

we review and remember our shared narrative,

the history of our relationship with God,

even better, the history of God’s relationship with all creation.

And every year, on Palm Sunday we not only remember,

but re-live the crucial events of our family story:

the last days of the life of Jesus Christ.

Holy Week, which begins today,

takes us on a very special journey.

Step by step, day after day,

we go from being spectators of what happens to the people involved in the events,

to re-living the whole progression with them,

becoming each time the crowd that cheers and rejoices,

the crowd that condemns and crucifies,

the apostles who hear Jesus’ last commandments and have their feet washed,

and finally the suffering, dying man on the cross

and the triumphant son of God alive outside of the tomb.

Children who know their family’s history are better at facing challenges, scientists say.

What about the Church Universal, the Body of Christ?

What about us, people who have lived and breathed our communal narrative through the Bible, the Tradition, the Liturgy of the Church since the first century?

What we do on Sunday mornings and at each liturgy in Holy Week,

feeds us, strengthens us, unites us,

and empowers us to face our everyday life

and to embody a little more every day

Jesus’ Christ in the world, which is our sacred calling.

Amen