We hadn t been in her apartment for an hour when my mother and my sister started laughing and telling some stories of my youth, especially related to an old girlfriend or two. Now of course my children reap the benefit of the laughter and sharing in the memories. My family usually tells such stories around a meal. On the other hand, my in-laws rehearse the memories by bringing out bags full of pictures. Every single time we gather, pictures are being passed around.
Families live life through such stories around the table, and pictures passed around.
My children learn more and live into our family when the pictures are trotted out and the old stories are told with tears and laughter and sighs. The church family should have the resurrection stories of Jesus on the tips of our tongue, at the snap of finger, at the edge of the collective memory of the people of God. Those stories of the empty tomb. They come up every year complete with angels, earthquakes, grave clothes. Like stories told at a family reunion, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John join the party every year.