Photojournalist Ted Jackson is one of my high school friends and a long-time staff member and contributor to the New Orleans Times Picayune. Ted and the rest of the staff received much acclaim for their coverage of New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He read on Facebook last night where I posed the questions, “Was there ever a time when you thought life was over, only to see it emerge in ways you never imagined? Speaking more socially, have you seen a community come alive after it was presumed that its life was over?” Ted’s response was, “New Orleans after Katrina, for sure. People here had mostly lost all hope for their future. After our staff won a Pulitzer for our coverage, our editor told us our new job was “to love our city back to life.” And that they most certainly did. Their Omega story helped New Orleans find new Alpha stories.
Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the language of the New Testament. In the Book of the Revelation of John, Jesus is called the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Commenting on this, Barbara Brown Taylor develops the notion of Alpha stories and Omega stories. Alpha stories are stories of beginning: Tell me about the day I was born. Where did you grow up? How did you get your start in your career? They help tell us who we are. Omega stories are destination stories. They tell us where we are going. “Before I die, I want to learn to play the piano.” “Now that I am at the end of my career, I have some great stories.” “The world as we know it will come to an end.” They help define, and determine, our destination. In the life of faith of a faithful disciple, Omega stories can become Alpha stories, where new journeys begin.
We’ll talk about this in the worship service on Sunday, which is “Reign of Christ” Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christian calendar. The sermon is titled, “In Our End is Our Beginning: Alpha Stories, Omega Stories.” The sermon arises from Psalm 100, which will be read by Susan Hollis Bassett, and Revelation 22:1-14, to be read by Bryan Mitsdarffer. Stephanie and Patrick Conklin, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs will sing “Wondrous Love”, arranged by Richard Walters. We’ll sing, pray, and have a time for children.
We hope you and those you love have a lovely Thanksgiving. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.