Singing the Song of Life

by Christine Sunderland @Chrisunderland

One of the great mysteries of life is that we must pass through death to live life eternal.

And so Christians follow Christ through the gates of Jerusalem, break bread with him in the upper room, pray with him in the garden, follow him to his death on the cross, and mourn with his mother Mary, with Mary Magdalene, and with the apostles.

Christians act out this drama every year, singing the story in hymns and prayers.

Then, on Easter morning, they find the tomb empty, and a gardener waiting. It is time to sing the song of life, offered to all mankind through redemption and salvation.

Christian storytellers sing words of life into every page. Through image and metaphor, pages come to life, living in the reader’s soul. The stories are ancient, and they are new, and the notes form a melody that is familiar and haunting. The tune lingers.

Novels are symphonies, singing a story with words. They live within life itself, for they express the inexpressible through character and theme, characters that are reborn, resurrected, when death comes knocking.

My mother is 104 and has grown weak in the last month. Her body is dying so that her soul may live. She needs greater care from others now and her dependency upon their love chastens her, readies her for the next great adventure. Her independence has died a painful death, torching her pride; she can finally hear the music and dance the dance. She is open to the love of God in her dependency.

Soon there will be a rainbow in her room, one that arcs to Heaven. Soon she will sing the song of life, no longer the dirge of death.

We all hope for this, a chance to resurrect our true selves, the person we are meant to be. Christians are schooled in this practice on Earth. They confess and are forgiven, and with each repentance comes resurrection. With each repentance the rainbow touches our hearts and makes us knew.

Life. Eternal life. It is the song of songs, of all songs, the hymn to the glorious Trinity of salvation – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Christian storytellers are blessed beyond belief with their belief, and with the music of the spheres caroling through them, a prismatic rainbow carrying the words of life.

We are the conscience of our culture, for we remind readers to pay attention, to listen for God’s call, his invitation to the feast. We sculpt our culture’s conscience with virtue – with faith, hope, and love, the Commandments, fortitude, justice, prudence, and temperance.

Christian storytellers sing the song of life with every page and every plot, singing the story of salvation, carving the conscience of our culture, resurrecting our world with each word.

Christine Sunderland has authored seven award-winning novels: Pilgrimage, set in Italy, Offerings, set in France, Inheritance, set in England, Hana-lani, set in Hawaii, The Magdalene Mystery, set in Rome and Provence (all Oaktara), The Fire Trail (eLectio), set at UC Berkeley, and Angel Mountain (Wipf and Stock), set on Mount Diablo, east of Berkeley. She serves as Managing Editor for the American Church Union (www.AmericanChurchUnion.com) and is a member of the Anglican Province of the King (www.Anglicanpck.com). She is currently working on The Music of the Mountain, about life and death and life again. Visit Christine at www.ChristineSunderland.com (website and blog), Facebook, and LinkedIn.