There are two occasions when a community becomes closely knit and deeply connected, as if by magic. At these moments the heavens seem to descend upon the group. They occur in the case of life and of death, when a person speaks of their own life or about someone else’s.

In the first case, we take the floor and describe the path and stages of our own life’s journey. There is probably no life story told in which listeners do not fall silent and marvel at the mysterious coincidences and curious events that elevate a life to a biography, to a narrative.

In the second case, the witnesses of a life now ended recount the life story of the deceased. Here, too, it takes only a few sentences for the wisdom and depth of that life to shine through—even if tragedy casts its shadow over the narrative. Like a modern-day worship service, when life and death are presented in this way, the Spirit is among us—a Pentecostal event. We should speak more often and more passionately about our lives and share the great treasure—the life we have lived—that each of us carries within. For here—as with everything we cannot see—what is shared grows.

Translation Laura Liska
Photos Nikoline Arns, Zeynep S, Collage: F. Roschka