Collective self-understanding, in which the making of history and narratives is crucial, can be problematic. A shared history and mythology, as well as belonging to a certain group and a historical territory, are among vital ingredients in the constructing and forging of narratives and collective identity. This paper aims to trail the interplay between social performance and the construction of narratives in times of crisis. The combination of memory, performance, and crisis is exemplified through a sermon held by Ludvig Helveg in Odense on Palm Sunday 1864 at the time of the 2nd War of Schleswig-Holstein. As the French psychiatrist Pierre Janet has said: “Memory is an action, essentially, it is the action of telling and staging a story”. The staging of social performances serves to secure and strengthen a collective consciousness in the the interplay between the interpretation of the past, understanding of the present, and expectations of the future.