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While watching a video by one of my favorite authors Donald Miller, I got to thinking about this idea of Story. He talks about this concept and the power that it has in our lives and it is absolutely correct. The time line of humanity can be found in the stories surrounding it. They captivate us and teach us, they show us the way and give us hope. Stories give us snap shots of the world and how it works or worked in the time period of the story. When something as simple as the time period is changed the story itself can seem to take on a whole different look. Also what seems to be interesting is the ability a story has to shape the lives of those who read it whether it is true or not.
From birth to death we are told stories and tell stories. When we are young people sing us nursery rimes and we are fascinated by whether the cat is actually going to catch the mouse, or how high the count will count today. These stories, these scripts gently and every so slightly mold who we will become. We are taught Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Moses and Pharaoh, each with their own lessons, their own morals. At this point the lines of fiction and non fiction are blurred, they are just beginning to be developed. We are sent to school and taught history and learn about the lives of men and women who to us seem to be 10 feet tall and bullet proof. Warriors, and thinkers, Actors and Statesmen. These lives and their stories shape our lives, how we view our culture, how we view the world. But as we get older something happens and the stories that we are told turn into stories that we live, no longer do we rely solely on the experiences of others but we go out into the world and we make experiences of our own. We test the knowledge that we are given, we test its very being in a way that can only be done by living. God turns from this story book character into this diety, this almighty but at the same time becomes real like we have never known. We start to understand what the term “The Living God” means. Not just life in the sense of human, but in the sense of relationship, in love and sacrifice. We realize that though it may not read the same as Abraham we communicate with God, we walk with God and talk with God. As we grow older the stories that we experience, they become us, they ever so slightly build upon one another to make up who we are, what we stand for. We go from listening to stories, to telling the stories of our lives.
I love a great story, growing up I would stay with my grand mother and grand father and in the mornings when they would get up I would awake with them and as they drank their coffee in bed I would find my way in between them and with my hot chocolate in my coffee mug would listen to them talk. They would speak of all sorts of things, but nothing made me happier then when they would reminisce about things in their past. From there experiences in Germany to the raising of my mother and uncle, even the stories of their own childhood, I hung on every word. These stories became apart of me, a part of who i would become. Maybe not a major part but there is no doubt they helped shape the person that I am today. I remember when I first started preaching, I had a horrible time filling a 15 or 20 min. sermon. Mine were more about 10 min. which by the nodding man in the third row from the backs standards was just about right. I met pastors who were on television and they had to have their sermons to a brisk 25 min. no more, no less. I wondered how they did this every single week. I had the bible part down, but it was lacking. I was 21, and what I realized was I was lacking those life experiences. The funny stories of being here or there, theses stories always seemed to take up a good 5 min. and more importantly seemed to be able to stress the points that were being made. Since I had no money and no real drive to see the world I did what any reasonable person would do, I bought a book with a bunch of really good stories.
As we grow its as if our stories become more important then the stories we hear. All of the sudden our story becomes all that matters, and the stories of the bible become less and less important. Don’t get me wrong we still love a good story but we become picky and short on time. Remember when you were a kid and you watched cartoons and no matter what was going on it was great. A coyote is chasing a roadrunner with a mallet and some dynamite. Never once when I was a kid did I think do myself, “This is ludicrous, a coyote would never try this hard for a road runner that to be completely honest doesn’t look that appetizing anyway.” No, we found it fascinating how persistent this coyote was. Never once did I question this idea of Turtles learning Karate and being trained by a rat named splinter. We accept these things cause whether rational or not they make for a good story. As we grow up something is lost, we become discontent and wonder why a hammer and dynamite, and why for that bird. We think to ourselves, those turtles wouldn’t last a minute against someone with a rifle, or a half a brain. Or even thinking turtles? why turtles? aren’t they frightened easily. We lose our sense of story to a certain sense of reality.
Why is it that we have no problem with kids learning in school from books of fiction, but yet any mention of someone not taking the bible literally becomes hierarchy. Do we feel that the books our children learn from are any less able to teach basic principles because they did not happen, or books based loosely on events. So why is it that this idea that the story of Jonah is a story and didn’t really happen such an earth shattering things for some Christians. If the whole bible were to be proven to be simply a bunch of stories with none of it actually happening, would that make the teachings in it any less important. Would it not still be better to live by its principles. Would it be any less important to take the teachings of Jesus upon ourselves, to love one another, would it not still make for a better world? a better life? I am not here to argue the infallibility of the bible for in all truth it is not for me to say. The bible is in so many ways a mystery to me but one that I am content with. I accept its teachings and its message of love, grace and forgiveness. I see my humanity in it and realize that true or not I am the Israelite, I am the Philistine, I am the Pharisee and I am Pilate. I am both David and Saul, the best and the worst. I have within me greatness and I have within me flaws. Whether or not these stories are true or not, they ring true to me, they ring true in me. I take these stories upon myself and carry them with me to remind me of my humanity. To realize that only by the grace of God am I “saved”. Only by the grace of God are we all “saved”. My faith hangs on the trueness of the stories as they apply to me and the people around me, not to whether the words are infallible or not.
Dear Lord if I am wrong in my thinking and in my ways may you see past them and into my heart and know that I only long to come to know you more, to understand you better, to live in such a way that pleases you. Lord may you see past my humanity and into my very soul and see that I long only to serve you in the best way that I know how. Taking your words and applying them to my life in a way that makes them come alive in me. See that I yearn for the same things that your Son yearned for, Justice, Peace, Love, and Grace amidst a world of injustice, war, hurt, and vengeance. And may I never loose sight of the bigger picture of a world that longs to be reconciled with its creator.
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