Let's Share the Stories of Our People

I recently attended the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn. It is a grand event with storytellers from all over the country moving listeners to tears and laughter with verbal images of grace and providence at work in ordinary lives.

We are experiencing a renaissance of storytelling: We are re-discovering that our rational lives leave us empty and bored. We are hungry for stories of our traditions and heritage and the re-telling of God’s mighty acts in human history. And we have stories to share of God’s activity among us. These stories nurture and nourish our souls.

Will Durant provided a profound perspective on this subject. He wrote, “Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shooting and doing the things historians usually record …while on the banks of the river, unnoticed, people hold hands, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry, whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happens on the banks.”

Well, we have some wonderful faith stories to tell of what is happening on the banks of the river. Grace is being experienced in powerful life-changing transformations and healing. Bold acts of kindness are being extended to the most hurt and devalued. Yes, I know there is terrorism and violence all about us, and I deplore it. But on the riverbanks of civilization the church is offering forgiveness, compassion and reconciliation.

I encourage you – in your Sunday school classes, covenant groups, board meetings, circle gatherings and worship services – to hear the stories of our people. The media will tell us enough about the world’s meanness and madness, while others will tell of the church’s flaws. Maybe we should watch less TV and spend more time telling and journaling our stories of love and romance, of music and laughter -– of jobs being lost and work being found, of illness endured and health restored, of flowers and poetry and birth and death and life eternal. Let us bear witness to the daily struggles and adventures of life being made magnificent by God’s great providence.

What’s happening on the banks of the stream is worth naming, honoring and celebrating. Miracles surround us. God is with us. Life is still a precious privilege. Nothing is really just ordinary.

I like what Bishop Kenneth Goodson said he often did when he woke in the morning. He pulled open the curtains, looked out on creation and declared, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” That’s a good beginning for every day and a good perspective on life. It’s worth telling and re-telling.

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