When my boys were younger, part of the ritual of putting them to bed included story time. As you can imagine, early on, the stories were simple ones: "Goodnight Moon," "Where the Wild Things Are," and the like. Later, they became more complex: "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Lord of the Rings," but these times were always special to me and my children. We were committed to reading to our children regularly for many reasons. For one, reading to children instills in them an appreciation for reading. For us it worked. Both Peter and Alex love to read and do it well. Those times of reading helped to develop our relationship; it brought us closer together. Finally, they were great stories. I would find myself looking forward to the next installment as much as, or more than, the kids did. Stories are a powerful way to entertain and teach. It is fun to jump into a book and be transported to another land, to learn history or to learn more about yourself. For ultimately, the stories that are most special to us are those that touch a part of our own hearts.
The Jewish culture was a storytelling culture. Around the campfire, they would teach their children history as they recounted the events that eventually made their way into the Old Testament. It was not enough, however, to tell the children that a man named Abraham existed. The stories were crafted to teach them what kind of man Abraham was, what types of struggles he had, and how God worked in his life and made him a great man of faith, in spite of himself. These stories gave courage to the listeners. As they heard of the great people of faith failing and being restored, it had to give them hope and lead them to think, "If he could mess up and still be great, maybe God can still do something with me".
When we tell our own stories or the stories of our heroes, we do a disservice by leaving out the struggles and failures that flavor our lives. It is our honesty that gives others hope, that reminds them that God works through the best and worst of their lives. I would like to see our church become a body of storytellers, letting others know of our weaknesses and our strengths, our joys and sorrows, our successes and failures. In telling these tales, we will be doing more than just teaching history, for we will be telling the story that gives hope to all: that our God is a God who meets us where we are and makes us people of faith in spite of ourselves.
