“Stories are verbal acts of hospitality” – Eugene Peterson
People crave story – so much so that it’s impossible to imagine life apart from story. Storytelling has always held a prominent place among humans. Our compulsion to write and tell stories, to read and hear them, points to this ongoing fascination we have with them. What is it about story that captivates us? What draws us into story?
Stories have this way of inviting us in, don’t they? They grab our attention by making us feel at home. Good stories open the world to us. They evoke powerful emotions within us, giving us new insight into what it means to be human. They also aid us in seeing the common ground we share with others. Good storytelling is really an expression of good hospitality. It’s a vital way we make ourselves at home, and help others do the same. But even more profoundly, we respond to story because story is our common language. We relate to the language of story because, well, life is story.
Each of our lives is a mini-narrative. There’s a story behind every person you encounter, a story behind you and me. As storied beings we’re always on the look-out for some narrative to live by. The advertising world knows this well. Think of how commercials feed our hunger to live in story. They offer us what seems like an unlimited number of stories, promising to fulfill us (yes, even save us) whenever we enter these stories to live by them. What they offer is usually a variation of the Amerian dream story: buy this or that, and you’ll have the security, comfort, and fulfillment you always wanted. We fall for this story all the time, don’t we? Is the most recent cell phone or iPod really all that fulfilling? I guess it depends on the songs you have on that iPod, huh? Your iPod probaby isn’t nearly as fulfilling as mine! Consider how the political process confronts us. We’re invited to step into the Democrat or Republican Story, with the assumption being that our dreams will be realized if only we enable the right story to be written. It’s inescapable; wherever we look we’re bombarded with invitations to live in a story.
The Bible also invites us into a story. A majority of the Bible is narrative. This narrative tells the story of God’s renovation project for a world that has gone wrong. It’s a project that focuses on Jesus Christ. The biblical story claims to be the grand or ultimate story – the story that makes sense of all other stories. In fact, this story puts our fascination with story into context. We’re captivated by story because each of us is actually part of a big story whose author is God. In other words, life is story. We’re invited to participate in this story, joining God in His mission to make all things new. This story invites us into something much larger than our own personal drama’s, the American dream, or whatever small story some political party holds out to us. God’s story offers us something worth throwing ourselves into with full abandonment.
We can’t miss the authoritative claim this story makes. It insists that it is the best story to live by. The ancient people of God were called to live in step with God’s story in order to show the watching world that this story was true and worthwhile. Likewise, the early church lived out God’s story in provocative ways, demonstrating that competing stories (like the story told by the Roman Empire) weren’t nearly as compelling. The Bible claims that to settle for another story is to settle for something less – for something that dimimishes us. All other stories will shatter our dreams and leave us empty. Are we willing to give up these dead-end stories in order to get caught up in the story God is writing in the world. Is the story of God intersecting with the story of your life? What story are you living by anyway?
The conversation continues…
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December 11, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Raleigh
Ever since this summer, I’ve been trying to live by the story of Jesus, rather than the story of America.
It is very difficult to avoid capitalism and American culture from within the system.
This year for Christmas, I decided that when I give somebody a present, The present is going to be either second hand (used, ebay), fair trade, or bought from an independent store. I refuse to support large chains this holiday season. I think ideally, making somebody a gift is better than buying somebody a gift. Hopefully next year I will strive to make all of my christmas gifts.
The effect of advertising is tremendous. I am always guilty of wanting what I don’t need. Advertising isn’t a problem for me as I never want what people are selling (I usually just want books), and I also hardly ever watch television and don’t listen to the radio. I am however guilty of buying books, when i could go to the library and check them out. The early church as portrayed in acts shows that people shared their possessions, why don’t we do this today? I do not know. Leah and I even have duplicate movies and CDs. I do not see the point in this as we will be living together someday.
giving is another thing that is important if you want to live within God’s story. I have been giving a lot lately (within the last month). Along with my tithe, I have also given some money to people on the streets (since I’m in Philly quite often), I have given to Uganda Untold, I bought candles in which the profits go towards buying christmas presents for people who are in jail’s children. I have given to the a non-profit organization which is raising money to bring water to people in Africa. I do not intend to be boastful here, i just want to show how i’m trying to live for Jesus. Giving is pretty difficult too when you only work 8 hours a week!
I’ve been trying to eliminate my waste as well. Recycling isn’t enough for me. I am trying to cut back on small individually wrapped products and containers. I am having a lot of difficulty coping with the fact that when I drive to church which is an hour away, I waste so much gas and put CO2 into the atmosphere. I feel like a hypocrite, because i know that the money I put into buying gas goes towards a war which is unjust, and contribute towards global warming. I have been looking into buying a diesel car, then converting it to run on vegetable oil.
I have been involved with a group in newark who tries to raise awareness for peace. We hold up signs displaying our respect for our troops, but also our desire for them to come home. I’ve received many fingers and I’ve heard people say “f*** you hippies”, “I’m going to f***ing kill you democrats”, “We need to drop bombs on those arab terrorists” and some statements that are even worse.
I’ve learned a lot since this summer. I learned that following Jesus is very difficult. The God that Jason is talking about in this post is the God that I want to follow. Not God is going to send you to hell if you don’t believe in him, but a God of love, a God who is constantly revealing a new part of his story for us.
This was an excellent post Jason
December 11, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Jason Sica
Raliegh, I’m not sure what you meant by your comment about not wanting to follow a God who sends people to hell for not believing in him. This isn’t my starting point in talking with others, nor is it the starting point in my own thinking. However, I don’t think the reality of hell (as Jesus talked about it) excludes God from being loving. God is indeed a God of love, but he is also overwhelmingly good and beautiful. I’m not; I can’t stand in his presence without a covering – and that is what makes the gospel so stunning and scandalous.
December 11, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Raleigh
I think what I was trying to say is this…
Many people try to use scare tactics to try to convert people into become Christians. Some people also take Dante’s and John Milton’s fantasy tales of hell and try to weave them into Bibilical teaching.
The way YOU talk about God (Being Loving, Merciful, Beautiful) is the best way to evangelize. You tend to focus on the positive and that is what I believe is the only way to express God’s nature to people. That’s what I like about you.
December 11, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Raleigh
Tying it all in: The positive narrative (through Jesus) is the narrative in which God’s story should be told.
I worship a loving God and I read my Bible through the lens of Jesus. I do not worship an angry (and misrepresented) God.
If you still don’t know what I’m tying to say, let me know, because I’m having trouble expressing it in words
December 11, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Jason Sica
Raleigh, that makes sense. I’m with you on that. I just wanted you to flesh out what you said. That’s helpful!
December 20, 2007 at 4:18 pm
brent
Jason, I have a question for you and would love your opinion. I think where many Christians get “confused” (including me) is in this — God hates sin, he hates it passionately. He hates sin so much that he had to send his Son to earth to suffer and die to repay the sin. So, if God hates sin so much, shouldn’t we hate it also?? Shouldn’t sin make us angry (anger isn’t necessarily a sin, we are taught to get angry without sinning)? Shouldn’t we fight against it? Shouldn’t we try and protect our kids from it? Shouldn’t we strive to tell the world how to correct their sin?
So, I think many people (even I do this, perhaps to a fault) associate the sin with the person (or group of people stereotypically) and we stop associating with people that are actively and opening sinning without remorse. But, doesn’t the bible somewhere tell us not to associate and accept sinners – I’m not using the right words here, but I believe there is some verse about this. I listened to a sermon from Perimeter Church (Atlanta) awhile back where a story was told about a friend of the pastor that came to him and admitted he was gay. The pastor told him that he still loved him and would love to open up the bible and discuss his sin, but that he could no longer just hang out with him as if the sin didn’t exist.
Certainly we are to love all people and pray for our lost brothers and sisters, but don’t we often get confused by how we define “love” and “tolerance”? If someone in a church admits to stealing, we aren’t to kick them out, but aren’t we to love them by steering them to understand their sin and correct it? If someone in a church admits to being a liar, we aren’t to kick them out, but aren’t we to love them by steering them to understand their sin and correct it? Isn’t this true for all sins?