We are all made of stories by Mary-Anne Rulfs
We are all made of stories. This is to be human.
Each in our own way, are storytellers, story interpreters and meaning-makers, and our lives are shaped by stories at every turn. Every day, the stories we tell ourselves, the stories others tell us, and the stories we overhear, help make us who we are.
We give and receive stories through song, poetry, drama, movies, novels, social and digital media, visual arts, newsfeeds and conversations with family, friends and strangers. Some stories are simply entertaining, flippant, funny even. These stories can be so very welcome in our sometimes very unsmiling world!
Other stories do have serious intent, with a timely message or challenge. Stories may carry cultural meaning in their telling of origins and traditions. They may use metaphor or satire to speak a prophetic message. They may recount a journey of grief and loss as a pathway to making meaning.
Think of a story that has made an impact on you recently.
Who was telling the story?
And by what medium?
What was it that made an impression on you?
Did the story change you in some way, such as your perspective on a topic, your view of a certain person or group, or even your worldview?
Did it change the way you view life?
Or the way you feel about yourself?
Was the story welcome? or would you prefer not to have heard it?
This week at clergy conference, Dr Stephen Harrison, a Robina parishioner and Director of Mission, Research and Advocacy for Anglicare, shared some of the origin stories from Anglicare. These are powerful and poignant stories about Christian people committing their lives to the service of people in need. For me, these origin stories help bring the focus of Anglicare’s work today into the mission of our church through its commitment to, amongst other things:
respond to human need by loving service
seek to transform unjust structures and challenge violence of every kind
pursue peace and reconciliation
Stories have the power to change us. Through their life-giving insights and the learnings they offer, we can grow in self-awareness. Or, unhelpfully, through deception, we can become deluded into thinking we are either not enough, or greater than we really are. For that reason, exercising discretion about the stories we choose to read, watch and listen to is to exercise choice about what will shape us. We are all made of stories!
Chances are you may sometimes feel overwhelmed by stories, as I do, especially when the media has something fresh and sensational with which to relentlessly bombard us.
In contrast, the sharing of stories in safe and respectful ways within a family circle, friendship group or wider community is a powerful creator of connection and belonging because it deepens relationship. There is something deeply formative about sharing stories in this way, in community. From a story shared at a family birthday gathering to a story told to the global community through a movie watched by people all around the world, stories connect us when they speak to things we all care about – family and relationships, environmental concerns, freedom and safety, dignity and respect for all life.
The core beliefs of religious traditions are held in story. The Christian scriptures tell the story of who God is, who we are, and how we can find life to the full when we place our trust in the living God for our healing, forgiveness and wholeness, made possible through Christ and experienced through the presence of the Holy Spirit. When we hear or read these stories or see them portrayed through visual art or digital media, we can learn from them, explore them and wrestle with them. We meet ourselves and our neighbour in them. We learn about what matters most. And we embody these stories as we live out our faith, day by day.
In last Sunday’s readings, we encountered the Old Testament story of Solomon having a conversation with God in a dream, and asking for discernment so he could lead the people as king, now that his father David had died. At Palm Beach we explored the brilliant irony (and subversive message) of this story. While Solomon is said to be wise, the story reveals a life of foolishness and self-indulgence through recruiting slave labour for building projects, political marriages, worship of other Gods, and imposing crippling taxes on the people.
In contrast, Jesus exemplified the wisdom of love through right relationship. Jesus was foolish in ways Solomon was wise, and wise in ways that Solomon was foolish.
· Solomon knew a lot of facts. Jesus told stories that invited his listeners to find wisdom in ordinary things they knew. Think of the parables and the miracle stories.
· Solomon wrote a lot of clever things. Jesus did not write anything but trusted his companions to tell his story for him. How extraordinarily trusting of Jesus!
· Solomon used his knowledge to impress powerful people. Jesus confronted powerful people and allowed them to torture and execute him for our sake. This gospel story has brought life to the hearts and minds of people for millennia and oriented them to Jesus, the wisdom of love and right relationship personified.
A few months ago, one of our parishioners bravely shared their story of life and faith: how they encountered the story of Jesus within their own story, and the restoration that followed. People were deeply impacted by that story.
Each month we will have the opportunity to read a life + faith story from someone in our Robina – Gold Coast South Anglican community. A parishioner with journalistic experience will have a conversation with someone, shaped around questions like this:
What was life like for you as a young person?
When did you begin to think of yourself as a Christian? What was that like for you?
How has your life journey been shaped by your life ‘in Christ’?
What has belonging to a faith community meant to you?
These stories will de-identify the person for a few reasons: to protect their privacy, and to ensure stories don’t become ‘competitive’ in any way. Rather, they will stand as the sacred story of one life, shared safely and respectfully as an encouragement to us all.
While the world is changing rapidly, the sharing of stories of lived experience of faith – what some traditions call testimonies – continue to be a powerful way of sharing the gospel with others.
We are all made of stories. This is to be human, and to reveal the image of the divine. Our creator God continues to be the greatest story-teller ever. Through the wonder of creation, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world and in our lives, the story of God’s stronger-than-everything, never-giving-up love continues to be told … for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to listen.
Grace and peace,
Mary-Anne