Why do we tell stories?
I taught a lesson on this exact topic during my first week of student teaching, in hopes that it would give my students some sort of buy-in to the class (American Lit) and the importance of studying the stories of the ever-growing and ever-changing nation of America.
When I asked my students why we tell and have (for generations) told stories, they reasoned that we tell stories to make people laugh, to warn people about things that may happen to them, to help explain why the world is the way it is, etc. YES! Those are all reasons we tell stories.
And then I introduced this idea, arguably THE central idea of the entire lesson: that we tell stories to explain where we’ve been and where we’re going. We tell stories to give hope of what’s to come in light of what we’ve been through. We know this is the case because every story has an introduction that gives some sort of background. This holds whether the introduction is a sentence as simple as “Jack and Jill went up the hill” (went being past tense, and therefore, explaining what has happened up to this point) or whether the introduction is as complex as the prefaces to works by Aristotle and Plato (which I “supposedly” read my freshman year of college, but we all know I didn’t really do that assignment). And along with an introduction, every story hints at the future in some way. We know that “Jack couldn’t get up in the morning,” and we wonder if he was able to get up the next morning or the morning after that and so on. And we wonder what will come of Bilbo and where the winding paths of Middle Earth will lead him next. And we have hope that SOMETHING more will come. We need to know that this (whether THIS is Jack’s story or Bilbo’s story or OUR story) isn’t it. We need to know that this isn’t all there is. Stories give us hope that there’s more. And we continue to tell stories, year after year and generation after generation, to remind people of these pasts and these futures. If we didn’t tell stories, not only would we lose the ability to remember where we’ve been, but we would lose the spark of hope of what’s to come.
Stories tell us where we’ve been. Stories tell us where we’re going.
Why do I tell stories?
I tell stories (or accounts or thoughts or testimonies or ramblings or whatever you want to call them) not because I want you to know who I am or where I’ve been so that you can know me better and deeper, but so that you and I together can better and more deeply reflect on the glory and the greatness of the Lord. I tell stories to provide an introduction to who I am, to who the people I’m interacting with are, and to what kind of world we function within, so that we can have a better understanding of the brokenness of life without the Lord.
I tell stories to explain what the world looks like from different angles, to allow you, as readers and supporters, to enter this journey alongside me, and to share what God is doing in the (capital C) Church on a day-to-day basis. And I tell stories in an attempt to shine a light on the hope of what’s to come: to allow all of us a chance to come together, brokenness and all, and remember and rejoice in the knowledge that there is something so much better than all of this thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ. Not that any of “this” is bad, but what we as believers get to experience one day is so much better than even the best that’s here on earth. That’s why I’m SO passionate about storytelling; because stories about the work that God is doing (in my life, the lives of my teammates, the church in Thailand, the country of Greece, etc.) are community property and we are commanded to share them. YES! Man, you guys, that’s my heart.
ATL: A Ministry of Storytelling
God has given my team (the fab R1:16) some amazing vision for this month of ministry here in Greece: homeless ministry, public worship, providing for needs, loving without boundaries. And one of the ideas He’s been stirring and growing within my own heart is the idea of storytelling.
God is getting me pumped about sharing short stories and visuals of what we’re doing this month; I’m hoping to share these with you in the form of a quick picture-description combo (think Instagram post).
God is amping me up about sharing stories of those we’re meeting and talking to, whether it’s Elinore from the grocery store or Georgio from Cartridge World; I’m hoping to share these stories with you in the form of short interviews (think Humans of New York).
God’s speaking to my heart and the hearts of those surrounding and encouraging me, as He’s been doing for the past two months, to share parts of my own redemption story with you.
None of these stories are about me. None of these stories are about us. These stories are about Him. And boy, am I sure excited to share these stories with you!
