Let's talk about story.....#3

It starts with a teenager who appears to be giving his time and attention only to his i-phone while the family gathers for holiday activities.  It ends with a video he's made of all the family working and playing together - his rendition of a video diary.  It is touching, really.  It is also a glimpse of the new age of storytelling....which can obviously be in the hands of all owners of i-phones!


Sitting around the campfire (real or metaphorical) and telling stories has been the iconic image for the passing on of our history and beliefs.  When you are in the hands of a good storyteller, you are captured, leaning forward for the next revelation; you are asked to identify with some of the characters.

Well constructed stories pass on much more than just a cast of characters and an exciting plot line.  Underneath the plot are the relationships, the emotions, the lessons and ....here is the important part....the values of the one who has put the story together.  No matter what the actual subject of the story, what is really being said is this, 'This is who we are.   This is how we behave.'  Becoming one with story, identifying with the main characters is possible when you identify with the values being expressed.

People of faith have stories as well.  From Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to King David.....we are invited into the lives and adventures of Moms and Dads and siblings and emperors and servants.  Underlying each story is this "Here is the God I know.  This is how I came to faith."  Now, of course we get some interesting interpretations of natural events, but don't let that hold you up.  We also encounter all the emotions we experience:  loss, jealousy, envy, lust, grief, love, frustration, irritation, rebellion.  I could go on, but you get the idea.  They may be ancient people but their lives soared and crashed pretty much the same as ours.  And through it all, they continued to witness to the faith they held.  That is where their stories become treasures for us.

How do you go on when you have behaved very badly?  Look up the story of King David and Bathsheba and listen to his cry of confession.  How do you give thanks for a gift you have longed for all your life?  Read the story of Hannah and her son Samuel to see the depth of thanksgiving.  Know someone who has been sexually assaulted?  The rape of Tamar is the story to check out.  Think God doesn't hear your prayers because you are not worthy?  Then you need to look up the story of Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman.

It's all there.  Love. Loss. Betrayal. Joy. New Life.  It's there to help you reach the point where you can say, "This is my story.  This is my God."

Shalom my friends.

Sex and the Sinner

I have chosen the alternate Old Testament text for Sunday:  2 Samuel 11.1-15, the story of David and Bathsheba.

For those who aren't familiar with this lurid tale (one of several equally lurid tales in the Old Testament), King David catches a glimpse of his neighbor's wife bathing in the courtyard of her house, sends for her, lays with her, causes her to get pregnant, and eventually has her husband killed in order to hide his infamy.

See?  You don't have to buy the National Enquirer to get this stuff.  It's right here, and it's a story about the most honored of Israel's kings.  In fact, YHWH promises that an offspring of David will always sit on the throne.  [You can see where the title Son of David is important when applied to Jesus.]  Throughout the Bible, we watch God using flawed, sinful individuals to bring about God's will.

In this story, we have the perfect storm of lust and power; not unusal then nor is it unusual now.  Wrong then; wrong now.  It is ironic, however, that this lesson coincides with the announcement of the NCAA penalties against Penn State and the removal of the Joe Paterno statue from the front of the college stadium. 

There are many ways to talk about this story.  Here is the first.  Sin lies deep within the heart of every single one of us (and some of us, it is not so deeply seated).  Power / prestige often functions as the accelerator to sinful behavior.  I am speculating when I say that King David was so full of himself he had little space to consider the other.  He chose to respond to the announcement of an imminent birth of a child with the order for the imminent death of the husband. 

Never found yourself in that position?  Really?  Never thought you were in the right and you had the power to make the other person agree with you?  Your child?  Your spouse?  At work?  At the check-out?  Desire and power, a volatile combination.