Reflections on "Telling Stories" Matthew 8: 28-34; Psalm 124

I enjoyed being back in the pulpit, but I did feel a little rusty!

I tried to model telling stories in my sermon, but it may have been too many stories or the stories were not focused enough.

I was really struck by how we can be intentional in our storytelling and make our stories part of our faith claim by exploring where God is found in the midst of our stories.

Psalm 124 also provided a powerful reminder of how our stories can shape our self-understanding.  The Israelites claim of being God's people is best understood and proclaimed when the stories of their relationship with God are told.

I would like to explore more the idea that the swineherders told others about Jesus in a way that made them want to run Jesus out of town.  That fascinates me!

“Telling Stories” May 8, 2011; Acts 2: 36-41; FPC, Troy

Introduction: Imagine you have just seen Jesus cast out demons; send them into the pigs and then direct the pigs to run down a steep bank and into the sea where they drown.

How would you tell that story to others?

Apparently, when the people herding the pigs when into town to tell the story of what happened, they told it in such a way that the people from town came out and asked Jesus to leave the neighborhood.

We do not know, but I'm guessing they did not tell the story about Jesus in a way that invited others to come and meet the incredible Son of God who could send demons to their death. I suspect they told everyone about this strange guy who killed off their pigs and hurt their livelihood.

Telling stories...how we tell our stories can scare people or inspire them or invite them think new thoughts.

I have spent three months away on the Clergy Renewal having some wonderful experiences and reflections that bring me back into your midst with lots of stories to tell.

I hope you have spent some of the Clergy Renewal time reflecting on your own faith so that you have some stories to tell me as well.

This fall, I will be sharing some of those stories and reflections in the sermons I preach.

Not all the stories from the Clergy Renewal time will get told in the sermons. For instance, if you want to hear about the man walking in on Leslie in the communal shower on the train to Spokane, you're going to have to ask her yourself.

This morning, let's reflect on the power of telling and hearing stories.

Move 1: Thinking about stories calls us back o the biblical texts.

a. the great collection of the stories about God and God's people.

b. One of the my goals for the Clergy Renewal time was to engage in daily devotions.

1. I would give myself a B+/A- in that category.
2. I followed a devotional guide geared toward ministers.
3. Each week had a Psalm, so I read the same psalm every day for a week.
4. There was a different scripture lesson and brief devotional reading each day.
5. There were also a couple of prayers that I said and a hymn of the week, that I confess to ignoring most weeks.
6. Each week had a different topic that were geared about ministry.

c. No surprise, but I discovered that reading the Bible with no sermon to preach or class to teach gave me a very different point of engagement.

1. It sort of weird in a way to read a text and not wonder how it might be preached, or what was an interesting point of engagement to teach the text.

2. But, then I kept having this recurring “aha” – this story connects with this part of my life or this text makes me think such and such.

3. It served as a wonderful reminder to me of how important it is to read the biblical texts to not only be reminded of how God has been at work in people's lives, but how that God is still at work in our lives and our world.

As we think about telling stories, we are reminded to reclaim the biblical stories.

Move 2: When we tell stories, we share our interpretation of and event and invite others to interpret the story as well.

a. Clergy Renewal

1. I spent a lot of time explaining what I was doing as I showed up in different places with no agenda except to be there.
2. I would tell about the Clergy Renewal grant from the Lily foundation, share what ya'll were doing back here in Troy and describe what I was getting to do.
3. Most people seemed interested in hearing the story, and I told it in such a way that it sounded like a good thing for both the congregation and the minister.
4. In fact, several people asked about how to learn more for their congregations.
5. Near the end of my time I went to Ghost Ranch, national conference Center of PCUSA. Ed DeLair, formerly on staff in our presbytery at the Kirkmont Camp and Conference Center is now the Program Director at Ghost Ranch. I stayed several days with Ed and his wife Becky.
6. Ghost Ranch had 600 or so people there that week, most of who were taking a class or involved in a service project, although some had signed up for Rest and Relaxation.
8. The next morning before the breakfast gathering, Ed made me a name tag. And he put Clergy Renewal as the class I was taking.
9. Suddenly I found myself involved in lots of conversations, many of which began with “what's clergy renewal? I don't remember that as one of the courses being offered this week.” So I got to tell the Clergy Renal story a lot.
10. The last day I was standing with another group of people I had not met, someone asked about Clergy Renewal, I began to tell the story, and a woman interrupted me when she exclaimed, “ Oh I know all about Clergy Renewal. My church has one this summer and our minister is gone for three months. Boy am I glad to get rid of him for the summer.” She did not sound like she was kidding.
11. We both told a story about Clergy Renewal. IN some ways our stories agreed that Clergy Renewal could be good for a congregation. But, our interpretation was very different.
12. I must say it also broadened my understanding about how people in a congregation might interpret Clergy renewal.

b. No surprise that Jesus often told parables or other stories.

1. Very often when asked a question, he would answer with a story.
2. Jesus understood that when he told a story he invited the listener to engage the story from their own context.
3. When we tell stories, we invite others to engage with us as both teller and listener grow in understanding.

Move 3: Telling our stories can be a way we make our faith claim.

a. when we read Psalm 124, we are reminded how the Israelites tell their story to define who they are.

1. I imagine that they learned early on that to teach the next generation or announce to the world that they were God's people was not that compelling.
2. But when they say we are God's people and remember when God rescued us.
3. Or remember when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush.
4. Or remember when God led us into the Promised Land.
5. Then they had a way of defining who they were and whose they were.

b. Telling stories can allow us to make out faith claims.

1. First Saturday night of Clergy renewal in Coer d'Alene, ID; out for dinner in this neat little resort town near Spokane; parked and then were walking down the main drag to find our restaurant
2. We encountered an intersection that had people with posters and on either side of the street and a man shout at the top of his lungs something about God; I'm not sure exactly what he was saying,but it had something to do with going to hell and/or heaven.
3. We were so mesmerized by this spectacle, we walked by and missed our restaurant and had to turn around and walk by them again. They were making their faith claim in a powerful, loud way.
4. Most of us are not going to stand on the street corner in Troy or Piqua or Vandalia or Tipp City or Pleasant Hill shouting our faith claims.
5. But, consider the opportunity you have to share your faith claim when you tell your stories – you talk about what happened to your mother in the hospital or what happened in your life when everything seemed to fall into place. And you add where you saw God at work in that.
6. Now you have not only an interesting story, but a powerful story about how God has been at work in your life.
7. As others hear the story, they may gain new understanding of how God is at work;
8. Maybe they will not agree with your assertion – I did not like what I was hearing from the man on the street corner.
9. But either way, those who hear the story grow in their own understanding and maybe someone hears your story and discover the God for whom they have been looking.

Conclusion: Tell your stories. Listen to the stories others tell. And proclaim the God about saved the Israelites and saves us.