Telling our Stories

   Recently I was in the audience of a renowned speaker.  He was explaining a complicated theory.  Then he began to tell a story.  The audience which had been EGO (eyes glazed over) suddenly perked up.  What is it about a story that interests us so much?

   As we think together about telling our grandchildren our faith stories I recall the following quote.  (If anyone knows the author of this quote I will gladly print it.)

And Jesus said,

"Who do you say I am?"

And they answered,

"You are the eschatological

manifestation of the ground

of our being, the kergyma

in which we found the

ultimate meaning of our

interpersonal relationship."

And Jesus said,

"What?"

   Forget the theological explanations--tell me a story.  There is no need to explain what our grandchildren should learn from these stories or to use cloudy theological terms. These stories are a gift from us to them.  We tell our stories for the pleasure of it as we go about the important task of planting deep spiritual roots.