What story are we telling?

What story are we telling? Margaret Pritchard Houston Children’s mission enabler, diocese of stalbans Thanks to the Revd. Ally Barrett and the Revd. Jeremy Fletcher – their work at the “Formed by Story” conference at High Leigh in 2016 inspired some of this presentation.

Rev ally barrett asked: “If you had to write the whole Bible as one song, what words would appear in the chorus?” “What would the title be?”

Why do we tell these stories? Grandson: A book ?Grandfather: When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me … and I used to read it to your father, and today, I'm gonna read it to you.Grandson: Does it have any sports in it?Grandfather: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, True Love, miracles....Grandson: Doesn't sound too bad. I'll try and stay awake.

WHY DO WE TELL THESE STORIES? • Passing on meaning • Creating a group identity – “this is our story.” • Creating an individual identity – “being part of us, and part of this, is part of you.” • Explaining our practice (“why is this night different from other nights?” “why are these stones here?” “on the night before he died for us, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread …”) • Remembering our history • Relationship with God – “I am the Lord your God, who took you out of Egypt …” We know who God is, and who we are in relation to him, because we have a story with him. • FAMILIES do all these things too. Storytelling in church is the family of God reminding ourselves who we are and where we come from. And that tells us where we’re going.

Many of the themes in the Bible are themes that come up over and over again in the other kinds of stories that speak to us on a very primal and archetypal level: fairy tales. And the shape of the Bible is very similar to the shape of many of the fairy tales with which children growing up in England will become familiar.

Once upon a time …

The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell, 1940

Are there specific Bible stories that map closely onto this structure? In what ways does the Bible as a whole map/not map onto this structure?

The BIBLICAL metanarrative

… happily ever after.

Marriage as metaphor in fairy tales • Seen and loved for who we really are, and exalted to a new level (there are many other ways in which this trope is realised – “you’re a wizard, Harry,” “always a King or Queen in Narnia,” etc.) • Given adult responsibilities • Symbol of fulfilment – not regression back to childhood innocence, but maturity. Eden  The New Jerusalem • Feasting and celebration • Union of elements that had been split – harmony, resolving the chaos and disorientation of the exile

How would you fill this in to tell the whole Bible? (from Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling)

Telling the story • When do we have the chance to tell the whole thing in order? • Lectionary approach: Gospel-centric, disjointed. Makes sense to those who already know the story.

TELLING THE STORY • How are we fostering awe and wonder in the story? • Is the story the gift or just the packaging for a moral principle?

TELLING THE STORY CONTEXT CONTENT • Why are we telling this part of the story? • Why are we telling it now? • Why are we telling it in this way? • What happened before? • What happens next? • When was this story written down, and why? • What does it tell us about God? • What does it tell us about the world and ourselves? • How does it challenge us? • How does it comfort us?

The story is our life story • Eden – childhood innocence (if we’re lucky). Cast out from that place of safety into a hard world, a dangerous journey, where we have to find our own way. • Pilgrim’s Progress – metaphor of that journey

Which of these places have you been in your story? Are you in any of them now?

The story is our communal story • What story does your church community tell about itself? Where do they see themselves – desert, Jerusalem, Babylon? • What effect does that story have on the ability to write the next chapter? What role are you playing in the story? Is it the role you want to play?

The next chapter and the end of the story • We are Kingdom people. • Love is stronger than death. • God has fought death for us and won. • We have a share in that new life through Baptism. • We are Kings and Queens – all of us. • We can’t go back to Eden, but we can go forward to the New Jerusalem. Innocence is lost, and we can lament it, but maturity can be claimed. We don’t stay in Egypt or Babylon – we can be set free, we can rebuild. Christ doesn’t stay in the tomb. Mourn, and then find new life. • We have to make that happen; the Spirit is in us now. Jesus has given us that job.

What story are we telling?