Story Power

In many cul­tures around the world, proof is a mat­ter of story — not of math or empir­i­cal evi­dence. The Old Tes­ta­ment is one such case. Con­tem­po­rary India is too. The ear is more impor­tant than the eye. Lis­ten­ing is supe­rior to see­ing. What is sought is res­o­nance. Sto­ries that some­how vibrate with authen­tic­ity pull us in.

I grew up read­ing the Bible. Some of the sto­ries I found a lit­tle hard to under­stand — or even to believe. Over­all, they res­onated with the essence of what seems most to be human. The story of Jesus has a way of cap­tur­ing all that take the time to really hear the story. The sto­ries he told within his per­sonal life story also get our soul’s atten­tion. He never talked about oxy­gen and hydro­gen, but he walked on water. Cli­mate change did not con­cern him, but he could speak and still a storm. He never had a course in micro­bi­ol­ogy, but he healed all sorts of dis­eases.

Jesus’ sto­ries were not self-directed. He pointed to some­thing else. He referred to it as “King­dom” or “Father­hood of God” — admitting to analo­gies as the ticket to under­stand­ing what is hap­pen­ing between the seen and the unseen. Long before Sig­mund Freud, he was able to dis­cern the pit­falls of the human ego. Unlike Freud, he was an opti­mist about ris­ing above the herd.

When I tire of my life story, I rent a movie or two. It helps to get out of my story so I can look at it from another angle. Repen­tance is being will­ing to give up your story for one that is greater. It is not so much self-abandonment as it is find­ing a meta or mega-story that gives mean­ing to your seem­ingly insignif­i­cant exis­tence. In Christ, you are included in the story that began before cre­ation. Pretty neat!

Win­ston Churchill was right about his­tory. It is more a record of the crimes of human­ity than any­thing else. We mark our eras with wars and con­quests, but ignore the indi­vid­u­als of genius or the heart-struggles of the com­mon per­son. We seek his­tor­i­cal con­ti­nu­ity in the “agreed upon lie.”

A good story will change your story faster than any form of analy­sis. We are story crea­tures. Today you will expe­ri­ence another chap­ter. Be creative!