Devotion: Telling our stories
“Joined and knit together by every ligament.” In this passage from the fourth chapter of Ephesians, Saint Paul explains that each of us has a gift, and that we bring these gifts together for the glory of God.
Stories are connectors, like the round pieces of Tinker Toys. Our stories are how we start relationships, navigate our differences, and build trust and community.
The doctor connects to the patient by hearing the symptoms. The realtor finds the right house by listening to the dynamics of the family. The pastor challenges the flock by knowing what they need to hear.
Without story, we are all flailing arms and legs, hearts and hands, each working for its own purpose. But with stories as ligaments we are connected, all part of the Body of Christ.
A seminary instructor spent a year at a school in South Africa. She introduced the method of story telling known as Godly Play; as each piece is added to the particular scene, the story, whatever it is, unfolds. This struck a chord with many of the students regarding their tribal customs and story telling traditions. One student from Botswana was soon making sheep, shepherds and corrals out of pencils, tissues, and cloth to tell the story of the Good Shepherd.
Although our cultures are different, the language of story telling transcends those differences as we respect the experience of God in all people of every age. How we share our stories of the ways we experience God in our daily lives can lead others to seek and find God’s love and peace.
In Sunday School many years ago, I enjoyed the “flannel stories” - each character or object had small pieces of flannel attached to its back so it would adhere to the “flannel board,” yet could be repositioned easily as the story unfolded. Now Velcro could be used instead of flannel with the same result. I even had my own flannel board at home, and used paper dolls as I made up stories about their lives!
We each have a story to tell. It is in sharing these stories that we get more than a superficial knowledge of another individual. Telling one’s story can be scary sometimes but the results are rewarding. Sharing our stories, by word and deed, will hopefully indicate a measure of God’s love for all creation.