The Good Storyteller

 The Good Storyteller

Jesus was said to be the best storyteller ever walking the earth. When He told parables, the crowds listened intently, captivated by his ability to use common everyday events to connect with those eager to hear His words. 

Jesus created the space for teachable moments. He had a technique of presenting the scenario and then allowing the hearers to draw their own conclusions. He trusted that people could decipher the truth when they heard it. When hearing His messages, people were touched in their spirits—some moved to actions of justice-making and others to anger. What happened after the stories were told was highly dependent upon the spiritual maturity of the listeners. Spiritual mindedness is a cultivated gift that enables balanced thinking strong enough to manage binary thoughts and complex polarities.

Ministers of the Word and Sacrament are charged with rightly interpreting the Scriptures. They are called to interpret Scripture in the simplest terms so that a child can understand its meaning. However, too often, Scripture is communicated with such complexity that the essence of its meaning is lost in translation. 

While serving as a pastor one year, I was perplexed about what message I should preach for Palm Sunday. At this time, I had served the congregation for four years, and I wondered what new thing I could say to the church. Many congregants had been members since childhood and were now in their late 70s. They had heard it all before.

Like most preachers, I longed for a profound revelation to proclaim. On Friday, I experienced an urge in my spirit to retell the Passion narrative. This was not the revelation I hoped for. Nonetheless, I trusted the still small voice. On Sunday, I stepped out of the chancel, walked down the aisle, and retold the story of the faithful day Jesus set his face like flint and entered Jerusalem. The congregation listened as if they were hearing the message for the first time. They listened with new hearing. People were touched, and I could see in their eyes that something divine happened that Sunday in worship. The good news story did what Hebrews 4:12 proclaims is possible: "The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

We are storytellers. William Willimon said that we are world-makers with our words. The question is, what stories do we choose to tell? Howard Thurman asks whether our lives are canals, reservoirs, or swamps. He further explained, "Lives like canals connect people, movements, and purposes. Reservoirs have inlets and outlets in order to store up resources and provide them to others when needed. Swamps are without an outlet, only taking in and becoming stagnant and rotted." Thurman suggests that we become reservoirs, finding ways to replenish our resources "so that there will be an outgoing from us to irrigate many parched places so that all who know us will find in us a benediction breathing peace." (Thurman, Howard, "Canal, Reservoir, Swamp? (1958-05-02)," The Howard Thurman Digital Archive https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/180.)

In so many ways daily, we must consider our purpose and how our Christian faith should shape what we spend time talking about. The word "evangelize" means to tell good news to someone. We are charged with building one another up in faith. We are to seek reconciliation by speaking truth in love. We are gifted to prophesy to dead, dry bones and speak words that bring life. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. You are truly powerful. Choose a better story to tell.

Rev. Dr. SanDawna Gaulman Ashley 
Transitional Synod Leader
Synod of the Northeast