The Welcoming - by Liza Thurmond
We give stories, share stories, write stories and read stories.
But what if I were to say that stories are so much more than mere background noise to our already deafening society? Stories are more than a flat, one-dimensional concept. Growing up, you may have adopted the assumption that a story is just “a story”; that its very nature negates the possibility of it being anything more. I have come to believe that in most stories there is much more to be seen than what meets the eye. Stories have been present in human existence spanning cultures, continents, centuries, and generations. As a result, it’s hard to generically put forth an all-encompassing definition for what a story actually is and that is, in part, the rugged beauty of it.
In every execution of a story there is a relationship establishment that takes place: the storyteller and the listener. However, stories themselves involve complex components.
Stories …..
- invite you to share
- are received
- contain a spectrum of emotions
- connect people together
- span lifetimes
- mark seasons of growth
- encourage dreams to be dreamt
- can wound and heal
- are committed to the expression of a process
- are tools of teaching
- invite you to respond
The first storyteller in existence was God himself, using the amazing expression of stories to reveal the unending pursuit of His love for us. The Bible is the collection of these real, God-filled stories. Not hollow or shallow, void of life or purpose, but filled with hope and the wild, unyielding possibility of redemption for you – right now – today! The orchestration of these stories was providentially anointed for your heart to receive, thousands of years before you would read them or become aware of their existence. Part of that story was His son, Jesus, who came to this earth to fulfill His part of the Father’s story.
Understanding the power of stories to connect with people and point them toward His truth is the very heartbeat of His story. Christ taught His disciples using stories. One of the most alluring characteristics of a story is the beckoning invitation to not only listen but also respond. Christ is beckoning us to recognize the story of His love and then to respond to it. In our response to this He is realized in our story so that others can see him glorified in our stories.
I hope to leave you resting in a spot of hope with the following thought: these stories that we are playing a part in, these stories woven within our souls, though they may be painful and burdensome, they are also rich in grace and they abound in hope. God’s story ends with pulsating hope and redemption. Just like many stories do, His story invites the listener to share in in the hope of the story. Isn’t that what beckons the listener to desire the end of the story revealed? We have a conscious hope for what we want the end to be. I want to welcome you to share the God-breathed stories etched in your heart .The beauty in both the sharing and listening brings glory to the wonderful workings of His hands on our lives and our carefully crafted stories.
What if the truest nature of stories in their rawest sense summons for them to be shared and they are meant to be received because there is a purpose that these stories are meant to fulfill?
“And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!”
Ephesians 3:10-13