As I wrote in my pastor’s message in the newsletter, when I first thought about learning as a discipleship/apostleship practice for today’s world, I was thinking book learning, Bible studies, things like that. But over the week, it became apparent to me that where the Spirit – the Companion, the Advocate – was really leading me was storytelling as learning. What have we learned from stories? What can we learn from stories: our own, other’s, our congregation’s, even our country’s?
Stories of all kinds shape who we are – our 
identity as individuals, as members of a family, a congregation, or as residents of a nation. Stories, as Janet Stahl who uses stories as foundational to her work, help us store and express these identities. Stories are embedded within us, emblazoned in our brains, fundamental to our living.
Stories though require us to be good listeners, don’t they? How else will we not just hear but perceive, maybe even begin to understand someone from the stories they tell us? And, maybe, those who hear our stories will understand better who we are.
Take a moment and think about the stories you heard as a child or as an adult. Think about the stories you tell your children or grandchildren, or friends, or other family members. What stories do you tell and why? What do you want them to learn from these stories? Our stories shape us – the good ones, the hard ones, the downright ugly ones – make us who we are – as wonderful or as painful as they may be.
Ignoring them or worse yet rewriting or erasing them doesn’t help anyone understand or grow does it? The inability to withstand hearing or sharing stories – the good, the hard, the ugly – misshapes our identity. Hides away part of our identity.
Makes us believe things that simply aren’t true. We see that a lot in our country today – trying to rewrite or erase the hard and ugly parts of our nation’s history – removing slave exhibit stories, how this country treated indigenous people, trying to take away the stories of people who are black, brown, female, or part of the LGBTQIA+ community. How will we know who we are if our stories are erased or changed to accommodate a particular world view.
The same is true of the stories that have shaped us as Christians. What stories don’t we know – it was only in seminary that I learned about the early Christian church – the Way. I learned how egalitarian it was – no more Greek or Jew, male r female, slave or free. How loving it was towards those who were too often excluded. How it brought people of all walks of life together committed to enacting the story of Jesus.
And, then Constantine happened – the 4th century Roman Emperor who decided Christianity should be the state religion. Let me say this – it never goes well when someone in governmental authority tries to make one religion over another be the “state” religion. That religion loses its independence and its role as an accountability holder and prophetic voice.
Do you know that story of Constantine? The history of Christianity is full of good, hard and downright ugly stories – the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the ways in which Christianity in America was and still is used to keep people down and put them to the margins are some of the the hard and ugly ones. But there are also many stories of people acting from their faith starting whole social justice movements. Do you know those stories?
Jesus used stories to teach, but the Master himself could also be taught and that brings me to today’s Gospel passage from Matthew. Hear these words from Matthew 15:21-28. This is not a Jesus practicing active listening skills is it – neither he nor his disciples are taking the time to hear her, her desperation, her concern for her daughter – they have completely discounted her story. And, her story is powerful. I believe she has come to Jesus to heal her daughter because of stories – the stories she has heard about Jesus. She I am sure has heard the stories of his ability to heal, his kindness, his love, so I am also sure it must have been very difficult to see those stories not live up to what she has told herself.
But something happens to Jesus in the conversation of story between this desperate mother and him. She begins her story; he ignores her completely. She continues her story; he tells her that his mission only identifies with the people of Israel. She continues her story; he responds that the dogs don’t deserve the children’s bread. She keeps telling her story telling him that even the dogs eat the master’s crumbs. She will not let her story fall into an abyss of not listening by Jesus. Her continued storytelling forces him to focus on her and her story and he finally sees her faith, her need, her love for her daughter and he takes action.
How powerful is this woman’s story? Through her refusal to not let her story go, she helps Jesus understand that there are faithful people beyond the people of Israel and her story leads him to a greater understanding of his mission and ministry to all people. He opens his mind and heart to her. Do we? Or do we judge, invalidate or discount another’s story if we don’t agree with them or like Jesus are very set in our mind about who “they” are.
Yet Paul tells us there is no more Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free. There are only people who need to share their stories and be heard. And there is a Companion ready, willing and able to help us understand, to teach us to listen and to share. I suspect the Holy Spirit showed up in this conversation between Jesus and the woman too!
What does all this mean for us as a congregation, especially a congregation that has declared the church is not the physical structure but the people who have shared, heard and sought understanding of their stories. The relationships that are built because of the shared stories. Whose stories do we need to hear? How do we hear the stories of those who have been harmed by the wider church? How do we hear the stories of immigrants who seek a better life in our community than they had in their home country? How do we begin to engage folks on the margins, eliciting their stories and also sharing ours? What does that look like?
Those are good questions to continue to explore as we seek to live out our three themes: relationship-building, mission-active, and community-integrated. All three involve sharing stories. So, let’s start thinking about storytelling as a learning method, as a spiritual practice for good discipleship and apostleship. Let’s figure out a way to put this into place. What might that look like? Who wants to explore doing that? Let me know.
May it be so. Amen.