Story

The bible is full of stories about stories.   And as I often say, the Bible is a record of a relationship between a people and their God… and that record is often told in “story” form.   I’ve been pretty interested in the idea of “story”; not only that we love to tell “stories”, and hear stories, but also that our lives are “stories”… and that “stories” inform our lives.   

When I was a kid, I’d ask my parents to tell me stories.   And my kids did the same thing when they were younger – “Daddy, tell me a story about when you were little.”   Don’t all kids love to hear stories?   And we grown-up people do too.   When we gather with others, isn’t there a time when we end up telling stories about where we’ve been, what we’ve done, about our lives, etc.?   It’s not that uncommon to do this.     Much of our entertainment is “stories”; the books we read for pleasure are often stories, the movies are often stories.     And some of the most moving moments shared with others are those times people tell deep truth stories of their lives.   

Some stories inform our lives, in conscious ways, but more often than not, unconscious ways.   There are stories in our lives whose impact is for the most part just under the surface.   These are stories we don’t usually see, stories we don’t usually identify consciously… but they have a pretty big impact on our lives. 

There was a movie out about 20 years ago called “Life is Beautiful” with Roberto Benigni.   The movie took place in pre- during- and post- Nazi occupied Italy, about an Italian Jewish man.    He meets, falls in love with and marries a lady and they have a baby – a boy.    Now through the movie you get a very clear picture of one of the main stories in his life… that Life really is Beautiful!    Life is full of mystery and magic, hope.   No matter what, the man sees – chooses to see – can’t help but see – that life is wonderful, beautiful.   Through his eyes, there really is so much to be in awe about.   Love, children, life itself is sacred.   

He does face tragedy.  His wife dies, the Nazis make life harder and harder for him and his boy, until he is finally send to a concentration camp.   He shields his son, not from the normal sadness of life – the ups and downs, the complications, and losses, like the loss of a mother – but from atrocities that people can commit against each other.   Seems he wants to instill in his son the notion that life is overall good – and that we can still be good people in the midst of darkness and despair.  

Through the movie I got the impression that the man’s view of life was not really hidden, even from himself.  This wasn’t very subconscious.  He thought through how to keep this idealism alive for his son – and more deeply, for himself.   From the meeting and courtship of his wife, to the birth of his son, to the internment in the Nazi concentration camp (with his son hidden from the Nazis), even though bad things do indeed happen… the deeper story, still, was that life was indeed good.      

I know someone that impresses me like this.   They’re view of life is phenomenally bright.    Now, she lost her husband to cancer about 7 years ago.   She’s now raising her 10 year old daughter on her own now.   She’s a brittle diabetic, has lost vision in one eye, and she’s also just gotten over a long fight with breast/ovarian cancer.   She’s struggled through chemo and radiation, loss of hair, tiredness, hysterectomy and double mastectomy, and she still is pre-disposed to seeing life as overall wonderful.  I’m struck by her natural ability to see the underlying story of life as an overall positive one.   This may indeed be her unconscious “story” of life that informs her living and thinking.    Our “unconscious stories of life” do indeed inform our conscious lives.  

And sometimes for the negative.    There are some who’s “unconscious informing life story” is that life should be lived carefully… cautiously!     Some early-on lines from the movie The Croods (an animated comedy movie from the last few years about life and change):       

Grug: Tonight, we'll hear the story of Crispy Bear. A long time ago, this little bear was alive. She was alive, because she listened to her father, so she was happy. [Eep sighs] But Crispy had one terrible problem, she was filled with... curiosity! [everyone gasps]  Yes! And one day, she saw something new and died!

Thunk: Just like that?

Grug: Yes!

Gran: Same ending as everyday.

Thunk: I get it, Dad. I will never do anything new or different.

Grug: Good man, Thunk.

I will never do anything new or different!  One does NOT “jump in” to life!    If one MUST get into life, one eases in cautiously and carefully!   Slowly!    One preferably goes to what’s “known” over what’s “unknown”.  

And for others – the gods are like Drill Sergeants at basic training…   people whose attention you JUST DO NOT WANT.   It never goes well.   Some live life trying to stay under the radar of the gods… the fates.   And you do this by not showing too much joy, not showing too much excitement, by not being too ambitious or hopeful.   Because if you somehow attract their attention, if you do not control yourself, if you don’t remain sufficiently humble, the other show will drop, and life will take a turn for the worse… the gods will take something away from you – something you like or love.

Do you think people are by nature dark, evil, bad?   Is our tendency to do evil in the world, to each other, etc.?    From this perspective we might be more inclined to understand God’s role in the human experience as one of needing to put limits on us – just as it is the role of the civil authorities to restrain our baser human tendencies for violence and destruction.   God puts “limits” on the evilness of humanity; controls on emotions, controls on the (dark) human tendencies to do evil, to control the hungers and desires – especially those related to Human Sexuality...  (of course the source of many evils).    God here is a God of control!.....  of judgement of all that falls outside of that control!...   and fear of that judgement is used to keep people within the bounds of “proper” behavior – again, restraining those evil tendencies within us.      God’s forgiveness and love here are more likely to be earned…    What we’re really saying here is this is the informing story of how life should be lived.                    

Or is Humanity by nature “good”?   Is it our tendency as human beings to do good, to be benevolent, to be compassionate…   but evil is present to tempt us all off that primary path?   If you see people as by nature good, then you probably/might more easily see God as a God of joy and grace and compassion and mercy and forgiveness.   Here God is seen as a partner in life, helping to bring out the best in us, opening the doors and windows of our lives to the wonder of creation and the goodness that indeed already exists.   And as we grow in this, we also grow in these same attributes of compassion and grace and love.    What we’re really saying here is – this is the informing story of life and faith.

What are the stories you remember?   What stories do you tell?  A better question is what stories are asserting themselves in your life now?   Stories that come from your unconscious to your consciousness.   What are the stories that simmer just between your conscious and unconscious minds?   About God?     About Life?     About God AND life?    Is life a wondrous adventure – with mystery around every corner?   Or is life to be journeyed with trepidation… cautiousness being the most important trait?

I’m fascinated by “story”.     And partly I think I am because I see how important “story” is to our very existence.   It has always been, and it always will be.   And part of this fascination has to do with how this idea of the “informing stories” have to do with how we live (and don’t live) and what we do (or don’t do) and say (or don’t say).   I’m fascinated by the stories that play out in our lives, and how we react to them.  

When I stop doing this whole church gig, I think what I’ll miss most is the time I take to consciously look at the “story of life”; the story of God… and us…  and the story of God AND us together.    The bible is a bunch of stories – “sacred” though they are – about “people” in the metaphoric sense, about God in the midst of the people.  You ever wondered what makes the bible “sacred”?   What makes the stories we read there more sacred than the ones we might read somewhere else that might also be about the people of Israel, or about God in general?     Well, one answer might be that they have been made sacred by consensus of some church council.   But maybe a deeper, more sacredly human criteria would be that these stories are really reflective of the human story in general, and the story of faith in specific.      

I often say the bible is a record of a relationship between a people and their God.   Well, our story is the same thing!   Our “story” could very well be the same thing – a living bible story – living out the relationship stuff between us and God and us and each other.

“Story” with a capital S runs deep in the history of the human experience – and in our experience and our story!    “Story” is one of those things that makes us human, in all its glories and frailties.