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It’s All About the Story
It’s who we are.

One of the things Carol and I have been doing during these times of Social Distancing is sometimes watching Netflix in the evening. Last week, we had the opportunity to watch "Becoming", a documentary on Michelle Obama’s book by the same title. One thing that resonated with me is when she was asked, how she became a Princeton and Harvard educated lawyer, or even think she could become a lawyer, when she lived in a society where black women were invisible, where even her school counselor had modest expectations for her, and elitist universities were reserved for “rich white kids.” What made her think she was as smart as them and as deserving as them when the dominant culture had a different opinion? Her answer was amazingly simply, “My parents had a different story for me.” Wow – that’s the difference a story can make!

As Christians we have a powerful story to share with the world. It’s a story that Jesus started telling over two thousand years ago. It’s a story that flies in the face of common knowledge, accepted societal norms and a system that favors the rich and powerful over the marginalized and weak. It’s a story about justice and compassion. Why do we keep telling this story? Because it has the power to change the world. That’s the amazing thing about stories! They can not only change how we think, they have the ability to change who we are.

The United Church has a long history  of telling stories that are quite different from the stories of the culture we find ourselves in – stories about denominations joining together to form a new church, stories about women becoming ministers, stories about gay people becoming ordained. Today, some of the stories we tell are about the effects of fossil fuels on creation, and about housing first and things like health care, education, clean water and air being human rights rather than a privilege for some but not all.

We tell stories about individuals and how each one of our lives matter. We tell about every human’s innate dignity and how our lives are important. Stories are not only powerful, our stories about ourselves are not static. We can change who we are and how we act when we begin to change the story we believe about ourselves.

The stories we tell about ourselves, our community and the world have the power to transform our lives and our world. It’s why the stories that Jesus shared so many years ago are still compelling and relevant and are changing lives and communities even today.

Perhaps the most important story we can tell ourselves and others in these times of COVID is that these times of isolation, pandemic and economic crisis are not forever. We have learned about the importance of family and community. We have seen how quickly the earth can heal when we stop polluting her. We have learned to share and care for one another. Perhaps we’ve learnt a new story about ourselves and how the world could be. And one day, this story will end – and they all lived happily ever after.

Peace be with you!
Wayne