In this series, I’m looking at Words and Story and how they are important to our understanding of, and interaction with the rest of the world. Words do, in fact, have a huge impact to heal and to harm. Those Words are used to create and write the Story that defines our Culture. Unfortunately, the cultural story can be changed to suit those in power or ‘cancelled’ by those with an agenda to foster.
Our personal stories fit into that entire Story. We have
the baggage of Words that hurt us, Words that built us up, Words and Stories
that define us. Our family stories, our cultural stories, and our lived stories
all impact the way we look at life. The Words we use to tell our Stories are
powerful.
Your story is different depending on if you grew up in a
family claiming descent from the Mayflower, or if your family came from Ireland
to escape famine or if they fled persecution in Russia or Poland. Your view of life is
different if your story involves being enslaved or having your land conquered
and your people killed. It is impacted by whether your ancestors are among the
conquerors and enslavers, the powerful or powerless. And those are just a few
of the genealogical stories that form our personal histories.
The history we learn in school helps define our image of
ourselves, and that history forms part of the story we believe about ourselves.
Add to that the family traditions and generational influences like ‘you have to
pull yourself up by your own bootstraps’, and you begin to see how diverse we
are.
Despite all this diversity, God says we are “One Family”!
The June 8, 2021 d365 Daily Devotional included this admonition, “Go, knowing
God has empowered you to write your part in the greatest story ever told. Go
write a story of love; a story of justice; a story of mercy; a story of
welcome; a story of peace.”
That is our ultimate call—to take our diverse backgrounds
and stories to write a new story of unity and ‘beloved community’. We can use
the words that live inside us and write our part of the “greatest story ever
told”. We can use words to build bridges, not walls. As the graphic notes, “The
Writer of the Story has written himself into the hardest places…” God is
working in and with and through us to learn to love as we are loved.
To know our story and to tell the truest story we can requires truth telling, as I noted last week. We need truth telling on a broad, cultural scale, and truth telling to ourselves. Until we start unpacking our story, we may not even realize where our biases and fears and divisions come from. I’m doing a book study with a couple dozen men and women from across the Diocese of the Rio Grande. We are studying Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s book Love is the Way. This week a question was raised about the difference between a ‘breaking open’ [of understanding] on a personal vs. a societal or cultural level. I think they work together. We can have to have a personal ‘cracking open’ or ‘awakening’ to the need for change in our lives or in our society. That may come because of a personal interaction or crisis or it can be caused by something we see on the news or read or learn.
Curry notes that “If we, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, of the God who is love, could not find a way to live together in peace…who could? One of the most important functions of the Church is to be a sanctuary in which people can disagree…and yet still have the other as a brother or sister in Christ.” He offers five principles for “A Covenant of Respectful Conversation” that we could all use as we try to learn from and love one another. He says we must “LISTEN to each other; PRAY for each other, LOVE each other, and DISCERN TOGETHER…what the Spirit might be saying to the Church.”
We can be assured that we aren’t alone in our journey to
seek truth, and justice, and mercy. Our Lord said, you will know the truth, and
the truth will set you free. (John 8:32) He also promised, the Spirit of
truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13)
Richard Rohr stated in his June 23 email meditation, “As we
look in the mirror and at each other and Creation, once more we ask ourselves,
“Who do you say that I am?” How might we represent the Holy in the world? How
do we interact with each other and Creation? . . . We must be mindful to revere
the Holy in our neighbors—to share our stories about God’s goodness and grace,
companionship and love in the hopes of becoming the community that God has
intended.” That’s a start.
I invite you to consider places you are or have been
‘cracked open’ and have found God and been changed. How can you and I share our
stories of how God came into our brokenness so that we found grace and love?
