More Stories - Community Corner Editorial

It seems like I've been in a season of stories here recently. I don't know if its just me, but it also seems like a lot of other people have been as well. As I sat in church this past Sunday morning, Kyle Idleman's sermon was based on stories. He was teaching about Hebrews 11, which is full of stories of heroes of the faith. Kyle said that many times when we describe our faith, we use language of feeling rather than something tangible. Hebrews 11 is full of tangible, real stories that demonstrate authentic faith in God. So when referring to faith, Kyle said "We know faith must be  more than feeling, because if you're going to act in faith, God will call you to do things you don't feel like doing."

Kyle proposed the idea that we know faith is actually authentic when its tested. He goes on to say that "When I ask you if you have faith, what I'm asking for is a story." He also says that "faith always has a story attached to it."

I think faith always has a story attached to it because stories are such powerful tools for communicating concepts that cannot be understood any other way. Stories connect us in a way that nothing else can. Stories of faith are the story of God. As I've mentioned before, your story is my story and my story is your story because our story is God's story.

So to get to what I was actually intending to blog about today - here is the latest Community Corner editorial I wrote for the program I run at the Y. Its centered around - you guessed it - stories. More specifically, its centered around the idea that stories connect us to each other and build community. So without going on too much more, here's December's Community Corner:

I was watching the Today Show about a month ago while I was eating breakfast. They featured a story of a family from Arizona who had lost their daughter in a snowboarding accident the previous winter. A couple of YouTube videos that the 13 year-old girl had posted before her death showed that she had a very bubbly, loving personality. When hearing her parents speak of the accident, the pain and brokenness was evident in their voices. Why would such a tragedy take place to such a wonderful young person?

The family received what they believed to be an answer to this question the spring following their daughter’s death. The accident that had taken their daughter’s life had only affected her head and neck, so the family decided to donate her organs. 

Meanwhile, a mother of two children was in desperate need of a new heart after she began experiencing heart failure at the age of 40. After receiving the heart, the woman began searching for the family from whom the heart had come. After some time, the families were finally able to connect. It was obvious that both the parents of the teen who was involved in the accident, as well as the mother who had received the heart, had tremendous love for one another.

By this time tears were running down my cheeks. My heart broke for the family who had lost their daughter. The joy of giving and redemption in how the teen’s heart gave new life to another brought on tears of happiness. 

See, stories have tremendous power. In their truest form, they relate life in a way that we can all understand. They tell of heartache and fear, pain and tears, laughter and joy, life and love. They relate emotions with which we can all identify on some level. Stories tell us about community.

Community is built around stories. When we are open and honest enough to tell others of our trials and failures, as well as our successes and hope, we are allowing them into our lives in a more meaningful way. We are enabling our stories to intersect with others’ stories in such a way that neither person walks away the same. When I share my story with others, and others share with me, it is no longer my story or their story – rather it becomes our story.

A few weeks ago, our Y-CAP guys had the opportunity to share their stories with the group. This is always a day that changes and shapes the group in a way no other lesson could. The stories are powerful when they are shared with an audience who genuinely cares and wants to become part of that story. It was amazing to see guy after guy get up and tell stories of how disappointment, hurting and brokenness have been transformed into stories of hope.

There’s a reason why stories, when shared, go from just being about me to being about us. Our stories which tell of trials and end in redemption are the story of God. As humans, we live out God’s story every day as we are involved in the messiness of life, yet find redemption at the Cross. A recent article in Neue Magazine put it this way: “When we, any of us who have been transformed by Christ, tell our own stories, we’re telling the story of who God is.”

My story is your story and your story is my story because our story is God’s story.

As we enter the holiday season, take time to experience community by telling your story. Listen to others stories. Remember the ultimate story of redemption that began on Christmas, the holiday we celebrate to remember Jesus’ birth. It’s through this story of redemption that my story becomes your story and your story becomes my story. At the Cross, our stories intersect in the most meaningful way and lead to the truest form of community.

Stories

"My momma moved us up here from St. Louis right after my dad walked out because she wanted to get me out of the environment I was in there. It was really hard when we first moved up here because we were homeless. We moved from hotel to hotel, apartment to apartment."

"I described my father as a ghost, because that's exactly what he was in my life. He disappeared when I needed him the most and we never saw him again."

"Right before my mom and I moved up here from Compton (in LA), I was with my dad when he was shot. I was too young to know why it happened then, but my mother told me he was involved in dealing (drugs). That event has shaped me because its hard being 3 years old and watching your father die in the streets."

"At first, I didn't want to tell my story. I didn't think anyone else had been through what I've been through, but then I heard (the other guys) talking about how they were homeless and stuff. I thought I was the only one..."

While a lot of these stories sound like something one might read in a book or watch on a documentary about urban life. However, these are real stories from real high school students that live in my community. I know every one of the students who told these stories. Most of them are ages 15 - 17 and they have been through more in life than most people I know.

In the program I run at the Y for high school age guys, we just finished up a series titled Identity. Yesterday's lesson was "Story of You," where we gave the guys a chance to explore their identity by telling their story and understanding the role it plays in who they are now.

While some of the guys were more guarded and didn't really open up, others showed true emotion when they spoke of the events, people and places that had hurt them the most. They were telling of how painful, broken and dead some of our experiences in life can be. These guys who go all out on the basketball court and carry themselves with a tough persona through the halls of their schools, for one moment yesterday, let down their guard and opened up areas of their lives that they've tried so hard to hide.

One guy, who is really one of the most level headed and easy going guys I know, got up to tell his story. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Then a tear ran down his cheek.

Then another.

Then another.

Then he buried his head in his arms and started sobbing uncontrollably.

This guy told me later that his grandfather was very important to him, and had played a big role in shaping who he is today. He went on to tell me that he had been there to watch as his grandfather died from age and illness. He explained how he saw him laying in a hospital bed, only the shell of the man who he used to be.

Then I was able to share how I'm going through a similar experience with my grandfather now, who is in the hospital with a feeding tube in his side and hooked up to machines to stabilize his body and sustain life.

All of the sudden, our stories connected in a way that they hadn't before. Since we had been through  similar experiences with our grandfathers, we were able to connect on a level that previously hadn't been there. All of the sudden, this student's story became my story and my story became his story. Not only that, but our stories led to how we both have hope and trust that God carries us through these tough situations.

See that's the beautiful thing about God. He's one who restores and makes whole. He's a God who sees us in our hurting and brokenness and suffering and messiness of life - and He saved us when we were right in the middle of it all!

All of the sudden my story becomes your story and your story becomes my story because both stories are telling the story of God. God's story is lived out through us when we tell of our struggles, weaknesses and pain. See this is God's story because "at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died" for us.

Everything changes as our stories that include so much heartache and suffering turn into this beautiful picture of redemption. Christ changes everything.

As I sat and listened to the stories these students told yesterday, my heart broke for them. I was feeling this pain with them because its part of the role we were called to by Christ. It is essential to put ourselves in suffering alongside others because it is exactly what Christ did for us when he left the perfection of Heaven to come to earth and bring the hope of God's redemption. In coming alongside these guys to walk through their struggles, part of their story had become my story.

My story is God's story because at just the right time, He saved me. This is true for any other Christ follower. And to take that a step further, as Christ followers, our stories intersect at the cross. This is where our redemption takes place. We are made new in Christ. No longer are we defined by the pains, trials and brokenness of life, but we have a new story to tell.

When our stories intersect in such a beautiful way as that of the cross, your story becomes my story and my story becomes your story because our story is God's story.