Twice in the past two weeks Tom and I have been fortunate to be in the company of good story tellers whose recounting of their lives and their experiences in the story opened windows of understanding, knowing, and thanksgiving for both the storyteller and the gifts of life observed and well lived.
Garry Lipson is my brother in law. For the years he has been married to my sister I have known him as person who notices life and cares for creation and for his family. He has always seen humor in things and has always captured the essence of the family story well. When he stood at the Bynum General Store with two other storytellers and told stories of his youth, he was hysterically funny and poignant at the same time. It was a joy to hear him and know him more through the power of his story.
Last week at the DPAC, we were privileged to hear Garrison Keillor, well known storyteller from the land of Wobegon. Mr. Keillor weaves magic and mystery together in masterful ways of song and story, faith and fun. His story captures imagination and scatters it out like some kind of wind that stirs the soul.
In the stories of both these men, we were present with them in the places to which they took us. We were insiders revelling in the detail of every jot and tittle of their lives. Story has power to take us places of wonder and joy and life. God knew that when he wove the world together.
The Old Testament begins with the story in the Garden. There is drama; there is humor. In the story of God’s salvation, there are heroes and there are sinners. And always there is God … on every page there is God who makes all things good in ultimate ways. God is known to us in story that bears truth and life to all people. The story’s climax is in Jesus the Christ. Protagonist, Savior, Lord. Luke and others in the New Testament tell the story well.
Each of us has a story to tell. We are writing it each day we draw breath. We tell story that our children will know who we are, what our family is like, who God is and what we are called to be. There is a power in story that is undeniable. But story takes time to tell. We are called to remember in detail and recount in color what has been. We are charged with bearing witness to the love of God and the goodness of faith that future generations will know. What is the story you tell with your life? How do you tell it? Where are you in it? Frame it well, friends. A storyteller lives in you! And people are listening.
