First Baptist Church of Herndon

And So the Story Goes

Linda Soller | Apr 14, 2014

Do you have a favorite story? Maybe it’s from your childhood or one you’ve read to a child. Is it from the Bible? In churches everywhere children are learning about Christianity and faith through stories. The settings are exotic compared to most of our home towns. We find, the often less than perfect, characters in the desert, along roads, in trees, by the shore line, sitting on mountain sides, gathering grain, drawing water at a well, and enjoying lavish celebrations to name just a few settings.  The Bible characters cover the range of people you might run into in a life time, old and young, rich and poor, robust and weak, short and tall, friendly and mean, and naturally the important popular people and the people who survive on the fringes of society. It’s no wonder that those stories stick with us through the years, even if our attendance at church does not. There’s usually a place or a character that each of us can relate to.

In February our Lunch Bunch book group read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. The discussion was lively which seems to be the case whenever Mr. Lewis’ name comes up. The next month we read the book, On the Shoulders of Hobbits: the Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewisby Louis Markos, which explores faith and virtues connected to the characters created by C.S. Lewis and his good friend J.R.R. Tolkien in their classic fantasy stories. I have not read all of Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia book series, but I’m a big fan of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. What became clear early on in Markos’ book was that Tolkien and Lewis understood the teaching value of good stories, even fantasies. Both men were devout Christians, though Mr. Lewis converted as an adult. Both men knew that the good and bad we observed in our Bible stories could easily transfer to characters and situations far different from those in the Bible without losing their teaching value. Some of the least likeable characters created by these talented authors were able to demonstrate and/or teach the most desirable values that we Christians hold dear. What I found to be most remarkable is that while I’d noticed some of the Christian connections when reading the books, there was so much I’d missed.  A good story can usually keep on giving as you read it over and over again or as you ponder what you have just read.

Sometimes I think we’re not telling all the stories we need to share with the people in our lives. We can get so wrapped up in what’s going on around us that we may miss an opportunity to share that good story which someone once told us. Don’t get me wrong; telling a story isn’t always as easy as we think it should be. Telling a good story or writing one requires effort, and if it’s going to have teaching value it will often demand interesting characters in interesting places. As a child I also preferred those stories where the characters had funny voices that only my Dad could make.

The Easter story has everything needed for a best seller, from its celebratory parade beginning, through the drama, confusion, rage, and sadness of the middle, to the triumphant resurrection at the end. It’s a story that keeps you engaged and wanting to know what happens next. The characters are good, bad, well meaning, and selfish, demonstrating all that’s wonderful and horrible in mankind. The lessons learned are for a lifetime. When was the last time you really heard the Easter story? More importantly, when’s the last time you shared it with someone else?

Happy Easter :o)    Linda