Tell the Story
From the Pastor’s Desk:
Tell the Story
Recently my mind has been drawn back to something that our bishop, Bishop Tim Graham, said at the last synod assembly. At the synod assembly, he was our keynote speaker and he spoke on the theme of I Corinthians 13—specifically the thirteen verse where it states, ‘And now faith, hope and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.’ He used the framework of faith, hope and love to share some of his thoughts on the church and ministry.
During the second keynote (on hope), he was talking about the difficulties of ministry in our world today. That the reality of the church has changed from years ago and some people are filled more and more with despair about the direction of the church. At some point in the talk, he went off script and started to share about an experience he had the night before. He shared that he went out from the hotel and was walking toward a place to buy some snack food to eat and came across a person asking for assistance. He shared that at times in his life, he struggled with alcoholism and he knows that he could have been a person like the one asking for assistance.
This led him to talk about what the church needs to be doing today. He stated that what we are called to do as the church really isn’t that difficult—it is to share the story of Jesus. In words and in deeds. This line has stuck with me and I have come back to it more and more frequently. The role of the church isn’t difficult; we are called to share the story of Jesus.
At times, we think that the church needs some big program or some type of marketing campaign. People tend to think that if we just have the right strategic plan or the right pastor or fill in the blank, then the church will go in the right direction. The truth is that none of those things are truly what the church needs. What we should focus upon is simply to tell the story of Jesus. For what the church really needs is Jesus.
Many people may feel unequipped to do this. People tend to think that you need to be trained or go to seminary or receive a specific call from God in order to share the faith. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
The truth is that all are called to tell the story. In baptism, the parents of a child are called to the following promises:
‘You should, therefore, faithfully bring them to the services of God’s house, and teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandment. As they grow in years, you should place in their hands the Holy Scripture and provide for their instruction in the Christian faith, that, living in the covenant of their baptism and in communion with the Church, they may lead godly lives.’
Then at confirmation, the baptized are asked:
‘Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism: to live among God’s faithful people, to hear his Word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
The confirmands respond, ‘I do, and I ask God to help and guide me.’ This response affirms that all the baptized all called to share the story. This sharing does not need to be in a big extravagant way. This sharing can be as simple as asking people if you can pray for them. It can be sharing a time when you felt close to God during a difficult period. It may even be simply to become a listening ear for someone. The key is to be intentional about seeking to share Jesus with others and live out our faith in a way that helps others to experience God and his grace and presence in our world today.
All this brings to my mind the hymn; I Love to Tell the Story. We sing, ‘I love to tell the story; ‘twill be my theme in glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. How do you tell the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ?