Thesis - Chapter 1
Friends, this is the first chapter of our Doctor of Ministry thesis submitted recently to The Theological School at Drew University. It is just a very short introduction to the “Old, Old Story” project. I am not sure at this point if we will try to put the entire thesis online when it is done, but please know I will be happy to discuss any aspect of it with you at any time. Enjoy! --DCL.
INTRODUCTION
Everybody loves a good story. I offer no quantitative evidence here, just that I have heard it more than once and it makes sense to me. That being said, there is plenty of literature out there about story, about storytelling, narratives, preaching as story, narrative research and more. Beyond the church—keepers of “the greatest story ever told”—the very serious disciplines of art, literature, education, history, anthropology, archeology, psychology, family therapy and more all study the role of story or stories as foundational elements of their respective fields. Journalists and comedians tell stories. From ballads to ballet, singers and dancers tell stories. Detectives discover stories. Every picture tells a story. Astronomers with their radar and satellite telescopes searching the stars and galaxies, and quantum-physicists with their super-colliders exploring the dynamics of sub-atomic phenomena, are both looking for clues to the story of the very beginning of everything; the creation of matter and all that is. The church has a story about that. In fact, we have at least two.
Stories are everywhere. That is another truism I am just going to set down here as a fundamental assumption. Stories are everywhere and everything has a story. That little yellow sticky-note stuck to my wall with a few important words on it was once a tree in a forest somewhere. It stretched its arms to the sky and threw its shadow to the other side. And before that, it was a sapling competing with the taller elders of that place for sun, soil and water. And before that, a seed just hitting the ground looking to dig in. And before that, that seed was growing on another tree somewhere after the flower had been fertilized and the petals had flown away.
Not only does any and every single thing have a story, it has many, many stories, layers of stories, each with a beginning, a middle and sometimes an end. A lot of things happened to my little sticky-note before it was a sticky-note, and since. A lot of elements acted upon it and brought it to its present state but the story is not over yet. I can promise someday soon it will go into the recycling bin and be hauled away. I have no idea what will happen after that in my little sticky-note’s existence, where it will go or what, that which once was my sticky-note, will someday become. God knows.
And so it is with the good people of the First United Methodist Church of Somerville, New Jersey. They too have stories, lots of them. This project is based on the assumption, because everybody loves a good story, that these stories might provide a means to explore God’s story as told in scripture and as extolled in the liturgy, sermons and common life of the church. The project explored the possibility that the concept of story might be a way to connect people of today with the people and stories of scripture. It arose after a congregational survey revealed that barely seventeen percent of the congregation listed “Reading the Bible” as one of their top three (out of a list of six) spiritual practices. Its objective was to reduce the guilt and anxiety many expressed about their Bibles and facilitate greater biblical literacy. It was hoped that this effort could somehow help the people of the church see that they, like the characters in the Bible, are all living in one great, on-going human and divine story. Central to the project was the affirmation that, from the moment of creation, God has been crafting a great story, and we are in it. It was hoped this common thread we share would be transformational and make it easier for people to pick up their Bibles and read.
What follows in the next chapters is the story of what happened and why. Chapter Two will consider the relationship of theology to story and why this project matters in the life of the church I serve. Chapter Three recounts the efforts and events that took place during the project period, January through May of 2010. Chapter Four sorts out that which worked from that which did not and offers some thoughts on the whys and wherefores appertaining thereto. Following this are several appendices containing examples of the documents used as announcements and handouts during the course of the study.
In all, it was an exhilarating journey of discovery. The church learned a great deal about their pastor as he tried new ways to engage them in this conversation. As was hoped, they also learned a few things about themselves, their Bibles and the story they are writing of their lives. As their pastor, I enjoyed the challenge of presenting the characters and stories of the Bible in new and exciting ways as real people, not so very different from themselves, and living real lives that were and are part of God’s great on-going story. At a minimum, they learned that I see elements of story in every imaginable thing and, given a chance to think about it for a while, will find some way to relate it not only to a God who is continually creating, but to themselves and to the very personal God who is co-authoring their life’s story with them day by day.
There is more. I learned many things too. As I looked out over the pulpit with the scriptures open before me, I learned a lot about those characters in both the pews and pages of my ministry. It was a humbling, humanizing experience to read of all God’s children with them and then to look up to see in their lives and faces God’s hand still at work today.
Without giving too much away too soon, it can be said here that there is a reason we are encouraged by those who were there so long ago to “pray without ceasing,” and to “give thanks always.” The prayer and the gratitude continue to this day.
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