Tell The Stories

“Jesus used stories to tell all these things to the people; he always used stories to teach them.”  Matthew 13:34

As a child, I loved stories.  I read Bible stories, story books from the library, and loved listening to the stories of my parent, my Grandma, my aunts and uncles and the older people in the Church. Stories connected me to places and people beyond my own experience.  The stories were about their lives, the people who influenced them, where they traveled, and how God was at work in their lives.

As a pastor, I listened to the stories of the people I visited.  In the hospital, people told the story of their illness, their fears, and hospital experience.  In their homes, people would share stories about possessions that were dear to them and pictures of family.  I loved to hear the stories because I learned who they were through these stories.  In the first church I served, the senior minister taught me to tell a story at the beginning of a sermon.  The story needed to capture the church family’s attention and lead into the Scripture for the day. 

When Dave and I began dating, I discovered he was a storyteller. He created stories about the Hawk and the mouse to describe our relationship. He told stories from his childhood and the State Highway Patrol that made you feel like you were there with him. He was animated and used his whole body describing the action of the tale. Nobody could tell a story like Dave. He had you laughing one minute and crying the next. Whenever his grandsons stayed overnight, he would tell them a bedtime story where one of them was the hero and saved the day.

We remember stories because they are about how we are in relationship with one another.  Stories create a visual in our minds.  Stories tell the joys and sorrows of life.  Usually when we tell a story, we use it to give an example or share a meaning about life.  Stories are told to give an emphasis to our point.  They illustrate our view of life.

Recently at a gathering of widows, each widow shared the story of how they met their husband.  They shared their husband’s name, something special about them and how they began their love relationship.  As I listened, I saw faces shine with love and eyes fill with tears as they remembered.  The story of love remains engrained in their hearts forever.  My mind and heart drifted to the story of meeting Dave and how God brought us together.  It is a story that remains as a foundation for my life and my view of love.

On the journey of grief, stories are filled with emotions. We love hearing stories of our loved one and how they impacted another person’s life. We look at pictures and remember the story behind the photo. We remember the love and the life we had with our loved one. We treasure all these memories. But in the stories are also the pain, the hurt and the loss. We need to tell these stories too. They help those who are beginning this journey to hear that others have similar stories and emotions. We connect to others through our shared experiences.

Jesus told parables or stories throughout his ministry to illustrate God’s love and Kingdom.  The stories help us remember and connect us to images and relationships.  Jesus knew we needed a way to relate to the greatness of God.  Stories made God relatable and real.  The stories tell us of God’s love and forgiveness. 

One of the hymns of faith I sang in my little country church when I was a child was “I Love to Tell the Story.”  The chorus says –

“I love to tell the story! ‘Twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.”

In our journey with Jesus, we keep telling how He walks with us, how he died for us, how he was resurrected to give us the hope of eternal life. In our grief, we tell the story of how Jesus comforts us, holds us in our sorrow, and gives us the hope we will see our loved one again in Heaven.  Stories of our loved ones keep them alive in our hearts and in the memories of others.  Keep telling the stories.  Tell how they loved, how they lived and how they made a difference in your life.  Tell the old, old stories.