Storytelling and Faith
Day 20
Buechner explains the central significance of storytelling for the Christian faith.
“Of course of all of the arts, none I think is more basic to the nature of biblical faith than the art of storytelling, because if you think about it that is basically what the Bible is. It is a series of stories, whether they're stories like the ones in Genesis, or whether they're the narrative of Israel's history, or the Gospels themselves. They all are recounting things that happened, or that could have happened, or that were imagined to have happened in ways that convey a depth of truth that could not perhaps be conveyed in any other way. Think about Jesus himself who said nothing to his disciples without a parable, nothing. It's fascinating, think about that. In other words he didn't teach the way anybody today does, the way Paul Tillich taught or the way John Huffman and I have been trying to teach, or the way any theologian or preacher is apt to teach. He taught simply by telling these very commonplace, very simple stories.
“The creed is the same way, when you think of it. We don't believe in a lot of doctrinal statements - I believe in God the father who made heaven and earth, Jesus Christ who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, descended into hell and on the third day he rose again from the dead, and that and this ... No, I believe that these things happened, this series of events happened. You don't say I believe in predestination, I believe in the blood atonement, I believe in the priesthood of all believers. You say I believe that this happened - he was born, he did this, he did that, this happened to him, and then this happened to him and that happened to him and so on.
“So stories are basic to the faith in that sense, and certainly they are basic to the faith of all of us, because I think our faith, if it’s worth anything, comes from the story that each one of us has lived in this world, not just from what we heard from the pulpit. Our faith comes from our own individual stories. It is through our stories that God speaks to us and gives us the sense that they have a plot.”
Frederick Buechner, The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, pp58-59.
To help your reflect…
Reflect on Jesus the storyteller who said nothing to his disciples without a parable. What does his choice of teaching method mean to you?
And/or…
Which stories from your own life have nurtured, deepened or challenged your faith?
