Gathering in South Jersey

Do adults get tired of make believe? I know I don't. In fact, when given an opportunity to read at my daughter's Fourth Grade classroom a couple of months ago, I chose a fairy tale.

What I get tired of are children's stories that lack imagination, not the ones that are full of the "magic" stuff.

Lewis understood this when he commented on the importance of imagination and faith:

Someday you'll be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

Rich Mullins, whom I love to quote, comments in a similar vein, "We have sinned, and grown old." (Click below to read more.)

Speaking of the old Clive Staples, he relates his own conversion along these same lines.

A comment that JRR made in one of their conversations caught CS's attention. It isn't," said Tolkien, "that the myths are false; its that they are not true enough."

Tolkien believed that Christianity is the one true myth, the story where the princess REALLY DOES get rescued by the prince, who, tragically, dies in battle.

But, in the Christian "myth," since it is the one true "myth," our prince actually lives!

Reading the Bible as story opens up an avenue of learning and instruction, even growth, that many evangelicals neglect. It is a means of discipleship, even.

Much afoot in the Christian world today about the power of story. Some of it is off track, even unorthodox.

But reading the Bible's narrative as a "redemptive arc," with a beginning, middle, and end, is historic, a crucial discipline of faith, and for many, a meaningful corrective in an overly systematized approach to knowledge.

Some believers have followed this route in their own Bible reading; have you ever tried reading the Bible chronologically? I haven't, and hope to do so this year.

I've been inspired by this church's use of "story" as they think in terms of making story-formed disciples. In fact, so inspiring has this been for me personally that I'm encouraging our church's small group ministry, which we're calling "Gospel Communities" to use the Story of God.

I'm reminded of my pastor and professor, John Frame, and how he taught about the three perspsectives in seminary. I want to thank Dr. Frame for his instruction, example, and insight into how people are called to be whole disciples.

Whole disciples ("...teaching them to obey all that I commanded you...") is the goal of our new church community, as well.

My prayer is that these True Stories--really, they're just Scripture paraphrases--read by friends and neighbors in their own small settings, will not only help believers, but also non-believers, to grow in faith.

In growing, we will learn about our Great God, and (ultimately) find ourselves...first repenting for trying to "write our own story," and second, by God's grace, grateful and enthusiastic players in God's story in the world today.