It’s
the fourth of July – a day to remember the birth of our nation. Lately, I have
been reading biographies of presidents and other important figures present during
the early years of our nation. These stories have helped me understand more
fully who we are as Americans.
Stories
play a powerful role in our lives. They entertain and teach us. They preserve
culture and pass on cultural knowledge from one generation to another. Perhaps
the greatest role that stories play in our lives is that they form and reveal
who we are. Stories form and express our beliefs and values. Stories create and
shape our world view and can also change it.
I heard
while living in Oklahoma that many years ago a Native American child was taken
to his grandmother’s home and left with her for several days. She spent that
time telling him stories, the stories of his people. He went there, not
thinking about who he was; he left there knowing he was a Kiowa.
Stories
come out of our past, out of what has already happened. Which is why history is
so important. Psalm 105 and several others demonstrate how important Israel’s
history was to it. Psalm 105 opens with a series of imperatives: “Give thanks
to the Lord, call on his name … make known his deeds … sing praises to him …
tell of all his wondrous works … glory in his holy name … seek the Lord …
remember the wonderful works he has done.”
“Remember!”
it says, and then proceeds to tell Israel’s story, beginning with the covenant
God made with Abraham and continuing with their time in Egypt and the
miraculous Exodus.
Why was
it important, centuries later, for Jewish families to tell Israel’s story over
and over again? Why was it important for Israel to periodically re-enact that
story during elaborate feasts and festivals? Because that story made them and
told them who they were. It gave them their way of life, their ethics, their
faith, and set the direction for their journey in the world.
The
story of God’s saving acts throughout history, culminating in the coming of
Jesus, the master storyteller, has become our story. 1 Peter 2:9-10 uses
ancient texts from Israel’s story to summarize how that story identifies us
with these words: You are a chosen nation a royal priesthood, a holy nation
his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light; who once were not a people but are
now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
The
Lord’s Supper is one of the stories that identify us as those who have been
chosen, have received mercy, and now are the people of God. We acknowledge that
now as we make our confession of faith.
"I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God
and my Lord and Savior."
