OUR STORY

              

                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."