The Importance of Story

I was thinking about the importance of story.  I was watching the newest Star Trek that came out a while back.  It is the remake of the original series of Star Trek movies.  As I watched, I was captivated by the back story of James T. Kirk and of Spock.  Amidst all the special effects and nostalgia of the movie, it is the story of the people that drew me in.  One could not help to be pulled in to the opening sequence of George Kirk piloting his ship into the enemy craft to save his wife and newly born son, James.  While Spock showed no visable emotion when his mother died, I certainly wanted to.  It was exciting to see Leonard Nimoy reprise his role of Spock (from the future) during the movie.  In contrast, what made Transformers 2 such a bust was the lack of emotional connection with the story.  While the movie had great special effects and I loved seeing the Transformers come to life, the story was lacking.

In the Church, we cannot ignore the importance of story.  While this is certainly nothing new, as Church
leaders we must continue to tap into the rich stories that reside in our communities.  As Christians, we are each invited to participate in God's grand narrative.  From Genesis we can see how God has been at work redeeming creation- leading to the Incarnation of Christ, to the Cross and the resurrection.  We now live in the days where we wait God's full redemption of Creation- and have a role to play in this great story.

In great and small ways, people in our communities are living out this grand narrative of God.  Just as a great movie draws in the viewers- the stories of God's redemptive work has the ability to speak to those who have heard of God's saving love for humanity.  We need to tell the story- the story of Christ and the Cross, and our own stories of how our lives have been transformed by the cross.

What are some effective ways that the story of God's love and the transformation of lives has been shared?