Dear Friends in Christ,

A recent Alban Institute article suggests there is great relevance both in the overall story of a Congregation and in individual stories of people within a congregation. And, indeed, contrary to societal myth, the Biblical witness is not about law. The Biblical witness is about story. It is the story of God and humanity and the process of the covenant between God and humanity.

Jews celebrate the founding story of that covenant, the Exodus, in their homes each Sabbath. Their tradition is also laced with rabbinical midrash— story telling based on Biblical stories.

Early Christians put the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus into the story forms of preaching, liturgy and a unique genre called the Gospels. (Some scholars claim the Gospels are midrash!) Narrative forms and storytelling are second nature to local congregations. But this is also to say story is important. It is how people really communicate.

American popular culture has learned to exploit stories in powerful ways. Hollywood and Broadway have capitalized on stories of faith in classics like The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964) and on television in the hit series Touched by an Angel (1994–2003). Public tragedies bring an outpouring of popular sentiment often in stories intertwined with religious themes— as in the death of Princess Diana in 1997 or the aftermath of 9/11.

While popular culture recognizes the power of faith stories to address modern life, many churches have yet to recognize the potential of their own local narrative. In fact, the ongoing story of local churches and the story of the people within the churches can revitalize and rejuvenate and redirect.

This is the obvious question: ‘How can stories help?’

The playwright Paul Auster writes this: “Stories happen to people who are able to tell them.” If people do not tell their stories, he insists, “stuff happens” to them. When people give voice to their own story, then they “happen” to “stuff.”

Indeed, people who learn to shape life experiences into narrative find meaning. Meaning empowers response.

Some might argue that forming narratives is hard. But I think what makes telling our stories seem hard is we see too much Hollywood/Broadway story telling. We all think we have to live up to some kind of entertainment standard. Some of us, but especially our young people, are proving that assumption wrong.

The explosion of virtual communities online in places like Facebook, blogs and Twitter is, in fact, a place where new communities are constantly being built. These are communities in which one’s own story is told and constructed day by day.

Further, these are nonspatial communities. Hence, they do not have the advantage we have in church. We meet regularly. We are able to look into each others eyes and tell our story.

All of which is to say we need to keep telling our stories to one another. Does one of us have a sister who fell and broke her arm (as I did)? We can talk about that. And we can pray about that.

Does one of us have a child whose behavior does not always fall into the category “appropriate behavior?” We can talk about that. We can pray about that.
Does one of us have an aging parent about whom we are worried? We can talk about that. We can pray about that.

Story, you see, is not just about the overarching narrative. Story is not just about what this church did in 1876 or in 1956 or in 1986. Story is about what we did yesterday and today and how that will lead us into tomorrow.

So, the stories we tell each and need to tell each other in church are not just about our past. The stories we tell each and need to tell each other in church have to be about who we are now and who we love now. This story, today’s story, needs to be about how we feel life is treating us now. This story needs to be about how we intend to respond now.

In the end, these narratives, these stories lead us back to one place. It is the one place we need to be as individuals and as the community of faith known as the United Church of Christ, First Congregational of Norwich. That place coincides with the central message we hear in the Gospel: love God; love neighbor. After all, that’s the place— covenant— to which all story should return, is it not?

Let me again stress that telling our story is not as hard as we might think. Besides, as far as I know, there are only two ways to fail. Failure happens only when two phrases are uttered: “I can’t” or “I won’t.”

See you in church. Let us share our stories there.

In Faith,

Joe Connolly