Stories
are an important part of any culture – they educate, they entertain, they
communicate ideas, they preserve history. People tend to like a good story. It’s
why we tell stories to one another, why we listen when people are telling them,
why we write them down and read them. We
act out stories, we put stories to music, we dance or paint or sculpt our
stories. However we express it, we are storytellers.
The
reality, of course, is that some people are better storytellers than others.
Some stories are more captivating than others. And that’s normal. Those are the
stories that tend to follow a few tricks that make a story GOOD, a few
components that make a story memorable.
First
off, there’s a theme, a moral or lesson that the story is trying to convey.
Then there’s a plot, an action of sorts. The structure tells how we’re hearing
the story – are we hearing it as the character, or as an observer? And
characters – well, we need memorable folks to whom we can relate. So too, we
need to know our setting – the ‘where’ and ‘when’ the story is happening. And we
need some style, some emotion in how we’re hearing the story.
So
what happens when a story has those components? Simply put, we like it. We
enjoy reading or hearing it; we want to share it with other people, we want to
return again and again to that story, to make it part of our own story. French
author François Mauriac stated: “Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who
you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you
reread.”
And
tonight we’re celebrating a story that we have all read and reread, a story
that meets all those parts of a good story, a story that helps to define who we
are. People know who we are by what we read, people know us better because we
reread tonight’s Gospel story.
So
let’s think about this beautiful Christmas story from Luke.
It
has a theme – God’s promises will always be realised. Whether it’s the promise
of finding a child or the promise to all of us of a Saviour, God keeps his
promises for us all.
It has a plot – and what a plot it has –
increasing government taxation through a census, a new romance with a bit of a
scandal (unwed mother!), a dangerous journey ending with a dramatic birth, an
angelic visitation and prophecy to secondary characters who then undertake
their own journey – PHEW! This is all in 20 verses. 17 sentences. In today’s
literature, that’s a whole novel’s plot, maybe even a serial. It’s a storyline
that catches our attention and draws us in – there is a lot of action going on,
and we’re easily engaged and want to learn more. This is a biblical
page-turner, if you will.
The
structure flows from an external observer, but we get to hear some great
dialogue as the plot rapidly progresses across scenes that are converging. We get a feel for how the story is going from
the details of the era and the setting, we relate to the characters because we
hear their words in direct quotes – we can almost imagine what their voices
sound like. Was the angel male or female? I bet your mind heard one or the
other as I was reading the gospel – and if it didn’t, it’s thinking about it
now!
Our
main characters, Mary and Joseph, are ordinary folks called to extraordinary
things. Mary shifts from being the pregnant betrothed to the new mother – and she
remains silent throughout. Joseph is the faithful husband-to-be, who comes from
a historic lineage but is clearly not of great means – worst case, people with
lots of money would likely have been offered the innkeepers rooms for
themselves and their entourage had there been no room; and a stable certainly
would not have been sufficient. The secondary characters are so common that we
don’t even get to know their names – we just know that there are shepherds. And
they are visited by an angel with a message who is then joined by a whole choir
of other angels. The shepherds’ role, their common ministry, is to receive and
repeat the message; this is important enough that they ignore their earthly
responsibilities in the fields to go with haste to the town.
We
can relate to these characters – and their actions. We too have to follow
government legislations and taxation, even if it’s not always convenient. We
too have journeyed, have stayed at less-than-ideal places, have made do with
what we could find. We’ve met new people unexpectedly, we’ve been approached by
strangers who we can recognise have been put in our path temporarily for a
particular purpose. We too have a
ministry to exercise that will help demonstrate God’s glory to the world, we
too have a role in a greater story where we may not even be named. Government
employees are civil servants, innkeepers are hospitality specialists, shepherds
are farmers. Husbands, mothers, singers. Yup, we can relate to these people.
The setting for our story is equally
indistinct. Mary and Joseph have gone to Bethlehem, a main city. We don’t know
anything about the inn that turns them away; we know nothing about which stable
they are in as the child is born. Our shepherds are out ‘in the fields’, though
which fields we never learn. It could be anywhere. It could be a cheap motel in
the city; it could be a barn in the prairies. If it could happen there, it
could happen here. Maybe it looked just like our own fields… hmm. As for
timing, it was during Quirinius’ rule over Judea, which lasted 7 years – again,
the details are a big ambiguous to allow our own creativity to fill in the
blanks in a way that will make it personal to us.
There
is definitely some style in this Christmas story. There’s an emotional grab
that hooks us right in and stays with us. We hear the story and are drawn into
it; we hear it again and are drawn to another part of the same story. We’re
connected to this good news because it is a living reality for us. This is not
just words on a page, this is not just a story in a book, this is a part of who
we are.
The
fact that we reread it time and again means that we WANT to be drawn into the
story. We WANT to engage with the message that is being given. We WANT
desperately to hear the “good news of great joy” the angels promise. We WANT to
live our lives knowing that this message was given “for all the people” – and that
we’re included in that. We WANT to reread this story because it speaks to us – as
it has spoken to everyone who has heard it for more than 2000 years – of a
direct connection that is personal, unique, astounding. We WANT to hear how God
continues to give to each and every one of us, in this day and age, the great
gift of his Son. “[T]o YOU is born this day in the city of
David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
And
so this great story is the greatest story ever told, because it never ends. As
many times as this story is told, it is lived. It is lived when we put
ourselves into the story, and carry it with us into the world. It is lived when
we reread the story and remind ourselves that we too are being invited to seek
out the Christ-child in our midst. It is lived when we reread the story and celebrate
our own ministry, our own involvement in God’s great creation. It is lived when
we reread the story and joyfully declare to the world – at Christmas and for
all times – "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among
those whom he favours!"
No comments:
Post a Comment