Tell Me a Story!

God made man and woman, because God loves stories.  

Hebrew Midrash

Tell me a story! When Donnie was little, this request often came at bedtime. But it also came at the dinner table and while on long drives. To this day, telling stories is one of our favorite family activities.

We tell of how we long awaited and anticipated her birth. We share in detail the day she was born (nine days late on my birthday) when Drs. Jose and Maria, father and daughter, fought over who got to deliver her. The father won! We describe the snowstorm that blanketed New York and Connecticut on the weekend of her baptism. We report how people came from near and far, in spite of the snow, to celebrate her birth and participate in her baptism. We talk about God's call to make the journey our home, a journey that has taken us from Connecticut and New York to Pittsburgh, San Diego, and now Ohio.

Not only does Donnie love to hear the stories of her life, but those of her parents, her grandparents, her aunts and uncles and cousins. For in the telling, she knows that she belongs. She knows she is loved and a part of something greater than herself.

But as precious as those stories are, they cannot be fully understood apart from knowing the story of God's love for her and for all creation. As John the Baptist reminds us: "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life (John 3:16, The Message).

This is the story that informs her-and our-story. It is the story that gives her life meaning and purpose and direction. This is the story that helps her make sense of life's complexity and challenge. By this story, she knows that her core identity rests in Christ alone. She knows that as she walks in his path her character will reflect the fruit of the Spirit.

As psychologist Daniel Siegel notes, the "sharing of stories reflects the central importance of narratives in creating coherence in human life and connecting our minds to each other. Stories are passed from one generation to another and help keep the human soul alive" (The Developing Mind).

We are a storied people. As the old Hebrew midrash tells us: God made us because God loves stories.   What are the stories that have shaped you and made you who you are today? What stories of scripture best inform your understanding of who and whose you are in Christ?

Advent blessings and love!

Holy Habit: Telling Stories

Now, with God's help, I shall become myself. Sören Kierkegaard

There is an old saying: "You are what you eat." The same is true of memory: we are what we remember. The stories of our life and faith provide the bridge between who we are and who God is calling us to become. If we are to grow up into maturity in Christ, we need to know our story-born out of the intersection of our life's journey and God's Word to us.

This Advent, take time to remember who and whose you are. As you gather with those you love, share the stories that make you who you are. And then share The Story! Read through the stories of Jesus' birth found in Luke and Matthew... and give thanks!

The Birth Narratives

Matthew 1-2

Luke 1-2

From the Stated Clerk's Desk      December 13, 2012

Tributes are pouring in as Presbyterians and people of faith around the world learn that Ruling Elder Cynthia (Cindy) Bolbach died yesterday in hospice care after many months of treatment for cancer. Cindy was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for a 2-year term at the 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis in 2010.

Among her many gifts was an incredible sense of humor which she used often to defuse tense situations and to disarm those who disagreed with her. That God-given gift helped her to not take herself and her position as moderator too seriously.   She valued inclusiveness, diversity, love for neighbor and stranger-she was an ardent yet humble disciple of Christ.

One of the many stories being shared about Cindy involved her response to a question that was asked of all of the moderator candidates in the opening plenary gathering of the General Assembly in Minneapolis: what will happen if you are not elected moderator? After the other candidates spoke graciously about how they would take defeat, Cindy replied: "There will be utter chaos." As the old theater saying goes: she brought down the house. She was elected and went on to serve with "...energy, intelligence, imagination and love."

Although weakened by cancer and seated in a wheelchair, Cindy preached a magnificent sermon during the opening worship service at the 220^th General Assembly in Pittsburgh this past summer. Her text was the New Testament story of the people who carried a paralyzed man to the house when Jesus was teaching and cut a hole in the roof of the house so the man could be brought before Jesus. Cindy shared how she was being carried to Jesus by the unceasing prayers of friends as well as those who knew only her name and position. She encouraged all of us who attended the service to be alert to the times when each of us can bring someone to Jesus.

Breaking news:    Cynthia Bolbach dies

Cynthia Bolbach, a lawyer, ruling elder and moderator of the 2010 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), died Dec. 12 of cancer, less than a year after being diagnosed, less than six months after completing her moderatorial term. 

Tributes bubbled up immediately from across the PC(USA) - praising Bolbach for her integrity and graciousness, her fair-mindedness, her hard labor at all levels of the church (including as a member of the task force which drafted the new Form of Government) and her oh-so-quick wit.

Mark Koenig, director of Presbyterian ministry at the United Nations, wrote in his blog that when Bolbach was asked during the question-and-answer session before her election in 2010 what would happen if she were not chosen, responded essentially: "There will be utter chaos," and the whole assembly guffawed.

This was the moderator who, during the opening worship of the 2012 assembly, showed up to preach wearing a fedora - surrounded by an entourage of friends wearing green wigs. She spoke of courage and faith, saying: "I do not believe the PC(USA) is paralyzed."

She preached from the gospel of Mark, about the men who lifted up the paralyzed man to see Jesus. Bolbach said that "while struggling with cancer, I have been uplifted and supported by those disciples. Many disagree with me, but they have reached out to help me to the roof, and carried me to see Jesus....  

"None of [our disagreements] matter without disciples who are willing to take risks for the sake of the gospel. Let's not worry about process and structure; instead, let's pray that we will be given the faith that Jesus saw in those disciples. Let's commit ourselves to be those disciples who will take risks, who will carry others up to the roof....   

"If we commit ourselves to lift someone we don't know, someone we don't like, we will soar on wings like eagles, we will run and not grow weary, we will walk and not grow faint because we will be helping people see Jesus. What more could we ask for?"

In an interview with the Outlook last summer, Bolbach spoke of her gratitude for those who continued praying for her. "I want to say` thank you' for those prayers," Bolbach said in June. "They have really uplifted me over these past few months and have made such a difference to me. It brought home to me that the denomination is a community of faith just as much as a congregation"

Landon Whitsitt, now the executive and stated clerk of the Synod of Mid-America, served as vice-moderator of the 219th General Assembly - nominated by Bolbach to serve with her. He posted this prayer on Facebook after learning of her death.

Goodbye, Madame Moderator.