A Likely Story: Reclaiming and Applying the Story of the Bible

Dedications

Who knows if I’ll get the opportunity to write another book, so I’m going to take full advantage and dedicate this to a few people, all of whom have had a direct influence on everything to follow on these pages.

To my family:

My beautiful wife, Michelle

for providing me with a fairy-tale story of my own, and for inspiring me

to want to write a better story for you everyday.

My favourite guitar player, Ceilidh

for reminding me that the best stories are often musical in nature.

My compassionate warrior, Noah

for teaching me that the stories with the most unexpected endings can be the most meaningful.

To my former pastors:

Rev. Dr. Devin Seghers

from whom I borrowed/stole  the sermon-starting question, ‘May I tell you a story?’

Rev. Randy McCooeye

for showing me, in word and action, just how deep the story goes.

Rev. Chris Stefanidis

for illustrating, in the very best way, thatt some of the most effective stories

are the ones that make us the most uncomfortable ... and for being brave enough to tell those stories.

And of course,

To my Risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ

For being the Master Storyteller, the point of every true story,

and the focus of the story of life.

Table of Contents

Introduction (or Don’t Skip This Part of the Story)       

Chapter 1: The First Family (or the Broken Ties That Bind)     

Chapter 2: It’s Not Always About You

(or Why Being Second Banana isn’t so Bad)     

Chapter 3: Intentional Self-Deception 

(or The Prophet of Profit and the Journey on a Jenny)      

Chapter 4: Whale Interiors 

(or the Dangers of Running from our Problems)       

Chapter 5: You’ve got a Friend in Me

(or Why the Life of Faith isn’t Meant to be Lived Alone)    

Chapter 6:  Can’t Stand the Heat? Get into the Furnace

(or How Four Guys Show us How to Cope with Culture)    

Chapter 7: So You Can’t Stand the Prime Minister/President/Ruler/Leader

(or Praying for our Enemies/Opponents)      

Chapter 8: The Screenplay Gospel

(or Why Mark’s Gospel is So Important)         

Chapter 9: Unintentional Streaking

(or Worth Losing your Pants over)           

Chapter 10: The Days of Wine and Withered Fig Trees

(or Failing to Deliver on Promises)        

Chapter 11: Rash Decisions Rarely Pan Out

(or How Confidence can Peter out)         

Chapter 12: The Same Sun that Melts the Wax, Hardens Clay

(or Why some Believe and some Don’t)        

Chapter 13: Love Wins  (or the Importance of the Cross)    

Afterword: After the words, The Word

(or Why you should be asking, ‘May I tell you a story?’)     

Introduction

or

Please Don’t Skip

this Part of the Story

IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT that you woke up one morning, took a look at the recent economic news and unemployment numbers and decided that you suddenly had a better ending for John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’

Or perhaps, after solving the great mystery of who keeps putting the milk container back into the fridge with less than a millimetre of milk in it, you decide you should offer the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle your two cents ... or shillings ... worth of improvements to the endings of the Sherlock Holmes tales.

Both of these situations are, of course, both ridiculous and ludicrous, but there is another story, a far greater story, a far more important story, with an endless barrage of voices trying to rewrite the ending.

That story is the story of the church, the story of the living Bride of Christ.

For the last number of years, there has been a steady stream of articles, pontifications and proclamations all predicting the imminent death of the church.

Those who may only have a superficial understanding of the story, and the power, of the church can be forgiven for their early prognosis of death for the church. After all, with all of the evident problems of the church these days, you don’t have to be a medical examiner to realize that something is wrong, that something is sick.

But sick is a long, long way from dead ... as thousands of hospital-bound patients will gratefully attest.

However, we on the inside of the church, we need to be patient with the social and religious critics who are a little too eager to see the Bride of Christ buried and forgotten. It reminds me of that famous, hilarious, Monty Python scene in ‘The Quest for the Holy Grail.’ Bring out your dead, calls the undertaker pulling his body cart through the streets. A frail senior citizen is about to be unceremoniously dumped onto the pile on the cart. Wait, I’m not dead yet, comes the weak cry from the weak old man. He says he’s not dead, Eric Idle’s character says to the senior-disposing John Cleese.

He will be soon. Can’t you just take him now? comes the reply.

If we, as those within the church, are honest with ourselves, we’ll have to admit that to the outsider (or like the Cleese character, to those who are just tired of the church), we may appear to be on our last legs.

The stories of massive numbers of churches closing, the statistically significant number of those claiming no religious affiliation (the Nones), punctuated by a seemingly endless string of high-profile pastoral and leadership failures certainly all give the critic a strong opening stance for their argument.

But critics often make the mistake of assuming that the frail, broken, sinful members of the church are the authors of the story of the church, and that’s just not true! While those members definitely shape the way the story is presented to the world around us, the author of the story of the church is the One who envisioned her, formed her and died for her - Jesus Christ ... and because Christ is the author, the story continues, and the church continues until the Bridegroom returns for His Bride as confirmed for us in the book of Revelation.

So, our future is certain. The story is still being written by an unshakeable, divine hand, but those criticisms are valid. Idle’s undertaker may not be at our door, but we can be forgiven for thinking we can hear the faint echoes of his cart on the cobblestone streets outside our churches. However, we need not despair. As 2 Tim. 1:7 tells us, God has not given to us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and soberness of mind.

I love the phrase soberness of mind. It speaks to clarity of thought, and control of our thinking. I believe that Paul also chose his words very carefully in writing to young Timothy, wanting him to know that this soberness of thought comes first from a position of power, and a place of love. Again, doesn’t that sound just like the Lord Jesus?

We don’t need to fear the premature ending of the story of the church, but with power and love, the power and love of Jesus Christ, we must begin to address those symptoms that lead so many around us to flag down the undertaker’s cart as they hear it approaching. But how do we do that? How do we reacquaint those both within and without the church of her strength and vitality?

We do this by realizing that we are now living in an age and time when we have three, maybe four generations of entirely unchurched people. When I was a child, almost everyone had some connection to church - even if it was just for the big holidays of Christmas and Easter. The Roman Catholic kids all knew each other, and we were aware that the other kids attended Protestant churches and public schools. Church was still part of the cultural identification for people in our communities ... but that’s just not the case today. So while we cultivated a shared understanding of religious ritual (with clear variations, of course), we also shared a common language and experience, the language of our faith stories.

Sadly, that segment of our collective language, the stories of faith, aren’t as well known today. The church must reclaim this reliance on story. We are people of the greatest story ever told, yet so many around us are unfamiliar with this story. But, it’s worse than that. People who consider themselves to be part of the church are unsure about the story, and reluctant to tell the story of the One who is love, the One who conquered death, and the One who is the Master Storyteller.

We have to reclaim the power of Story. It’s not coincidental that our Jesus, the greatest teacher and preacher of all time, relied on story so heavily in connecting with his audience. He knew the life-changing power of Story. He knew that taking deeply held spiritual truths and wrapping them in tales of both the familiar, and the foreign, resonated with people. In fact, his stories and parables were so well crafted, so true, that they still resonate with people today, people far removed from the cultural, social and economic realities of Jesus’ first audiences and congregations.

It’s not co-incidental that the Gospel of John begins telling the story of Jesus and his stories by identifying Jesus as the Word. As words are the very building blocks of story, Jesus’s story is the foundation of all life.

As that is true, the stories of Scripture still resonate when they are told today. We learn so much about our contemporary lives, and how to interpret the events of this time in the timeless stories of the Old and New Testaments - stories of love, anger, responsibility and avoiding responsibility, of leadership and friendship.

Qoheleth, the writer of Ecclesiastes, tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul famously writes that all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 

Therefore, it’s time again to follow the lead of our Lord, to reacquaint ourselves and others with the power of story, so that we might share the truths that so many around us need to hear.

It’s time to reclaim our story by telling our story, never forgetting that truly, it is the greatest story ever told! That’s why I’ve titled this book, A Likely Story. Usually that phrase is a negative term, one that denotes disbelief, as in: Sure, that’s a likely story. Not only is the Christian story as revealed in the pages of the Bible the defining story of human history, it is, without any negative inference, a likely story ... and as I will highlight in the pages to come, it is a highly likeable story.

My final introductory comment is an important one. When I use, as I have been doing, the word ‘story’, it’s crucial that we understand that this is not meant to be interpreted as a fictional tale or a myth. I’m grateful that my pre-ministry career was in journalism, which is where I first developed my love of story. Everyday, journalists and readers dive deep into the truth of the story ... and I write this with all certainty, that there is no truer, no more important story than the story of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the story of God involved in the lives of his creation, and the story of the Holy Spirit revealing the truth and love of the Trinity to all people.

Now, may I tell you a story?

Chapter 1

The First Family

Or

The (Broken) Ties That Bind

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have produced a man with the help of the Lord. Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Cain said to his brother Abel, Let us go out to the field. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? He said, I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper? And the Lord said, What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!

- Genesis 4:1-10 NRSV

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