Pastor’s Pen | June 2024
Towards the close of 2023, the congregation council articulated a vision for our community: “Telling the Story.”
When we began thinking about this vision and how it would direct us in 2024, we were, primarily, focused on celebrating 10 years as an organized congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). For the first quarter of the year, “Telling the Story” related to remembering the last 10 years of our shared ministry: the people whose gifts deeply shaped us, the pivotal moments that defined us as a community, and celebrating God who has accompanied us in this journey of faith.
In the months since our anniversary celebration, the vision has expanded beyond our collective congregational story. Council has been considering how we tell God’s story in worship and Bible study. We’ve wondered how this vision teases out our individual stories. How are we sharing our stories? Our faith stories with one another and with our neighbors? Do we feel equipped and empowered to share our faith stories?
During the 2024 Grand Canyon Synod Assembly, a colleague, the Rev. Tina Mills of Our Savior’s Lutheran in Mesa led a workshop titled: “Telling Your Faith Story.” In her workshop, she showed us how any story can be transformed into a faith story. She led us through a storytelling exercise in which we identified a time when we felt lost. She had us consider the following questions to build our story:
Where were you going?
When did you realize you were lost?
Describe the setting: what did you see, hear, smell, feel?
How did you feel? What did you think? How was it resolved?
In 5 sentences, we were to share our story with a “reasonably friendly-looking stranger.” It was an easy enough exercise.
The second step, though, added a layer of intrigue. She invited the group to name stories in scripture in which someone became lost (e.g. the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years; Jonah; the Prodigal Son, etc.) and then relate this story from scripture to our own story.
The last step was a zinger: what was God up to when you were lost?
All of a sudden, a simple story of being lost became an opportunity to reflect on God’s steadfast presence. A simple story became a sharable story about our faith.
Pastor Tina’s workshop illustrated that our stories, our faith stories in particular, can be sources of comfort, encouragement and hope for someone else. We don’t need elaborate stories. We don’t need a lighting bolt from heaven kind of story. The simple stories from our ordinary lives will do.
We only need to ask and reflect: “What was God up to?”
What is God up to in your life, beloved children of God? How is God showing up and guiding you in your daily life? As we journey through the summer, I invite you to bring this question with you. For God is near to you. God is working through your story to bring comfort, compassion, healing, hope, and encouragement.
Thanks be to God!
Pastor Beth