Telling – and Living Out – the Greatest Story

We are storytelling creatures – creating meaning out of our experience. Let’s explore some of the ways we go about consciously and unconsciously creating such meaning (the How) and the ways in which our stories shape and transform our past, present, and future (the Why). I look forward to a time together to tell and listen to each other’s stories.

We’ll focus on a series of six Biblical stories throughout the season of Lent:

1. Creation stories
2. Abrahamic Covenant
3. To King or Not to King: Samuel and Saul
4. Women Stories/Places: Deborah, Esther, and Tamar
5. Job: The Original Story
6. Jeremiah’s Vision

Here are some quotes from several stories that have nourished me of late…

[Religion is] storytelling. You’re right. I guess the question is do these stories convince us of a lie? Or do they resonate with something deep inside us that’s profoundly true? That we can’t express any other way… except storytelling? (Fr. Jud Duplenticy)
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

A good story goes beyond what a forgiving God is willing to do. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

But then it does the opposite. You write it down so others can read it and then it can grow. You nail it to a moment so it can pass through time. A book is just a foundation, like us. you write it down to build a foundation. Our love, our magic fairytale love is what supports the rest of it. It doesn’t mean kids can’t grow, of course it doesn’t. But it lays down a place for them to do it from. That’s what story is for. This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel

I don’t write the story; I only nudge it in different directions.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern

Be careful what stories you tell yourself.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern

“Who are the stars?” is the question Zachary has thought before but not yet asked aloud… Simon stares at him and blinks. “We are the stars,” he answers, as though it is the most obvious of facts afloat in a sea of metaphors and misdirections. “We are all stardust and stories.” The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern

The old me would have needed to look like I had my house in order. But I have no house and there is no order. This life of ours is like flowing water and we’re all floating in the grip of something bigger that we can’t really control anyway.
Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III

He thought photographs were nothing more than the murder of moments in time. Death in the Air by Ram Murali