Editorial

Telling Stories, Being Known

Have you ever stopped to consider how much we love to tell stories? 

I love it. I step out of my office and head out into the yard on my way to chat to someone or visit a class and inevitably, someone tells me a story. “Mrs Dempsey, guess what we did on the weekend”, “did you know that I have a new dog”, “my sister is sick”, “Mr Chamberlain stood on one of the desks in the classroom…” all true stories that I have heard during the past week. Stories help us connect to one another and they are important for us to feel like we belong. They help us to feel heard and they help us to be known. Stories often illustrate the joy in our lives and sometimes, they reflect our struggles. The story about the “new dog” is possibly the follow up story to a pet who died, or it could be the story of hope of a family who have wanted a dog for a long time. We get to discover this, through hearing these stories and contributing our joy and excitement to them. 

There’s a wonderful psychologist by the name of Curt Thompson, who is interested in helping people understand the importance of being known. Being known by God and being known by others. Thompson suggests that being known by others, helps us to glimpse what God hopes for us, how He knows us. Thompson says in his book, The Soul of Shame, “We are storytellers. We yearn to tell and hear stories of goodness and beauty, and this is the echo of God’s intention. We long for our stories to be about joy, not just reflections of what we believe but of who we are, who we long to be…”

At the heart of our stories is that desire for someone else to know me that little bit more. To trust me, to interact and connect with me. If you think about it, we tell stories as soon as we can communicate. In our Kindergarten, a little boy was determined to tell me just how much he loves dinosaurs. They make him feel good, they brighten his day, they make him feel safe and he wanted to share that with someone else. I was the lucky listener! 

The truth is that there are lots of stories out there that distract us from the most important story, God’s story. It’s the intersection of our story, with God’s story that means that we can experience God’s good intention for us. God’s story, his desire for us to be saved, rescued, loved and cherished can be easily missed when we get distracted by the stories that are loud and demanding. For me, the stories on social media, mediocre movies, and reality television make pretty good attempts at hijacking God’s story. What are the things that get in the way for you?

As we navigate the rest of this term together, let’s listen to each other’s stories. Let’s listen for how God’s story intersects with our stories and let’s get to know each other better.