What story am I in?
Telling the story of the Bible as the true and better narrative in which to understand God, ourselves, each other, and this world.
Human beings are “story creatures”. We are invariably attracted to, shaped inside of, and animated by the stories we hear and internalize and those that we tell. We cannot help but live out of the stories we find most deeply compelling, even if we are not consciously aware of this compulsion. It follows, then, that the story of life inside God’s Kingdom naturally conflicts with many of the alternate stories that we believe about ourselves, others, and the world. These stories are often unknowingly providing us with answers to some of the deepest questions of our hearts, questions like “Where have I come from?”, “Who am I?”, “What is my purpose?” and “Where am I going?” The Christian faith is not just a set of ideas to be ascribed to, but a story of the world—its good beginning, tragedy, and restoration—in which we find ourselves.
Listen
“What Story Am I In?” — The Rev. Dan Marotta
“Teaching Our Children the Story” — The Rev. Dan Marotta
Read
A Walk Through the Bible by Leslie Newbigin
The Drama of Scripture by Bartholomew & Goheen
The Mission of God by Christopher JH Wright
Concise Theology by J. I. Packer
Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley
The Drama of Scripture by Craig G. Bartholomew
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Simply Christian by N. T. Wright
To Be A Christian by J. I. Packer
Reading Black Books by Claude Atcho
Tending the Heart of Virtue by Vigen Guroian
A Landscape with Dragons by Michael O’Brien
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
Practice
Join a Redeemer Small Group.
Register for Redeemer’s Foundation Class.
Daily Bible Reading. (Consider using the Lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer, which assigns various texts to each day of the year.)
Read great fictional stories.
Avoid beginning and ending every day with your smartphone and choose not to binge-watch tv shows and movies whose narratives tell a false story about the meaning of happiness, love, life, joy, etc.
Artwork: The Arc of Noah, Ivanka Demchuk
