Story Shapes Life
A year of learning to see and participate in God's Story
through Scripture, history and culture.
In 1788, Rev. Raymund Harris published this tract: “Scriptural researches on the licitness of the slave trade[…].” And in it, he said this:
"The [Revealed] Decisions of God have positively declared that the Slave-Trade is intrinsically good and licit, [and that the holding of slaves] is perfectly consonant to the principles of the Law of Nature, the Mosaic Dispensation, and the Christian Law." Slavery has "the positive sanction of God in its support."
There was a time in my life when what I wanted in a spouse was – essentially – a female version of myself. I would never have described what I wanted this way but it caused all kinds of problems when – while in college – I was spending a lot of time with an incredible young woman who – though she liked me and I liked her – didn’t fit that picture I was carrying around of what I wanted. About a year later – after that girl finally had enough and told me to never talk to her again – I met someone who fit the image I had in my mind, this female version of myself. She was driven, spontaneous and a little bit of a troublemaker...
“Every time someone tells a story and tells it well and truly, the gospel is served.” But why? And how? Why and how does storytelling serve the gospel? The good news that God in Christ
creates, God in Christ saves, God in Christ rules? As the author of the quote would say,
“Out of the chaos of incident and accident, story-making words bring light, coherence and connection, meaning and value.” – Eugene Peterson, “Pastors and Novels”, Subversive Spirituality, 187.
