I’ve been away for a while. Sorry. I needed a break from writing “Meditations…” to finish a book. Back now, I hope ‘new and improved.’ CTK
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Powerful stories grab us in ways that statistics and issues do not. Powerful stories guide us in ways that doctrine fails to. The phrase, "tell me a story," has been called the most important invitation in the world. The legendary television producer Don Hewitt, used this phrase to guide the journalists on 60 Minutes. "The people who wrote the Bible were smart enough to know ‘tell me a story,’" he said in an interview. "The issue was evil in the world; the story was Noah."
So, here’s a little personal story about a God and a pelican:
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When my wife, Leanne, and I were in our 20s, we taught Sunday School at the First Presbyterian Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. The sixth graders thought the curriculum boring, so we brainstormed alternatives. "What if we ask the youngsters to find images of God at work in the world," we thought?
Cheap disposable cameras had just come on the market, and we provided each student a camera. The the assignment: photographing images of God's working and building a story around what they found.
The results were striking. Of course, there were the expected photos of puppies, kittens, and Florida sunsets. There were pictures of leaves, grandmothers, and favorite beaches and parks. Everything pictured was ordinary, yet the youngsters found the holy in them. That was the story; that was the lesson. God is everywhere.
Why recall a half century old Sunday School lesson? Because because it created a powerful story. Children photographed evidence of what Quakers hold as a central conviction: “That of God in Everyone.” And everything.
One child found God in a brown pelican. They sit on pilings and piers along the west coast of Florida. When hunger, inspiration, on instinct strikes, pelicans fly catching the updrafts to soar, carried by the wind above Tampa Bay. Then, suddenly, wings would collapse against the body, and the bird would nose dive into the water... and come up with a fish.
This youngster's story is evocative because we had all seen the bird-dives-for-fish event. It was our lived experience on the West Coast of Florida. The youngster saw God's work allowing the bird to survive a 40-foot drop into the water. There is lots of science in the bird, too. See the video below for an explanation. Wonder, joy, and awe surround the science. That's where the kid saw God at work.
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As "Meditations on Meditation" continues we will tell stories. Some of them will be mine, such as remembering an old Sunday School lesson. Some stories will originate with you. So I ask, "tell me a story" about finding the Holy Spirit on a walk down Yale Avenue, or on the Wilderness Trail, or the beach at Big Sur, or in a homeless shelter. Write me a note about your story idea in the comment section below.
Meditate on that.
Banner Photo: Garth Davies via Unsplash
Join us on Friday morning for online Centering Prayer. 8am Pacific Time. If you are not registered and need a link, please email me. I will help you through the process. charlestaylorkerchner@gmail.com