Living Story Grace

We’re on our way to Furman for Family Weekend, so I’ll keep it short and sweet:  John Stott quote related to yesterday’s post:

“We have to learn to climb the hill called Calvary, and from that vantage-ground survey all life’s tragedies. The cross does not solve the problem of suffering, but it supplies the essential perspective from which to look at it.”

Yesterday I wrote about how the structure of story can be found in the daily stories of our lives.  One commenter so rightly responded that the hard stories are the ones where little resolution comes and the plot tension extends for days on end.  Painful and true.

Not every story wraps up in a neat little bow.  Most of us know this.  No matter how much we talk about God’s redemption, it rarely arrives when we want it, and when it does arrive, it doesn’t fit into our categories.  God doesn’t always write “happy” stories; He writes stories that often defy our definition of what is right and good.  Many of the stories involve weak people nearly wiped out in seemingly worst-case scenarios.  The rescue may boil down to, “I’m not dead YET.”  (If you don’t know how to say that last sentence properly, google Monty Python, or ask my husband!:)

No, not every story wraps up in a neat little bow, though some do.  And ALL, yes ALL, are moving toward a really good ending.  Let us never forget.  I was discussing this with a dear friend who thinks deeply about theology as she daily lives it in the nitty-gritty of being a wife, mother, preschool teacher, and dance instructor.  I was telling her of a season in which the darkness of painful stories I saw overshadowed the light of redemption.  During that time, I became so committed to the ‘no-neat-bow’ theology, I forgot that the gospel is at work NOW.  Lalla made a simple and stunning statement:  “That’s like ending the Gospel story with the crucifixion.”

Wow.  That sentence floored me, but then she went on, “There was a time when I wanted some of my hard stories erased.  But if our hard stories were simply erased, we wouldn’t feel the pain of those who experience similar stories.  The fact is, we live in a fallen world, and pain will be part of it.  My worst stories are what allow me to minister to and offer healing to other broken people.”  I knew some of those hard stories.  I knew she was speaking from a place of living what she believed.  I knew she was exactly right.

Thank goodness, the Gospel story doesn’t end with the Crucifixion.  It ends with the Resurrection, but in typical Bible story-telling fashion, Jesus’ Resurrection isn’t the final ending.  It is an ending that promises a new beginning for all who trust in his work on the Cross for new life.  It is an ending that points toward another ending that is the beginning of an even greater Story – a life of communion and community where the wildness of worship involves our giving and receiving the enjoyment of God forever.