"Telling Our Story" (Psalm 78: 1-4)

Every week, we collect an offering for the financial needs of our congregation.  We just recently concluded our pledge drive, in which we were asked to make financial commitments for the coming year.  I’m not going to belabor the point, but if you didn’t make a commitment, or if you decide that you want to change what you pledged (because you realize just how important this ministry is to you and to our community, and you want to give more), you may do that at any time.

What I want to tell you about now are the special offerings we participate in several times a year, and the Reconciliation Offering in particular.  These special offerings do not support the work of Bixby Knolls Christian Church; rather, they are sent off to support the work of our denomination, the Disciples of Christ, and various ministries within the denomination.

The Reconciliation Offering, in particular, supports our reconciliation ministry, and our efforts to be a pro-reconciliation, anti-racism church.

Let me tell you why that’s important.

The Bible, as you know, is not one book, but a collection of books; 66 books to be exact.  And like any library, the Bible contains a diversity of viewpoints, some of which contradict each other, but which, together, can greatly add to one’s knowledge and wisdom.

Many of the Old Testament stories – especially the earlier books – were told orally, passed down from one generation to the next.  And they come from different traditions. 

When these stories were finally written down, the authors often tried to combine different traditions into one story, which is why we get two versions of Creation in Genesis (in one, humans were created before the animals, and in the other, the animals came first)… and why we have two different descriptions of the animals that went on to Noah’s ark (in one it says that seven of each animal went on to the ark; in another it says two of each animal went on to the ark).

The numbers aren’t meant to be a literal accounting; they are symbolic. Once we understand the symbolism behind the numbers, or behind the ordering of creation, we appreciate the fact that there is more than one version, and we understand that both contain deep truth.

In the short bit of Psalm 78 that we heard, the psalmist says: “I will open my mouth in a parable.” The psalmist wants to share one of these ancient stories.  By calling it a parable, the psalmist recognizes that the ancient stories are not factual accounts, like a newspaper article. Instead, they are metaphorical stories that contain deep truths in them, profound truths, truths that cannot be expressed any other way.

The psalmist says: “I will utter dark sayings from of old.” For the psalmist, a “dark saying” is not one that is evil or sinister, but one that makes you think.  The real meaning is not immediately apparent. It’s a riddle. Only in thinking it over, chewing on it, letting it marinate in your mind, does the meaning become evident.

These are – the psalmist says – “stories that our ancestors have told us, stories that we will not hide from our children; we will tell them to the next generation.”

What a great loss it would be if these stories were not told to the next generation.  Remember, that’s the only way they survived, in the many centuries before they were written down. Only by telling the stories would they be kept alive.  And in each telling, a new layer of meaning would be added as the story is adapted for a new generation.  The meaning and the truth would grow with each telling.

This means that the stories were alive.

But to stop telling the stories – well, that would be the death of these stories.

When I found out that Psalm 78 was the chosen scripture for this year’s Reconciliation offering, I immediately thought of the stories that have not been told.  And I realized that, in order for reconciliation to happen, we need to tell the stories; stories that have been ignored, forgotten, deliberately swept under the rug, for too long.

In fact, it is in recognition of these deliberately forgotten stories that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has maintained a Reconciliation ministry since 1967, and has more recently re-affirmed our commitment to be a pro-reconciliation, anti-racism church. It has been through this important ministry that we have realized that, as a church, we have benefitted from racist attitudes in society, and that systemic racism is present even in the church. Our pro-reconciliation, anti-racism emphasis is our way of saying that this is not right, that we need to be more intentional about being a church that truly does welcome and affirm all persons.

To do that, we need to tell our stories.

Think of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. What if his story had not been told? What if the stories about Jesus of Nazareth had been hidden from the generations?

It very easily could have happened. After all, Jesus was a nobody in the eyes of those who record history: a peasant or artisan of the lower class; no one important.

And in ancient Rome, it was Rome who told the stories. Rome didn’t like the stories Jesus was trying to tell. 

So they killed him, figuring that would take care of the problem, and silence his story.

Would his story get told? Those who were his closest followers fled when he was killed.  They were afraid of Rome, afraid they would be next on Rome’s list.  It didn’t seem likely that they would be the ones to tell the story.

But three days after the death of Jesus, his followers realized that the story wasn’t over, that the story wasn’t dead, that the story continued.  And if they didn’t tell it, who would?

For the next generation or two, the story was told orally, from one person to another, often in hushed whispers, but sometimes in loud proclamations.  Then a number of people began to write the story down, as they understood it. The most prominent of those stories are in what we call today the New Testament. There are other accounts as well, in the gospels of James, Mary, Thomas, and others, and the writings of man named Josephus, stories about Jesus that didn’t get included in the New Testament, either because the early church councils didn’t know about them, or didn’t like them.

Last spring, the TV show Cosmos was broadcast on TV, featuring a wonderful telling of the stories of the universe.  But perhaps just as remarkable as the science, was the way the show told the stories of the people whose discoveries shaped our modern understanding. 

Many of these scientists were not what you’d expect: there’s Mozi, a Chinese philosopher who lived four centuries before Christ, and who created the camera obscura; Ibn Alhazen, an Muslim Iraqi mathematician in the 11^th century, known as the father of optics; Annie Jump Cannon and Henrietta Swan Leavitt, two deaf American women in the early 20^th century who made important discoveries in astronomy.

In fact, throughout the series, the important scientific discoveries of people who were not men, not American or European, and who were disabled were presented.  Their stories have not often been told; they’ve been forgotten, neglected, and deliberately cast aside. How wonderful that Cosmos decided to share those stories.

I have a friend, Sandhya Jha, who is a Disciples of Christ pastor in Oakland. She has written a wonderful little book called Room at the Table: Struggle for Unity and Equality in Disciples History. This book tells the story of many of those in the church whose stories have been ignored or overlooked because of their race.

For example, she tells the story of Alexander Campbell – not that Alexander Campbell – but an African-American slave who converted to Christianity during the Cane Ridge Revival.  Head over to our church office and go up the stairs, and you’ll see a stained glass window featuring the Meeting House at Cane Ridge, Kentucky.

At Cane Ridge, this Alexander Campbell converted to Christianity; and in the years that followed, he developed such an excellent reputation for his preaching that the Kentucky Missionary Society purchased his freedom for $1,000.  It took him another three years to earn enough money to free his wife.

He then helped establish the very first African American congregation in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): the Colored Christian Church of Midway, Kentucky, which later became Second Christian Church.

There are so many more untold stories, especially when it comes to stories involving minorities. Some of them are wonderful, uplifting stories; others are stories of shame, stories of racism and discrimination, which need to be told so that we can repent of them.

Here is one more story that some of you have heard me tell before, but I repeat it again for those who missed it.  Last year, the congregations of the Pacific Southwest Region gathered as they do every fall, and that gathering included a time just for pastors to engage in conversation with one another.  In those conversations, I heard a number of other pastors lament the fact that the hour of worship on Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour in America.

 I sat there listening to the conversation when suddenly, it dawned on me: Wait! This is not my experience!

And it was then that I knew that we, at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, have a story to tell.  After all, we are one of the most diverse small congregations in the country.

It’s an important story. A story of hope. A story that people need to hear.

I don’t know about you, but it’s a story that I had taken for granted; but now I feel that God is calling us to tell our story, to not hide our story from our children, our brothers, our sisters, but to tell it to this generation and to the coming generations. It’s a story of the glorious deeds of the Lord, and the wonders that God has done (and is doing) in this place.

Our region needs to know this story, which is one of the reasons why I’m really hoping to get as many of you as possible to attend this year’s regional assembly which takes place next weekend.  There are people in our region – pastors, even – who need the encouragement that we can give them, to let them know that a new world, the beloved community, is possible, is alive, in the church today.

Another reason I’m hoping to get as many of you as possible to attend this year’s regional assembly next weekend is that the workshops and worship services at a regional assembly help inspire us and give us the tools we need to help tell our story to our community and our world, because everyone needs to hear this story.

Everyone needs to know that there is a God of love, who draws all people into his presence, welcoming people of every race and color, every age and gender, every sexual orientation or gender identity. 

We do that whenever we tell our story, and support our congregation and its effort to tell the story.

And… we do that whenever we contribute to our Reconciliation Offering.