Our Story

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” Matthew 13: 34-35 NIV

Once upon a time! Four simple words have captured every child’s imagination at some point and time in life. Upon hearing these simple words, a child sits back and prepares to enter an adventure of untold excitement. The words begin to come to life as the child witnesses the story unfolding with the prince saving the princess, defeating the dragon, destroying the evil witch, and knowing that it will end with good triumphing over evil.

Countless stories have begun with these simple words throughout the centuries. According to Lorna Wallace, it isn’t a coincidence that stories begin this way and serve a useful purpose. “This far-flung setting and time period create a “distance and vagueness,” that provides “an invitation for fantasy and imagination to take the stuff of real life and do with it what they will—and perhaps, to translate the newfound truths back from story to actuality.” (Why So Many Stories Begin with Once Upon a Time, Lorna Wallace)

Children may love fairy tales, but I speculate most adults enjoy them just as much as the child. The formula sets our minds into a pattern knowing that the main characters will start well but then go through a rough patch of life and will ultimately end with the bookend formula, “they lived happily ever after.”

C. S. Lewis understood the value of “once upon a time” stories and that adults are never too old to read fairy tales, and in fact, probably they get more out of them at a more mature age. In his prologue of the Chronicles of Narnia, he wrote, “My dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result, you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be –your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis”

Somewhere along the way most of us quit reading fairy tales. We have seen too much of life and realize there may not be a happy ending after all. The greedy troll of “The Three Bill Goats Gruff” was a person we knew, we have seen too many “Cinderellas” being mistreated by adults, or being called “The Ugly Duckling” because of how we looked.

Adulting is not always easy. We face the everyday toils of being a responsible adult and somehow, we get lost in the demands of life. We forget to “whistle while we work,” and forget the very adventures that once captured our imaginations. Quoting Robin Sharma, “Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.”

Lewis captured the power of story to teach truth. Though the Narnia books are not systematic theology, Steven Gomez writes they are “a playground decorated with various colorful pieces of Christian (and pagan!) imagery…Lewis poured his love for Jesus into the character of Aslan, not simply what he knew theologically.

Fairy tales convey a nugget of truth, a bit of moral teaching that will help to live a better life within the “once upon a time” formula. However, as we quickly learn, life is not a formula to live nor does it always have a happy ending.

Jesus was a master storyteller, teaching eternal truth through stories that captured the essence of truth in ways his disciples (us) could learn and grow. “Jesus asked His listeners to understand an intangible reality they couldn’t see with their physical eyes—the kingdom of God. He knew they could only engage this reality with the eyes of their hearts, so he chose to use stories—what we commonly call parables—to illustrate His meaning.” (Christine Hoover)

Unlike the simple truth found in a fable, Jesus didn’t try to explain some truth in a colorful and “once upon a time” style but to hide spiritual truth from easy-believism.

Jesus was confronted by his own disciples at the complexity of his parables, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” Jesus could have told stories that would have appealed to the masses, but he didn’t. He gave stories that taught what a true disciple was, how to live a Kingdom-focused life, and what it would cost to be His follower. “This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see: though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” (Matt 13:13)

In our information-driven, fact-based world we often overlook the depth and inspiration within stories. Jesus awakened imaginations and emotions through the parables he told. We can see the seeds being thrown by the sower, some on hard ground, some among the weeds but a few on good soil. We can see the father running to his younger son who finally returns home.

LORD, help us to reimagine and retell our stories of how you transformed us and gave us a new life. We want others to hear of the hope we have in you, our faith that is secure and the joy we have for this day. We have a great story only because of what you have done in our lives.

You have a great story to tell, go tell it!

God is great!