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June 18, 2010
A Community of Stories
This blog post was produced during our 2010 Leaders in Ministry Conference in Boston, MA
This has been a day of stories. We told our story, heard the story of others and were pleasantly surprise to hear about God's story in a variety of ways. It makes sense that we are gathered in this place at this time to talk about the importance of story for the transformation of the world.
I'm still reflecting on the transformational moments in my story. It seems that the more that I reflect the more moments that come to mind. Also the more people. There is an element of incarnation each time that stories are shared and teased out in a communal setting. If vocation is central to our understanding of faith then story is definitely the instrument of hearing God's voice calling us.
At each turn our attentiveness to our story and to the story of others becomes an opportunity for a larger narrative, a communal encounter for the life of the world. Our inattentiveness breaks communal bonds and inhibits the transformation of the world. So part of the task in these days is to learn to be attentive, to ourselves, to others, and to the ways that our divine narrative is told.
If there was any doubt about this way of looking at our faith and its engagement in the world it was put to rest as we visited with the people of Wellesley Congregational Church.
Lay and Clergy leaders gave us the space to share our stories as they shared their story with us. Theirs was a story of God's constant presence in all that they did as they worked to empower each other to be about the work of God in their community.
As they told their story or reflected on their congregation's story it was evident that something transformational was occurring. Each story teller added a strand to the rich tapestry of their common story as a community of faith.
I wonder what would happen if all our faith communities would take on story telling as an exercise in “Trying for Transformation?” (Drummond, Thursday Morning Plenary)
My guess is that if we revived this practice, a practice of testimony, we would begin to notice that the Spirit of God is still actively at work in and through our faith communities for the transformation of the world.
The church must become a place were stories are shared. We must claim the ancient story and invite all who gather to add their voice to the choir of shared experience and meaning. When we join our voices we then become what Moltmann called “the charismatic community of the Holy Spirit.” It is this community that then becomes the catalyst for the transformation of the world.
The time is now! And these fellows who gather here are adding their voices so that our common story as people of God continues to be told to the ends of the world!
You can read more of Rev. Huertas' work on his blog www.spiritstirrer.org
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