Your Place In His Story

Eph 1:3-14  John 1:10-18

A story at Bedtime! can you remember what yours used to be?

I have happy memories of “Noddy’s Adventures In Toyland” and then moving on to the Famous Five and the Secret Seven.

Then my Dad got in on the act and determined to make a man of me – we had to have Biggles.

I hated Biggles! He was some sort of dare devil pilot sort of bloke with a strange sidekick called Algie and I could not relate to them at all!

 The only thing to do was pretend to be asleep before my dad had finished the opening page. Snoring so loudly as to render the continuation of  Biggles impossible.

My own daughters had to suffer my own stories made up on the spot.

 Great epic adventures involving their friends, some television personalities and funny members of  church congregation – but there was always a question they’d ask before I could begin a new tale.

“Daddy, am I in the story”

“Yes” I’d always say, because they loved being in it.

But there was always a second question too,

“And Daddy, am I a goodie or am I a baddie”

And woe betide me, if I ever cast them in the role of baddie.

The story would be brought to an immediate halt and Mother would be called in.

“Am I in the story and am I a goody or a baddie”

Have you ever thought that these might be important questions to ask about our storytelling here in church?

 When we read the bible. When we think about the Gospel of Jesus.

 Is it just his story – some far away and untouchable tale – like Biggles – or am I to be found there somewhere in stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Our readings this morning are about God making his presence known amongst us.

Dwelling with us, Becoming as one with us.

Our Gospel reading is about him becoming light and flesh in the very places where we are.

Our Epistle reading talks about a marvellous intertwining of our lives with Christ’s life.

God making everything about himself known to us.

God bringing us to the point where there is a two way thing going on between us.

Receiving his blessing – making known his glory.

A life with God where we are one and the same with Him.

“He destined us in love to be his sons..that we have been appointed to live for the praise of his glory”

The great responsibility seems to be that we are being called to tell God’s story through our very own lives.

As this New Year begins I’d like to look at four ways in which this might be true and might form resolutions for our own Christian lives this year.

The Christmas story is the place to start and it’s about us being accepted by God as we are.

In Jesus, God takes our flesh and in so doing he identifies himself with us completely.

and then  all manner of people are welcomed to the stable from well to do kings to down at heel shepherds.

These visitors were not saints or role models. They were representatives of you and I, come to see that it is true that God loves us across the whole range of human experience, pitfalls, shortcomings and wonderings.

 All draw near to  bless the infant king and, in turn be blessed by him.

See yourself as a king or a shepherd then – or Mary or Joseph – or see yourself being formed in the Christ child himself. From what ever angle you come from – it’s about you being accepted as you are.

As Jesus grew up and began his ministry, there is one word which sums up all that he did and said and the word is transformation.

 Every person he spoke to, every thing that he touched was turned into a channel of his grace.

Accepted as you are yes, but then led by the hand to a turning point, a cross roads, where suddenly you know that glory is not just a fine word – it’s what he wants your life to become.

Many ran kicking and screaming from this possibility but for those who wanted to draw near, no one was turned away.

See yourself then as a fisherman, a tax collector. Or a woman beset with illness. Take the form of an empty jar, a barren wilderness or a storm tossed sea, From what ever angle you come, wherever it is you can find yourself in the story – it’s about you being transformed into some one who has something to say about the kingdom of heaven

As the ministry of Jesus began to take deeper shape, so the opposition grew. The more the love of God was brought to bear upon the world, the more there were signs of heartache, heartbreak, hurting, wounding and then dying.

There are chapters in the story of our lives where we know this only too well.

And when his story reaches the cross there is a collision between the tales which is mind blowing.

Recall the bitterest moments you have lived through, and see them as cross shaped – dare to see your life and Christ’s life as closely intertwined as that.

Your part in his passion is not the bystander you thought you once were – but, and I know this will make you wince, it’s you up there with him.

I’m accepted along with him , through the story of his birth at Bethlehem.

I am transformed along with him, through the story of his ministry.

I am wounded and hurt along with him, through the story of his passion.

And this leads me – to love and be loved – along with Him in the spirit filled church he came to build.

“Am I in the story and if I am, am I a goodie or a baddie”

He dies, but he is risen. He leaves the earth but sends his Holy Spirit.

He gives those who will share his story as their own, the true gift of his love.

Love is never far from the lips of those who try to do this in spite of themselves

Peter, brash impulsive fishermen – on his knees with it – “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you”

Paul, breathing murderous threats at one point, a dry, rule based teacher, sits down with his pen, early on and writes “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong and a clanging symbol.

And he wonders at what point such poetry became a part of him.

All of them amazed that in the end this was always a love story and each one of us was cast as the beloved right from the beginning.

“Am I in the story” Yes you are. “And am I a goodie or a baddie”.

You know you can only ever be a goodie – it’s a happy ending we’re in danger of keeping even from ourselves as we get lost in our failures to match up to God.

As a church lets remember the reason we are all here.

To keep the story alive and ever expand its themes of acceptance, transformation, wounding and loving.

Not a story for bedtime really, but one to greet each day with, so that you can leap into this world of ours every morning and live out the tale.

RH  4.1.09