We Need Good Stories

Exodus 12:26-27

And when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” you shall say, “It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

Good stories matter. Stories captivate our imaginations with narrative and compel us to imitate certain characters. When you were a child, you likely used to spend your imaginative free play time pretending to be a knight, a superhero, or if you had a history dad, maybe some sort of soldier from a past battle. As a parent, I’m now watching my children pretend to be hobbits, mermaids, and Wall-E the robot, because those are the stories we indulge in the most. The stories you steep your imagination in shape how you think, how you speak, how you act. This is how God made us, because God is the grandest of storytellers, and He uses stories to help us know Him. Consider Exodus 12 where God anticipated the curiosity of children observing their parents’ religious rituals and said to them, “When your children ask you why you do these things, tell them a story. Tell them all about the mighty God who struck down the Egyptians who enslaved us for many years.”

Now, the story of the Exodus was more than just a story, it was literal history. We sometimes call that a “true” story. But true stories are not always literal, or even historical. A fictional story can be just as true as a non-fiction story in its expression of the truth. Consider the parables that Jesus spoke aplenty during His ministry. Parables that helped people understand their sin, how to interpret the law and prophets, how to be kind and fair to one another. It would be tragic (and wrong) for us to try and categorize the parables of Jesus as “not true.” Fiction? Certainly! Untrue? Certainly not.

Like the command of Exodus 12:26-27, and similar commands from places like Exodus 13:14, Deuteronomy 11:9, Joshua 4:6, or a personal favorite of mine from Joel 1:3, “Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation…”, we should be passing down the Exodus story, the Jesus story, the Church story, those most certainly. But do not neglect the knightly stories, the poetry, the family history, fables and myths of characters facing great evils and striving against all odds to prevail over them no matter the cost. Read the Arthurian legend of Lancelot and adorn yourself with helm and cape to teach about valor. Read Tolkien and have a hobbit tea party with your kids to teach about virtue. If you want to build a rich culture of conviction, courage, and captivation, tell the stories–the literal ones and the fictional ones, like Jesus did.

-Brian, and your elders.