Stories into a new generation

In the song “Looking Forward, Looking Back,” Australian storyteller and songwriter, Slim Dusty, tells about looking forward and looking back on the long road of life, and of making songs and sense of what he knows.

In Deuteronomy 34:1–12, Moses also looks back on a long journey and forward to a land of promise. Imagine Moses standing on Mount Nebo, looking back on a wilderness that has held his story for 40 years, and making stories and sense of what he knows.

 “The life of Moses comes to an end, but then continues as sacred story into the next era [the next generation] of God’s creativity.”

 “Stories, like God, have the power to by-pass our defences and touch us at our core. Stories are agents of the Divine…”

(From the Biblical Background on page 100)

I have told elsewhere a story about our then 4-year-old daughter who, in retelling an event that occurred before her birth, began with, “I ‘be-member’ when…,” and continued to give an account of the event as if she were there. She had received a story, a family tradition, and it had become her own story, woven into the fabric of her life. The biblical background material for October 23 also reminds us that our “individual and communal stories are connected.”

For personal reflection

The resource sheet “A new leader” (on p. 109), designed for the Digging deeper station, might be used for personal study and reflection. If you won’t be setting or participating in this station, consider using the sheet during the week. The section for Reader 1” might be the reflection for Day 1; Reader 2 – the reflection for Day 2 and so on. You might also email it to people on your church’s email list. (Available in the Text Folder on the Season of Creation, Pentecost 2, Data CD).

As you look forward and look back on your faith journey, what stories or legacy will you hand on to a new generation? Tell your stories, here.

“Somewhere in the process of storytelling, the story becomes memory. If the story is connected with our spirits, then that memory is the gift of the storyteller. We are able to say” I remember. This is part of me. These are things of importance to me. This collective experience of storytelling has been internalized into collective memory. The visual images are the ones we share… Weksuye. I remember.”

(From “Dancing with Words” by Ray Buckley,
in Creating Change, on page 105 of SeasonsFUSION)

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