We go to church to hear the gospel from each other. The more we tell the gospel to ourselves the more we can make it available for others by bearing witness to it.
Stories help us make meaning. My son attends a Montessori school. While I love Montessori (the whole work is play and play is work is awesome) it is still hard to drop off my son when he’s crying and anxious about being there. Something that we do to help Elliott make his 3 times a week transition is tell the story of what’s going on. We say “Eli we got in the car and drove to school together today. And now we’re at school where your going to work with Ms. Natalie aren’t you? And then mommy (or daddy) is going to come back and get you isn’t she?” Elliott responds to this story and these questions with nods and sniffling yeses. We do this several times. Each time he hears this story his anxiety goes down and he becomes more available to begin his work that day.
The Gospel is the story that makes sense of this life for us. The more we hear it the more life makes sense (even though it can still hurt like hell) and the more we’re ready to engage it as a people or person of life.
