I am so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work
I Timothy 1:12 (The Message Bible)

Early this past summer many of you heard me exclaim how much I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love. I have discovered that people actually like to hear my story of how I was called by God to prepare for ministry, the stories of my in-the-pit experiences, the stories of my trips to Iowa, and the little quips about the differences between my husband and me. Who knew?!  Your faith stories and life stories are of interest to those who are unconnected to Jesus.

Later in the summer the Holy Spirit invaded a staff meeting I was leading, and we began to share how much we were missing a sense of the Holy Spirit’s presence and activity in our community and in our worship time.  We longed for some sign that God was at work in our midst – some sense of the motto that had guided our voter’s assembly in June – being “all in” for God’s  ministry here on this corner.  We longed for and needed to hear and feel how “all in” was working – how the Holy Spirit was moving in our community.  So we turned to God’s story – what a radical notion! 

Paul’s letters to a disciple named Timothy were the assigned readings for the next few Sundays. In the opening of the first letter to Timothy, Paul shares his own faith story:

“even though I was formerly (before coming to ministry) a blasphemer,
a persecutor, and a man of violence. … BUT the grace of our Lord Jesus
overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” I Tim 1:13-14

We discovered that God’s story inspired/drew out our own stories of God working in our lives. God’s Spirit told us that if we want more sense of Spirit to come forth from the community, we needed to share our own experiences of being “all in” for God; we needed to share our faith stories. We heard Paul encourage Timothy in his second letter:  “Do not be ashamed, then, of [your] testimony about our Lord or of me.”  God through Paul was giving us permission – even a shove – to share our faith stories and the story of Jesus and his love. Thus a 7-week series was born on the breath and power of the Holy Spirit. Glenda, Cristina, Deb, Ron Karns, me, and even Professor Moses Penumaka from our Lutheran seminary in Berkeley got in the spirit of telling our “all in” faith stories.   

I have become convicted that:

• Every person’s life is a unique and invaluable story.
• God speaks to us and through us to the world in our stories.
• Connecting our life stories with the story of God and God’s love is the work of the Holy Spirit moving in totally mysterious ways to inspire and empower us to speak.
• Our faith stories and those of others form our life in Christ, and motivate our actions.
• Remembering our stories and sharing them creates community and the future – they are our legacy we leave our community.
• And as we discovered when we heard the painful memories and trials that were shared, not only is the hearer moved to compassion, but the teller can be healed through the experience of telling their story and inviting the community into their lives to love and nurture.  Keeping our life’s pain and shame bottled up inside does not offer any chance for forgiveness, love, or healing to occur.

The Bible is the story of God’s love and enduring commitment to us and all of God’s creation around us. Christianity has no future if we do not offer a connection between the story of our life and the story of Jesus and his love.

To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, 
be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen
I Timothy 1:17