We are living in a time when all around us old stories are dying and new stories are struggling to be born.
New story emerges in many ways - as we let go of the old story and attend to ancient wisdom and as we try to live it out in the midst of the old story still around us.
This process is often filled with risk and conflict.
Our smaller stories are embedded in and shaped by the larger stories around us; our stories evolve over time. Hopefully they evolve, as Franciscan priest Richard Rohr has put it, from “life is about us” to “we are about life.” Over time we are invited into larger and larger stories.
Jesus lived a new story in the midst of the old. Into a story about obeying religious rules and keeping commandments in order to please God, came a new story: the rules are God’s gift to us, not our obligation to God. Jesus goes beyond structure to essence. Structures exist to serve essence.
Jesus chose to act out his own authentic story, one about self-giving love and compassion. Living the new story in the midst of a very powerful old story involves considerable risk. If we are in pursuit of Jesus, we will be always moving from our own self-serving story to a self-giving story.
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