Today’s
Scripture Reading (December 22, 2018): Deuteronomy 29
My grandfather was a great storyteller.
I loved to sit at his feet and just
listen to the stories he would tell — and most
of the stories I heard more than once. And some have stuck with me. I remember
the day when he went fishing with a friend on a lake in southern Ontario,
Canada. I can see him in that small boat, out on a lake, enjoying a quiet day
with a good friend catching some fish. But, as often happens on southern
Ontario lakes, and testified to by the number of ships that lie on the bottom
of any of the Great Lakes, storms come up fast. On this quiet day, a storm came
up. The pair of friends were rocked in
their small boat, and finally, the boat
capsized. It was the last time that my grandfather saw his friend. My
grandfather’s friend was lost somewhere beneath the waves. As for my
grandfather, he was able to cling to the upside-down boat, hanging on for his
life to the capsized boat as the storm continued to rage; desperately crying
out for help, but knowing that in the midst of the storm there would be no one
to hear his cries.
Storms on the lakes of southern Ontario can come up fast, but they also
finish and blow past. And as this storm blew past, my grandfather continued to
cling to the capsized boat and continued
to cry out for help. A couple were walking past the area on the shore in the
aftermath of the storm and heard the noise. One said
to the other that the seagulls were fairly noisy on this day. But they soon
realized that it wasn’t gulls causing the
noise. It was my grandfather. And the beginning of a rescue attempt was
underway. Every time grandpa told the story, there was a little hitch in his
voice as the tears threatened to come as he remembered the friend he lost on
that day.
I remember that day. My grandfather died in 2002. The events of that
Ontario day took place long before I was born. I couldn’t even tell you the
date, but I a carry a picture of that day in my mind through the story of that
day and storm about which he repeatedly told his grandson. It is almost as if,
somehow, I was in the boat on that day, or maybe I am walking along the shore.
Moses, speaking to the people of Israel says “You
yourselves know how we lived in Egypt.” But they didn’t. Not really. Except for Moses, Joshua and Caleb, none of
those who gathered to listen to Moses speak on this day had ever lived in
Egypt. But they had heard the stories. They were
told around campfires, they were the bedtime stories of their childhood,
and they had heard them repeatedly as they grew up. No, they had never lived in
Egypt, and yet knew full well how they lived in Egypt through the stories of
their parents and grandparents.
It is the effect that stories have on us. A well-told story can take us to places that we have never been, and
let us feel like we were there. And as we gather to celebrate Christmas, may I
remind you that we have a story to tell. Take the time to tell it well!
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Deuteronomy 30
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