All Jesus did that day was tell stories––a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world’s first day. —Matthew 13:34-35; MSG
Dear friends,
When I was a child, my great-aunt Hat would gather her grand-nieces and grand- nephews around her and recite a looping tale. Brown eyes wide open and her expression mock-somber, she would recite:
High in the windy hills of Italy lived a little band of bandits.
One night as the lightning flashed and the thunder roared and the rain came down in torrents, the Captain turned to his lieutenant and said, “Sandy, give us a story,” which he did in the following manner.
“High in the windy hills of Italy lived a little band of bandits. One night as the lightning flashed….”
We squealed with delight at the absurdity, even the youngest among us knowing that—silly, Aunt Hat!—stories ought not to loop like that.
Stories need to go somewhere.
During the months of quarantine that tale has come to mind. People ask the increasingly challenging question, “What’s new?” It seems days are looping, every day a “Blursday,” every tale the same. Many hours of my pandemic confinement have been spent listening to people talk about their spiritual experience, or their wish for that, in these disjointed times. Anxiety, boredom, and discouragement afflict us, and we’ve been sorely challenged to maintain a sense of wellness and hope.
Endeavoring to create a sense of narrative movement, some people employ time- marking strategies: An office worker stranded in her home hoists her briefcase after breakfast, gets in her car, drives around the block, and then arrives back at home to begin the work day. A father staged a similar journey for his three children before returning home and settling everyone down to study.
For many of us, one day has flowed into the next without structure, and time has seemed absurd. Deprivations of various kinds, including of our narratives, have caused the rates of mental difficulties to soar. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a desert kind of ordeal, expressed so well by these ancient words:
All things are wearisome; more than one can express…. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 1:8-9; NRSV
Our faith proclaims that God meets us in places of dislocation, pandemic- induced or otherwise, in which we can so easily lose track of the orienting stories of our lives. Scripture assures us that we follow the One who makes all things new, the One in whose story we live and Who wants to know our stories:
With many stories like these, he [Jesus] presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke. When he was alone with his disciples, he went over everything, sorting out the tangles, untying the knots. —Mark 4:33-34; MSG
Jesus “was never without a story.” For those who listened, he sorted out the tangles, untying the knots, and fitting his stories to their experience and ability to grasp them. We need God’s attentive grace so much today in the looping, knotted circumstances of the year. Jesus has stories of hope for us, to comfort us and move us forward on the Way.
Even during this strange year, we at New College Berkeley are thankful. By God’s grace, technological possibility, the ingenuity of faculty, and the adventuresome spirit of participants in our programs, most of our spring offerings took place remotely. We were surprised by the depth of relating that was possible through screens and also by how thirsty people have been for that spiritual and interpersonal connection.
In all our programs, people discover their own stories in the context of God’s story. This fall, Dr. Marilyn McEntyre is teaching Writing into the Unknown, a course in which graduate students, members of the clergy, and participants from the community are finding words for their experiences and God’s grace in this time of radical uncertainty.
Spiritual direction groups and the participants in the weekly Spiritual Exercises meet during the year to pray and to notice how God is working in each person’s life. University students, professionals, and people from a variety of congregations are taking time to allow their graced stories to become clearer in the company of others. Like the fisherfolk on the beach with Jesus, these people are eager to notice God with them. Some are emerging from storms or deserts or from great disappointments. All come with faith and hope. Most experience thanksgiving as they bear witness to what God is up to daily in ordinary human lives.
We’re thankful, too, for your support of this ministry through your attention, prayer, and contributions. As you live your own life’s story, may you experience God with you, untangling the knots and keeping your story moving forward on the Way.
Thanksgiving blessings,
Susan S. Phillips, PhD
Executive Director, New College Berkeley