Here is the first excerpt of Pastor Wrinkle’s New Year sermon.
When I first learned I would be preaching this baptism service I prayed and sought God as to what he would have me bring as an offering to this service. I heard the words “the Glory of Story” and that has become the title of my message today.
This morning as each of the baptismal candidates entered the water they were asked to give a brief testimony or story about how they had gotten to the place of deciding to follow Jesus with their lives. At every baptism my understanding of how real God is becomes renewed. The stories shared do something deep inside of me that reinvigorates my faith.
We humans have a fascination with story. We each like different kinds of story: Some like adventure, some romance. Others enjoy a good mystery and some like the rhythmic cadence of war stories. Whichever genre is our favorite we learn best from the examples encased within its words and the pictures it draws.
Activist and theologian Robert Mcafee Brown said “
Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.
And Dr. Pamela Rutledge of the MediaPsychologyResearchCenter says,
Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Call them schemas, scripts, cognitive maps, mental models, metaphors, or narratives. Stories are how we explain how things work, how we make decisions, how we justify our decisions, how we persuade others, how we understand our place in the world, create our identities, and define and teach social values. ”
What stories have most influenced you?
Reinventing the We'll 
I always love it when you post your sermons on your blog. There is always something I didn’t get the first time around. Thank you, Pastor J and many blessings to!
I am glad the second time through brings you blessings Deb! I always try to put a little different slant on it as I break the work down into bite-sized chunks. 🙂
Stories are very important as a teaching tool, and to bring people together as they discover they are not alone, or all that strange/different. God bless you.
It is true. By telling our stories we come to discover that others have similar tales. My lessons apply to others lives!
I love to hear/read testimonies of how the Lord drew people to Himself. We are all individuals and the Lord works in each of us in different ways. It is so good to praise God for the work He has done in peoples’ lives.
I also like missionary stories and find them quite challenging as to my dedication to the Lord and His service.
(I prefer to call them ‘accounts’ as ‘stories’ have the connotation of fiction)
I love the accounts of missionaries as well. They challenge me to a level of faith that the world is constantly trying to steal from me.