Excerpts: “So what’s YOUR story, dear friend?”
“[And] where do we begin? What does it look like to tell our own stories? How do we start telling a story that is so personal and so unique? What do we include? What is too much detail? Do we exclude the times of darkness or doubt to make us look better? Do we exclude the times of bounty or joy to not sound too boastful?”
“For the next several weeks, we’ll be honing in on a Biblical story of one such individual, a man named Joseph, whom we met a few moments ago when we read from Genesis 37. I propose that over the next several weeks, we follow along with Joseph, and learn what parts of his story are there for our own benefit, for our own understanding of how God was with him, so that we might see God at work within us in those same moments. So we’ll be exploring stories of Joseph- stories of promise, stories of loss. Stories of doubt, of hope amidst darkness, of reconciliation and stories of redemption. Perhaps hearing Joseph’s story will give us permission to craft our own stories- and perhaps after crafting them, we will become brave enough to share them. Because being able to share our own stories of faith will enable us to write our collective story, our story of future hope.” -Pastor Lisa Hood
Sermon #1 in “to be continued” series of 7.
