Stories and Dialogue 2

You probably have some better answers but right off the top of my head maybe it means telling stories that leave the listener with more questions than answers. They aren't stories that answer questions. They're stories that leave you with questions. Maybe that's why the stories of scripture are as sparse as they are.

But we have to assume that the details that ARE in scripture are important. Maybe they're important because they cause us to ask questions. Maybe they're just details that matter to God and His story. Maybe they're things we can relate to generation after generation, culture by culture. Maybe they are just true.

Take a really simple story that you know! How can you tell that story leaving a lot of questions unanswered ... We don't always have to have answers. We do really need to listen to the questions.

I think it's important that we, as story-tellers, ask questions too - not just questions like, "What did Mary ride to Bethlehem?" But questions like, "Did you ever pet a donkey? How do you think it feels? How do you think it smells? Do donkeys have to eat? Did Mary and Joseph have to carry food for both of them, and the donkey? Where did the donkey sleep?"

A child might ask what color was Mary's hair? Well, it probably wasn't blond ... (Gee, how come it's blond in that picture?) Was it long? ... hmm... don't know. I don't think people cut their hair then ... Never? That can take a conversation in an older direction.

Was the donkey fat? Mary rode it. They had to carry everything or else they had to buy it. Well, they were poor so they didn't have much money. Mary was pregnant so they had a lot to carry but not much room. The donkey and the people had to eat . . . Maybe there was grass to eat...hmm...Middle East, desert... Maybe not...don't know...I bet the donkey wasn't fat. So, you're growing critical thinkers, too.

You can do the same thing when you tell your own personal experiences with faith.

"When you were three I slammed my finger in a garage door. I heard it crack. I called Dad so he could pray for me but it hurt so much I almost fainted on the floor. You prayed for me and it didn't hurt so much. I could bend it. God made it better."

"How did God do that?"

"I have no clue."

"How come when I prayed for you when you were sick you just got worse and it took a whole week to get better?"

"Hmm . . . maybe if you hadn't prayed for me I would have been sick even longer?"

"You might have died?"

"Maybe . . . are you hungry?"

Maybe having answers isn't what's important . . . Maybe it's just growing the habit of being comfortable talking together, asking questions together, looking for answers together . . . You each bring something to the journey that the other doesn't have, not just because of age but because you're different people. Maybe it's growing the ability to live with unanswered questions ie. trusting God with all the things we don't know, with all the unanswered questions ...

And hey, you have a lot of grow time. You get to start with the questions of a baby and work your way up one year at a time to a grown-up! Don't worry. Even if you have a champion question-asker you have all the time your kids aren't around to think about the "answers." You might even get so good that you can anticipate the questions!

Do you listen to God's stories? Do you have conversations with God? Do you ask Him questions? Do His stories make you want to ask more questions? Does He answer all your questions?

Me? Don't ask me. I'm the question - asker . . . If I actually come up with reasonable answers to questions they're a couple weeks late . . . Hmm . . . But when you come back to someone a couple of weeks later after having thought about the stuff of your conversation all that time ...

"Gosh are you still thinking about that conversation we had? You've been thinking about my questions all this time . . . You've been thinking about me?"

Wow...there's more to this than I thought!