The word ‘STORY’ has deep roots.
I recently visited my mum in Kent, who reminded me that my favorite storybook when I was a kid was ‘Tim Mouse goes down the stream.’ I would make her read the story to me over and over and over again. It reminds me of the power of a story.
During Lent (10th Feb – 24th March) we’ve been revisiting THE BIG STORY of our Christian faith.
It’s a beautiful story that so far spans over 4000 years and is held together by a single word. REDEMPTION.
The dictionary definition is simply this. “The action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing of a debt.”
Easter is a time when that story reaches a crescendo – it’s a pivotal chapter. God’s plan, begun with a promise to Abraham, foreshadowed in the Passover lamb of Exodus, hoped for in Israel’s search for a perfect King – finds it’s fulfillment in a descendant of Abraham, whose blood is spilt on a cross under a sign that says ‘The King of the Jews.’
We’ve discovered…
Is that it’s the story of a father who went to great lengths to be reunited with his rebellious children.
It’s the story of an artist, who agreed to pay a tremendous ransom to buy back his stolen, treasured creation
It’s the story of a King, who became a carpenter, so that he could win back, rather than force, the love of his subjects.
It’s a long way from the story we’ve written about God. A story of ‘religion’ and ‘rules’ and ‘behaving.’ It reminds us that at its heart- God’s story is simply, but powerfully, the story of a relationship lost and regained at tremendous cost.
Everyone has a story to tell, but everyone can be a part of this story, because it’s the story of us. It’s the story of me. It’s the story of you.
And the story of redemption doesn’t finish there. There is more to come. There is a moment when we regain all that we have lost and become all that we were created to be. There is a moment when we walk, once again, side by side in the garden with our heavenly Father.
Only then will the final chapter of the story be finished.
Only then will the closing line be wonderfully fulfilled. “And they all lived happily ever after!’
God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. Romans 8:28-30(The Message Translation)
