am a story glutton. I love hearing people’s life stories, I love reading stories, I love telling made-up or real stories or something in between. I have loved stories since I was a wee child. We were a family of books—my mother was an English teacher, my aunt a librarian, and later my sister became a librarian. Our favorite babysitter helped us act out stories and told us her own made-up stories at bedtime. In junior high, I found my niche in speech and theater where the immersion in stories continued. As I grew through the predictable life cycle developmental crises of becoming an adult, I struggled to find my own story amidst those my family, small town, and broader culture told me about myself. Finding my voice was intertwined with claiming my story. Perhaps that is true for you, too?
Rev. Scott Tayler wrote in the theme circle packet for January: “Are you an actor conforming to the scripts of others? Or have you found your way to becoming the director and screenwriter of your life? How are you struggling right now to regain control of your storyline? How are you and your friends working to regain control of the storyline of your community, and our country? No matter which question is ours, the answer is the same: Don’t give the storyline away.”
In many small groups and conversations at church, we make meaning of our lives by discovering our storylines—both the challenging constricting storylines and the liberating ones. We are inspired by each other’s stories and grateful for the healthy vulnerability that happens when we give and receive our truths. As the months unfold toward my retirement at the end of June, I am keenly aware of your stories each time that I see you. Sometimes the knowledge of your stories lifts me up; sometimes the memory of a story you’ve shared fills my eyes with tears. I’m so grateful for the stories you’ve shared. I treasure them all, as I treasure you.
The more we share our authentic stories and script our future stories together, the tighter the weave of our fabric of community, which we know we’ll rely on ever more heavily as 2025 unfolds. May we be a good story for each other.
Yours,
Dena
Rev. Dena McPhetres, Associate Minister