Truthful stories

The desire to tell, share, and hear stories is fundamental to what it is to be human. Stories help us to make sense of the world, who we are, and what our purpose is. Stories teach us morality, they make us laugh, and they make us cry. Our earliest memories revolve around hearing stories, whether from parents, teachers, or school friends.

Our children are currently devouring the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ novel series by Cressida Cowell. The books follow the adventures of ‘Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third’, who is a good hearted Viking whose sense of justice and fairness helps him to stand up to bullies and enemies. Recommended to all young people out there!

And yet however much we enjoy stories as children, our culture can sometimes be dismissive of them. We create a simplistic barrier between ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’, and consign stories to the second pile. They may be harmless, but surely they can’t be believed?

At the heart of the Christian faith is the story that we tell ourselves at this time every year. It is the story of the Galilean who refuses to serve himself, or to take the easy way out, but offers his life as a sacrifice for the whole world. He died, was buried, and on the third day God raised him from the dead. It is a story which moves from death to life, from despair to joy, from suffering to peace.

The logic of this story is powerful. It acknowledges there is a problem with our humanity – the desire for a scapegoat, and the political ambitions which lead to the crucifixion of an innocent human. But it says that death does not have the last word, that God will bring light out of the darkness. The truthfulness of this story is tested as we live out lives of reconciliation and redemption, and see hope born anew in the world.

The Easter story is the truest story we can hear – and I invite you to come and listen to it at one of our special Easter Day services in the Western Dales this April.

Rev’d Andy Burgess