Paul writes – A couple of years ago, I wrote an essay which contained this paragraph (and all but two of the accompanying questions). It resonated with my reflecting on Steve Taylor’s expression – “local congregational narratives.”
“….There is a beautiful scene in the New Zealand movie, “Whale Rider,” where estranged son Porourangi meets with his Father, Koru, in the ancestral meetinghouse of the tribe. On the walls are carvings, ‘icons’ which tell the ancestral and tribal stories. [These] ‘Totems’ …represent ancestors. Porourangi runs his hands and eyes over the surfaces, reading the stories, connecting with and feeling “his” story. The walls tell stories. The walls have texture. The walls are both ancient text and visual image. [The walls stand at the intersection of past and future]…”
(a) What founding and communal stories do the physical spaces of your church building tell?
(b) What biblical narrative is visible and embodied [in your relating, ministry, and mission]?
(c) Into what [local] story and stories are you both “called” and “sent” as participants and God-bearers?
(d) What experiences of God, [what values, what seeing of the world] are in your hands as you carry them from the ‘church gathered’ into your everyday ‘worlds’ and roles – [workplace, domestic life, marital relationships, friendships, sport, study etc]?
(e) [What “local congregational narratives” form, shape, and nourish you sense of identity, your sense of calling, your identity as a local expression of God’s people?]
(f) [Remembering that “the future of God is amongst the people of God,” where are God’s invitations amongst your “local congregational narrative?]
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