One final thought for tonight: Narrative and why we must use it.

I have done a lot of thinking about the use of narrative in the average church. Narrative is all the rage in the Emergent pulpits, it is what they say works for this generation. While I may not agree with their implementation of it, I would have to say narrative does work, but not because it is for this generation. Narrative works because it has worked for every generation, since the beginning of mankind. From the first time God breathed life into man, mankind has used, in fact needed, narrative. Stories make us who we are. Dr. Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, preached this past Thursday (August 25) in chapel about why we do not use narrative in our pulpits, and why many conservative pastors don't in fact (hear message here). After hearing that sermon, I was struck by the fact that Dr. Moore is right, that conservative, non-Emergent pastors avoid narrative, often because we can't see how it relates to the rest of the Bible. He said we often don't see that every story ties into the grand story of the Bible, the metanarrative, and therefore miss the great truths there for us and our congregations. In fact, he said, it is the fact that we don't see that every one of those stories ties into the story of not just the Bible, but one Person, the one who the story of the Bible is about, Jesus. And that's when I realized that just like every sermon is supposed to have a unifier, an idea that brings it all together, (as per several preaching books, classes, and other sources of advice) Jesus is truly the "metaunifier" of the Biblical texts. I don't know that I have run across this idea before, especially of the term meta-unifier, and in fact, when I realized this term Thursday afternoon, I saw how it perfectly fit into the concept. The Emergent church is not just dismissing the metanarrative of the Bible in their assault on universal truth, but they are in the end, nullifying the work of the one described in that metanarrative, the metaunifier, Jesus. Just like Dr. Moore said, everyone around us is looking for a story that will make sense of what is going on around them. We believers, who know the metaunifier of the metanarrative that is not only a story with answers, but a true story, have a burden to share that story. Don't let the Emergent church corner the market on narrative, because it is not their market to corner. Don't give in to the temptation to avoid narrative, because the Bible gives the clarity necessary to see it weave together. That is how we can reach people in our day and age with stories that are relevant. By being willing to get out there and tell them.