Storytelling as a Spiritual Practice
Meditation
“Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’”
—John 4:39
“And [the angel] said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples . . .’” —Mark 16:6–7a
Ever since I was a child, I have loved hearing a good story. Stories universally need at least three elements: characters, conflict, and resolution. Without characters, there is no canvas for story. Without conflict, there is no interest in story. And without resolution, there’s no point to story. The gospel is unequivocally the greatest story ever told—the main characters being a holy Triune God and sinful humanity; the conflict, humanity’s plunge into darkness; and the glorious resolution, the Resurrection we currently celebrate, which brought sinful humanity back into relationship with God. Story was a mode of communication that Jesus used often in his earthly ministry, and story continues to be a great method for Christians to practice sharing their faith.
In the Black church, sharing one’s testimony, or testifying, is a highlighted moment in the worship service. The pastor asks, “Does anyone have a testimony?” And as I remember being a young girl in those services, I knew we wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon until someone decided to testify. At that time, my attention span was too short to understand the significance of this spiritual practice, but now I mourn its widespread loss in many faith communities. The Black saints I grew up around knew intuitively what philosopher Charles Taylor suggests in his book The Ethics of Authenticity, that identity and self are not worked out “in isolation, but [negotiated] through dialogue, partly overt, partly internal, with others.” Our understanding of who we are hinges on how much we have acknowledged what God has done and continues to do in us and in others.
Testimony, then, becomes not some spotlight on us to boast of how bad and scandalous our lives used to be till “we got saved.” Rather, it is a continual recounting of the active work and presence of a real and personal God in defiance of an enemy who desperately desires for us to forget. He wants us to forget because “stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here” (Sue Monk Kidd). Testimony and storytelling as spiritual practices help us worship by helping us remember how God has worked in the past, and by renewing and strengthening our faith to believe he will continue to work in the future. In this way our stories also serve as darts against the evil one, as on the final day, we see that the saints “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11).
I have a story of, as the great Mahalia Jackson sang, “how I got over!” So do you. Our stories make up the countless chapters of God’s redemptive story that is told through those before us, those contemporary to us, and those long after us. They serve as anchors when the precarious waves of pain and suffering hit. They cause us to remember when temptations inside and out would have us forget. They strengthen weak knees and lift drooping heads. Let us each hear and heed the Spirit’s invitation to go as the Samaritan woman did, telling others about all this Jesus did and continues to do. His resurrection is the grand resolution that makes all our stories worth telling.
Exploration
Storytelling requires a familiarity and comfortability with all the ebbs and flows of our lives. Consider taking a morning or afternoon to yourself to draw out a timeline of your life until now. What were the major consolations, those events that brought you closer to the Lord and into the joy of your salvation? What were the major desolations, those events that tempted you to move away from the Lord and his presence? Use this timeline to help you develop your faith narrative.
Share that story with a close friend. Sharing our story is an intensely vulnerable exercise, so practice telling it with a trusted friend first, and over time, as you sense the opportunity and the desire, share it with others. Trust with hope the invitation of the author Morgan Harper Nichols: “Tell the story of the mountain you climbed. Your words could become a page in someone else’s survival guide.”
Consider incorporating storytelling into your various faith communities. Many have largely done away with the “testimony hour,” but I have indelible memories as a child of the Black church of how remarkable those moments were. My molding as a young believer in that space didn’t revolve much around the niche points of theology and orthodoxy, but rather around the testimonies of how this sister or that brother “got over.” Their stories, like the recounting throughout the scriptures by Israel, will always serve as currency for our continued and increasing faith in the economy of God’s redemptive mercy.
Ashley Williams is the co-director of the Daily Prayer Project and ministry coordinator at Grace Mosaic.