IMAGINE

US . . .

a

living

story . . .

redeemed

by

God . . .


















And, lo, the star, which they saw in the East, went before them, till it stood over where the young child was . . .

HE CAME FOR US . . .

It wouldn't be until I was an adult that God would redeem the family stories buried beneath my father's struggle with alcoholism when I was a child. It was a woman with a similar background, now living her life redemptively, that would help me to reinterpret the story in which I found myself. She helped me to understand that the heart is where the story forms--and that it needs something larger to give it redemptive meaning. It was she as well as many other women like her that showed me it was possible for stories that were broken or diseased to be made well, or if necessary, replaced by a story that had a plot worth living.

When we married our stories twenty four years ago . . . we knew it would take courage and His amazing grace to live our lives redemptively. (Think Wild at Heart.)

Daniel Taylor in The Healing Power of Stories says: We are our stories. We are a product of all the stories we have heard and lived . . . they shape how we see ourselves, our world and our place in it. We cannot change the way the way our story began . . . but, we can tell our children of the stories redeemed . . . family stories that give them a sense of something larger than themselves . . . perhaps preparing their hearts to receive the really big story . . . the story of His love for us.

We tell stories like this every chance we get . . . this is one of the stories that wrap our family in gift every Christmas:

As far as we know our story begins in Sweden. So, every year we have a Lucia celebration on Christmas Eve. The story of Lucia, the symbol of light amid the darkness for Sweden is told. One of the girls has the privilege of being our Lucia, wearing a long white gown sashed in red, with a lighted wreath on her head. One of the boys is our Star Boy . . . generally associated with the wise men. Another child carries the advent candles. All of the children carry battery operated hand held candles. As the song Sankta Lucia is played (my niece practiced her violin all summer to play for us this year) our Star Boy and Lucia lead all of the children in a procession throughout the house ending in the livingroom with our Tomte (the Christmas elf) passing pepparkakor to their aunts and uncles as the story is passed on to another generation . . . a family story reminding them they are part of a larger family story . . . one that brings light and hope into our darkness . . . one with power to redeem our stories for the family of God.

HE STILL COMES . . .

FOR US!!!

Glory to God in the Highest--Peace, Good Will to All!

God Jul!

Deo Gratias!