Undoubtedly many of you have seen the movie The Blind Side. It's a good story. I believe it is a parable for your story and my story - every human being's story.
The Blind Side is about Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster who was taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family. With the help of his adopted family and others he overcomes his background and becomes an All-American pro football player.
The Oher story inspires us to think of important relationship words – unconditional love, forgiveness, affirmation, and thankfulness. A dictionary definition is too restricting for these words. They can only be defined by a story.
If we want to pass on something valuable to generations after us, our only option is to pass on a good story – a story full of those words.
God apparently agrees. The only sign that God left us that we can all see, touch, and contemplate is a story. We call it the Bible.
The Old Testament tells of God’s adoption of Israel by pure unconditional love. God offers them a chance to live a life of unconditional love, forgiveness, affirmation, and thankfulness and pass that life around the world. The story within the story that encapsulates God’s unconditional love is the Passover.
In the two thousand year story of Israel we see her mostly as a rebellious adopted child. When the nation is about to be swallowed up by surrounding nations, her prophets tell of a future time when, she will again speak the language of unconditional love, forgiveness, affirmation, and thankfulness. And there is hope that even the hearers of that message will experience that story - but not in their lifetime.
There is 400 years of silence.
Then God comes to earth as a human being - Jesus. He confronts the descendents of the rebels. These descends are rebels, too. In three and a half years Jesus’ story moves to the ultimate Passover story. The rebels mock him and brutally assassinate him. This chapter of the God story says, “There is no amount abuse that you can heap on me that will make me stop loving you as my adopted children." That's what Good Friday was all about.
Three days later Jesus comes alive again to oversee God’s continuing plan to love and adopt his children.
That's the Gospel. The word "Gospel" means "good news". The Gospel can only be understood and lived as a story.
Ultimately our choice in life is Michael Oher’s choice - to live the life of a loved, adopted child in the Father's family. That's the new life that we celebrate on Easter. The only other choice is to live the life of a runaway child.
It is the Church’s job to tell people that they are already adopted. Churches do this by telling the Gospel story in words and actions.
The whole human story also includes those who never got to know about their adoption - probably the majority of humanity. It isn’t as if God has to make a special provision for “them” that is different from “us”. Like Michael Oher, every human being has some background and experiential roadblocks to overcome before agreeing to live in God’s family. Some obstacles do seem bigger than others. For example, dying before we are told of our adoption seems pretty big. But a loving Father can deal with any roadblock. And we can’t judge someone else and say something like, “She should be doing better considering the good story her parents gave her”.
I have been a church teacher and preacher most of my adult life. That means that I’ve had to be creative in telling a Gospel word story and be practiced in telling a Gospel action story. Some churches tell a better Gospel action story than me or my church does.
Moreover, some non-Christians, even atheists, tell a better Gospel action story than me or my church. You may be surprised at that statement, but I think that all goodness comes from God, and that God can move a person to tell a Gospel action story without knowing the word story. But the word story points us to the Source of all good stories, and gives us a standard for discerning a good story from a bad story.
If I thought I could tell a better Gospel word story than this essay, I would. At least for today. Tomorrow’s essay may communicate the same story in a different way. I have had a half-century to find many ways to tell the word story. I am a teacher at heart. (Although I spent thirty years as a Christian who did not really understand the word story.)
I never know how to tell a Gospel action story in a given situation involving a fellow adopted child. But since I’ve understood the Gospel, my prayer is always the same: “Dear God, what is my best response in this situation for all involved, knowing that this person is Your loved adopted child?” Often the answer won’t be easy. Most often the answer won't be what I want to do or like to do. Often the answer won't be a fix - it will just help me walk in that other person's shoes. Life is messy compared to a two-hour movie. But a living Jesus walks with us in that messiness by answering those prayers.
And so you - my fellow loved adoptee - you have inherited a story from your background and your choices in life to this point. Believe the Gospel, and your story will be a good story. It may not be worthy of a movie – just a better story than was passed on to you. Don't worry about believing enough. Even Mother Teresa confessed that she did not believe enough.
- John Torgerson
© 2010 Grace Fellowship Wisconsin Dells