Telling the Story Right
One of the podcasts I enjoy is the Bible Study Magazine Podcast, and a short moment in a recent episode really captured my attention.
In this episode, theologian and author Dr. David Firth was discussing his new commentary on the book of Joshua. He related an account of his time working in South Africa.
He related one of the stories from the Bible to a group he was teaching; then he provided an explanation of what the story meant.
Someone pulled him aside and told him he was doing it wrong. He said that his first inclination was to react arrogantly to the suggestion that he might be teaching the Bible incorrectly.
But then he asked for clarity, and he learned something that he has carried with him since.
The South African church leader told him that if he had to explain the story he was telling, he didn’t tell it well enough.
WOW! Let that sink in for a minute.
Here in the South, we take pride in our storytelling skills. For generations, Southerners of all walks of life have reveled in storytelling.
I’ll never forget the way my grandfather and his brothers could tell stories. It didn’t matter if you had heard them a million times; the stories were still funny. I hope that we future generations have been able to carry on the tradition — and I hope we tell our stories right.
Storytelling is just one of the aspects of the culture of the South that I tackle in my book Neon Crosses, which is coming out soon! I’ll have order info for you as soon as I get it.