STORY: A seven-week series that helps us see into the nooks and crannies of life and realize that there is more to this business of being human than we have yet explored.

Check back the week following The Rock services and the talks will be posted below.

Also, we’ll be using the God’s Story reading plan during the first 40 days of the semester.   Download PDF

August 22 — Part 1:
THE POWER OF STORY
getting caught up in the drama
A good story doesn’t just tell us something and leave it there. It invites our participation. A good storyteller, gathers us into the story and offers us a place in the story, inviting us into this large story.

August 29 — Part 2:
YOUR STORY MATTERS
everybody has a story to tell
Our contemporary preference is information over story. But we don’t live out our lives by information; we live life in a narrative vein. And no story is too small. Your story really does matter.

September 5 — Part 3:
USING YOUR IMAGINATION
living full lives and envisioning a different world
Imagination and faith are close kin. It seems as though when we use our God-given imaginations, we start to dream of changing the world around us and experience the fullness of life Christ has in store. Imagination is not only for children.

September 12 — Part 4:
THE HERO INSIDE OF US
the search for adventure and significance in our life’s calling
Author Frederick Buechner writes: “The place God calls you is the place where our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” It seems like we all what to do something with our lives that gives us lives and gives life to others.

September 19 — Part 5:
WRITING A LOVE STORY
it’s not like we used to hear in those old songs
We live in a world awash in love stories. Most of them are lies. They are not love stories at all — they are lust stories, sex-fantasy stories, domination stories. From the cradle to the grave we are fed on lies about love.

September 26 — Part 6:
SHOUTS AND WHISPERS
the stories that stay with us
It seems as though the moments and words in our lives that shout the loudest are the ones that scar us. These shouts lead to sorrow. It seems as though the moment and words in our lives that whisper are the ones that uplift us. These whispers lead to joy.

October 3 — Part 7:
IS DEATH THE END OF THE STORY
more than an epilogue
This is the part of the story we like to avoid. It can scare us. It has scarred us. It makes us uneasy. It’s not easy to understand. But every honest story, especially our fairy tales, engages the questions of what happens when we die.