What's The Story Here? A fresh approach to being impacted by God's Word.

Transformation
Transformation: a change in me. That pivotal moment when I am confronted by a new reality of who God is, who I am, and what must change in me. What is the secret to initiating this process of change? Transformation happens as we open God's Word and discover the answer to the question: "What is the story here?"

A Good Story
Have you seen a good movie or read a good book lately?

• "Rings True"
• Connections I make to the story (something in common) = small areas that may transform me or elicit a response:
• I may respond by getting all weepy, feeling anger towards injustice, laughing out loud, or cheering for the underdog.

Why Stories?
Unnatural: "What is this story communicating directly to me?" Using this method, I would disregard background material or character development and broad elements of plot, theme and genre. Instead I would listen for words spoken directly to me by the characters or author. I would then seek to be transformed by applying these personal messages to my context.

• Hire a professional!
• Cut out the middleman!
• But we like stories! Stories are what transform! To inspire patriotism in our children, do we lead them in reciting sections of federal legal code; or do we tell them the stories of our nation's beginnings, of battles fought, of heroes who helped secure our freedom? Who would actually believe that transformation could occur--or that patriotism could be inspired--without the use of stories?

The Bible: Not God's Personal Love Letter To Me

• Sounds ridiculous when applied to watching movies or reading novels: but don't we read the Bible this way?
• Outsourcing the story to the pastor or commentator.
• If we want transformation, we need to dig in and discover the story for ourselves.
• "What is the story here?" Who did the author have in mind as he wrote these words? What themes and patterns are present in the story? What were the assumptions of the intended audience, and how would they have understood the message conveyed?

Discovering the Story: Mark 5:1-20

• A demoniac roaming through hills and tombs, 2000 pigs jumping off a cliff and plunging to their death, a crowd of people urging Jesus to leave their region
• Verse 19: "Go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been." (NLT)
• How do we go about answering the question: "What is the story here?"

1. Read Carefully: Notice Details
READ MARK 5:1-20: What are some details you noticed just on the first reading?

• In verse 7, the demons are surprisingly accurate in their assessment of Jesus' identity, referring to Him as "Jesus, Son of the Most High God."
  
• The story must take place among Gentiles, because Jews would not be raising pigs.
  
• There is a stark contrast between the response of the people of the region, who ask Jesus to leave them, and the response of the healed man, who begs to go along with Jesus.
• Jesus denies his request and instructs him to go home to tell his family the good news of his healing. Instead, the man goes throughout the whole region, telling everyone.

2. Read Broadly: See The "Big Picture"
OT Class: Genesis in one sitting --> like watching the whole DVD in one afternoon rather than over the course of 3 weeks!

BIG-PICTURE OBSERVATIONS IN MARK: rejection of temple, meeting God in the wilderness or on the top of mountains, issues of Jesus' identity (God's voice @ Jesus' baptism, demons, disciples, Jesus, high priest), "the people" & their response to Jesus, the disciples and their response to Jesus, physical spaces & symbolism (who is near/far from whom; who eats with whom?; with whom does Jesus eat?; insiders/outsiders); the remnant; "sandwich" passages; forgiveness & healing offered to Gentiles & the unclean

3. Outline: Identify Themes
How does the author progress through the story? What is the geographical movement of the story? Who are the characters? How do they behave and interact with one another?...

4. Interpretive Communities: Together asking the question, "What is the story?"
Body of Christ, many members; we can each encourage each other as we discover more about the God we serve. Prerequisites: curiosity, humility.
Interpretive Spiral--each time we return to a passage we've read before:

• We'll have a broader understanding of Scripture, because of other passages we've read
• We'll have perspectives we've gained from our interaction with one another
• We will have changed.