Telling Great Stories
Earlier this week, one of our church members shared a quote on his Facebook page from the second Lord of the Rings Movie- The Two Towers. This quote is said by Samwise Gamgee at the end of the movie in the midst of an attack that seems to be the beginning of the end of the world.
I have seen the Lord of the Rings movies several times (although I confess I haven’t read the books). But there are several quotes from the movie that are on my list of profound quotes. The one above is especially relevant to this time- in more ways than one. And I want to take sections of the quote and unpack them a little bit.
“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?”
I can imagine that several of us have asked similar questions in the midst of this quarantine. And I think that’s okay. It is okay for us to ask hard questions that don’t have answers because that will be part of how we move forward.
But instead of focusing on the questions in this part of the quotes, I want to focus on the words “great stories.” I wonder if we thought about this time as a “great story” how we would tell it differently. Great doesn’t have to mean “happy” or “positive.”
A synonym of the word great is “significant.” I would say that this is absolutely a significant time in our history and our individual lives. In 12 months, 5 years, 10 years, 40 years- how will you tell this “significant story?”
“But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”
One thing that is so important for all of us to hold on to in these times is hope. And I pray to our loving, revealing God that we will each make it through these times and come out on the other side with a bigger understanding of something. Whether that something is how important people are, or how cherished spending time with one another is, or a new perspective on how we treat others- that’s between you and your God.
But I truly want us to all hold on to hope, and to believe that this world can be a better, stronger, safer, more loving place.
“Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something. That there's good in the world and it's worth fighting for."
Which leads us to the last section of this quote. The world we are living in right now will be documented and taught and recorded in history books. Years and generations from now, students will be learning about this time.
And what will they learn? Will it be a time when they look back and say “Well here is how they should have handled this instead.” Or “well we clearly haven’t learned from their mistakes.” Or “I am so thankful for the steps they took to make this world the way it is now.”
The good news is that we haven’t finished writing this part of the story. We can keep going; keep learning; keep listening; keep helping; keep loving. There is good in this world, and it will always be worth fighting for. We just have to have the courage to keep moving with it.
Reverend Kristen Koger has served as the Pastor for Children and Families at FBC Decatur since June 2017. Kristen loves working with the youngest of God’s family as she helps them realize that they have some of the most important gifts to offer the family of God. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with her dog Dietrich “Bonehoeffer,” cooking, knitting, and playing board games.