Dear Friends of Longview Chapel,
So many of you have been sharing stories about the saints who have touched your lives. One of the gifts we give each other as a church family is to listen and share and grow and learn together from each other’s stories. I look forward to hearing more of your stories in the weeks to come.
Barbara Schrader was the first to google what percentage of the Bible is written in story form. This is what she found:
“Biblical narrative (including historical accounts, biographies, and parables) is the single most prominent literary genre in the Bible, estimated by various biblical scholars and project guides at roughly 43% to 75% of the text. The rest of the Bible consists of poetry, law, wisdom literature, prophecy, and letters.”
Many of these stories were told verbally around meals and fires and walking on dusty roads for hundreds of years before anyone ever wrote them down. They continue to have the power to transform and heal us when we open our hearts and minds to their meaning.
While I was in seminary, I had an independent study about St. Theresa of Avila. There are many of her stories worth sharing. I learned one of her prayers through a song. Its words have often encouraged and spoken to me in many parts of life. I hope this prayer blesses you as well. I ended our Pastoral Prayer with it last Sunday:
“Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices. Amen.
My thanks to Rev. Don Wiltfong for preaching this Sunday while I am at our son’s graduation in Chicago. Thanks, too, to those helping to make Veterans’ Sunday an extra special time of worship. I will be on vacation through the 12th and will also be off Monday the 16th. I will look forward to seeing all of you at worship and Thanksgiving dinner on November 15. Thank you for time to be with our family and to rest and renew!
Exploring, Experimenting and Encouraging with You,
Pastor Donna