Tell Your Stories, Stack Your Stones

by jphilo | Jun 2, 2014 | Church Newsletter Columns

And he said to the people of Israel,
“When your children ask their fathers in times to come,
‘What do these stones mean?’
then you shall let your children know,
‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ “
Joshua 4:21–22

Our family spent part of Memorial Day weekend decorating graves at cemetery where my dad and his side of the family are buried. In years past, Mom took Dad’s two elderly aunts and helped them complete the task. Mom would drive from headstone to headstone while the aunts told family stories stretching back to the Civil War. Now, the aunts are gone. Now someone in my generation does the driving while Mom sits quietly trying to pass along the stories.

But every year, her memories grow more fragmented. Every year, I wish I’d paid more attention and rolled my eyes less when Mom and the aunts told their stories over and over and over. Every year, my siblings and I try to piece the remaining fragments of Mom’s stories into a patchwork of remembrance. Every year, our resolve to pass along that patchwork to our children and grandchildren becomes more pressing.

Because our family history matters.
Because old stories matter.
Because that history and those stories are the substance that holds families together.

God knows the importance of shared memories. He created us for remembering. Not only that, he instructs his children to pass on their memories of family and faith and of God at work to new generations.

In Joshua, he commanded the Israelites stack stones of remembrance beside the Jordan River. The commemorative stones weren’t erected as an altar, but as a conversation starter by which stories of God’s faithfulness could be be passed on to future generations.
In the book of John, the author says he wrote the story of Jesus “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

In 2 Peter, the apostle explains why he continually repeats what Jesus did and said while he was on the earth. The reason, Peter says, is simple: “…so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”

God made us to remember. He made us to remember by sharing our stories with one another, especially with our children and their children. By sharing the stories of our lives.

The stories of the lives of loved ones who came before us.
The stories of God at work among our ancestors and among us.
The stories orchestrated by God to bind us together as individual families, extended families, and families of faith.

So this summer, take advantage of the long hours of evening to share stories. Unplug the computer, turn off the tablets, and ditch your phones. Pull out the photo albums. Gather your starry-eyed youngsters and your eye-rolling teens around the table or a campfire. Tell your family stories. Tell stories about God at work in your family’s history. Take time to pass down your faith, one story at a time, so those who love you will find their faith strenghtened and will remember your legacy of love long after you’re gone.

Photo Source: lkunl at www.freedigitalphotos.net