“Tell me the story of the day I was born”
When I was a child, there was a stretch of time when I wanted to hear the story of when I was born. I asked my parents to tell it again and again. I loved the details and surprises, how my dad described wearing a paper outfit over his regular clothes. I loved the slightly different version each parent told and their perspective. I loved hearing how I was almost named Grace.
I loved hearing the story of where I came from.
But that story is not my first memory. Of course, we do not remember our birth or the majority of our first several years.
Our brain development and awareness starts somewhere in the middle, when we come to a gradual awareness of who we are and what makes us different from other people. We begin to experience this identity slowly and only then do we look back. Only when we’re forming an awareness of who we are do we want to hear about the beginning.
That’s how our faith is too.
Most of the biggest faith questions come with a gradual awareness that something just isn’t sitting right, or that we want more, or that we know there’s something out there we feel disconnected from and want more connection. Very rarely are we kept up at night unsure and off balance because of wondering about the beginning of the world.
So why start at Genesis?
Especially if we’re looking for answers, starting a new prayer practice, or making sense of our faith for ourselves, the creation of the world and universe are so rarely our driving questions.
Not to mention everything that is so fraught about how we view the Creation stories and how they highlight the relationship between science and faith. Remember the Scopes Trial ? Why start with a stumbling block? Why begin with something that brings with it so much baggage from the 21st century point of view?
I once met a college student from China who was studying in Scotland. She went to a church and someone gave her a Bible. But since they didn’t tell her anything more or offer to read it with her, she started at Genesis. She came to me more than a little confused about Christianity as she didn’t really understand what the basic tenets were. And what was up with Jesus anyway?
Starting with Genesis isn’t really starting at the beginning anyway. The truth is we always bring the present with us when we look at the past. The Crucible comes to mind - a play about witch hunts written during the time of McCarthy-ism. It’s never just about the past. How we look at the past and how we tell the stories that shape us has just as much to do with the present.
I mean, I guess you could watch Star Wars beginning at Episode One, or read the Narnia series beginning with The Magician’s Nephew. Has anyone organized The Odyssey chronologically – separating out the stories within the stories into the order in which they happened?
So where do we start if not with Genesis?
Great question! We’ll take that up next week in part 2.
And let’s keep the conversation going in the comments below.
Happy Banned Books Week!
I’ll join Pop Culture Pastors Hour for a live episode TOMORROW - Friday 10/10 at 3 p.m. EDT, 12noon PDT. MaryAnn McKibben Dana and Edward Goode have invited me to join and share some of our favorite banned books and celebrate the freedom to READ. What’s your favorite banned book?
Link below:
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The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger
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