“It was my sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. I never got that before.”
May has been a Christian for six years, and this was her response one day as we learned a story from the life of David. She uttered these words through many tears as she simultaneously felt the weight of her sin and the depth of God’s love and grace.
Many people ask me why I don’t start with Jesus when I do storytelling. Quite simply, it’s just not where God started. It’s clear way back in Genesis 3 that God’s plan is to send His Son to be our Savior. And yet the next almost 2/3 of the Bible focuses on God’s interaction with His people like Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets. It’s as if God knew man wasn’t quite ready for what was to come at the Cross, and He needed to prep their hearts.
Or in this case, May already knew the story of the Cross. But engaging with the gospel through the lens of the entire story of God did something transformative in her life. It’s the reason I love storying - because somehow during this process God takes knowledge and moves it from our heads to our hearts. When that happens, our life will never be the same. And the best part of this for me is that because I engage with these Bible stories through the lens of people who have never heard them before, I frequently have those “aha” moments right alongside of them. It is like a fresh new encounter with the grace of God.
Last month May received her first Bible - six years after becoming a Christian. She’s now helping Friends of the City develop new sets of oral stories that can be used with other groups. Our goal is to see “aha” moments like this multiplied throughout the inner city.
