My Take: Adventist Stories
by Raj Attiken, April 1, 2015: At the heart of the Christian faith is a story. It is a story that extends from eternity past to eternity future. The Christian community is one that is shaped by The Story. Christian experience is about living in the God story.
Besides finding our identity in the Jesus story, we construct our identity in other stories as well. We humans are story-making machines. We live in our stories. We are shaped by our stories. We become our stories. So do our institutions. So also do our churches. We Adventists have our own stories –stories of faith, of courage, of disappointment, of resilience, and more. Some of these stories originate with our birth story. Others develop as our movement advances. Some stories are rooted in metaphors, facts or our interpretation of the facts. Some in hopes and expectations. Some even in fantasies.
One way to understand the diversity of thought, beliefs, practices, and passion among us is to recognize the stories that fuel this diversity. Stories are powerful drivers of convictions and passion. Some stories inspire hope, joy, assurance, and abundance. Others arouse fear, uncertainty, pessimism, scarcity and gloom. Some stories nudge us to make our world a better place for all; other stories make us want to escape this world. Some stories inspire us to enjoy and celebrate each day as a fresh gift from God. Other stories convey shame and guilt that we are still here on planet earth.
One phenomenon associated with stories is that when faced with disappointment, confusion, and an inability to have coherent answers to existential questions, we make up egocentric versions of what the stories mean. Often the narrative becomes about us. We become the center of the story.
The lived stories within Adventism today are of at least two types: those that are about us, and those that are about our Savior. In the former category, for example, are the stories that assert that of all the peoples in the world, Adventists are the sole target of Satan’s attacks; or that we can control God’s timetable by being the “last generation” that will achieve a standard of character perfection that will trigger the return of Jesus, or that the return of Jesus is solely dependent on Adventists “finishing the work.” These stories imply that God’s covenant with ancient Israel has been transferred exclusively to the Adventist Church (a notion only slightly removed from the idea that the covenant has been transferred to the American nation). Not only do these stories center on us, they also attempt to make us the center of God’s story. Invoking God’s name in the telling of these stories does not necessarily make them God-centered.
In the other category of story are those that acknowledge Jesus as the center of God’s story. The phenomenon of the One Project with its global reach and the Jesus 101 media ministry are two current examples of such stories. They strive to point to the supremacy of Jesus in all aspects of the Christian’s life.
In our relatively brief existence as a denomination, we have experienced many powerful moments that have become the foundation of a variety of stories. While those moments have come and gone, the stories remain. Sometimes the stories take on a life of their own. Sometimes they obscure that which gave them life. Regrettably, some of our enduring stories were born out of misunderstandings or misinterpretation of the grander story of God’s purposes. When these stories become the skin in which we experience our faith, we distort the Adventist ethos, experience, and mission.
My ministry responsibilities for over twenty-five years included worshiping with a different congregation two to three Sabbaths in most months, for each of those years – circulating among the approximately one hundred congregations in my “parish.” In such a regimen, one soon learns to recognize the dominant stories that shape each congregation. One also begins to appreciate each congregation not for its buildings, location, or programs, but for the story that it embodies in its people. Most often these are localized narratives – stories involving local congregations, families, clans, or individuals. Seldom are these stories static. They keep evolving and taking form and shape through the lived-stories of each generation. These stories exert enormous influence on how people experience their faith and life in their particular faith community. A congregation’s lived story is also almost always its lived theology – rich in grace or impoverished of grace.
The best expressions of Adventist life and faith occur when the stories we tell, and the stories we wrap our life in, are stories about God and not about us. We should, therefore, be aware and beware of our stories. That’s my take!
Very intelligent essay. Even a cursory examination gives one pause to consider.
Raj,
Once again, you have challenged us to think about our relationship with God. Thank you.
Please forgive me if I reposition your two catgories just a bit. I see the first group as primarily describing our theories about what the “Adventist experience” should be and how we think the church is performing in spreading the Gospel. But this is largely apart from us as individuals. The second group is our pet theories about God and theology with overwhelming emphasis on prophecies and the gift of prophecy in a single person over a century ago. Again, this is independent of us. Neither story really touches us where we live and it creates a set of illusions which we can tailor to use in comforting ourselves that we somehow belong to God, or that we are “doing God’s work” when we most likely are doing very little or nothing for Him.
So I suggest we need a third category of “Adventist Stories” that tell of our intimate experiences with God, of how we have been actually touched by the power we hear about in the other stories, how our lives have been changed by the God we hear about working “over there” but never seem to see working “over here.” The telling of these stories is exactly how we got the vast majority of what we know today as the Bible. If we draw inspiration and hope and guidance from those ancient stories about the experiences of individuals and nations with God, why should we not be even more inspired by such stories today? From having those experiences with God ourselves?
I’ll tell you why we aren’t hearing this third type of Adventist story very often today. It is because we’re afraid of God. We’re afraid of testimony because it might send someone home from church more inspired than they would be by hearing a sermon. We’re afraid it will take attention away from the debates about prophecy and doctrine the spiritually dead use to fool themselves and others into thinking they are important and actually doing “God’s work.” insignificant elements of prophecies and debates about doctrines. We’re afraid we might be changed if we let ourselves be touched by the power of God. But it is that power that changed the lives of the Patriarchs. It is that power and love that inspired the Disciples and drove the Apostolic Church to the farthest corners of the planet.
The only Adventist story more powerful than the one about God working in the life of a person you can touch is your story about God’s working in your life.
William, you have a great Christian outlook.
I only wish “our stories” were Christ-centered and not, as I constantly come across, include today’s human aspect of Christianity, that is, exalting “denominational” names in an attempt to gain superiority. As a non-denominational believer in Christ Jesus, I find that aspect of Christianity a huge distraction to others.
I know the existence of the “visible” church has its purpose, but Christians should desire to follow Jesus and not exalt human values above Christ. Paul wrote: “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ”. Gal. 1:10
William:
I agree completely with your third story category. And I want to also suggest that we need to resist those that use Bible stories to affirm the SDA position of superiority with God. So many stories are misused to encourage last day heroism among SDAs (Joseph, Daniel and his three loyal Hebrew friends, Elijah, David vs Goliath) as if these stories were recorded solely for SDAs. What about the Christians who are being persecuted and martyred today as we speak? SDAs seem to think that those modern crimes against Christians are mere coincidences of being in the wrong place at the wrong time because that is not the real persecution referred to in Revelation 12. The Biblical stories of God’s presence in difficult circumstances cannot refer to them because they don’t possess the real truth and this is not THE “time of trouble”, yet. It certainly is THEIR time of trouble!
We tend to think of persecution in terms of life or death and overlook the many ways God sustains and guides us from day-to-day. Dying for Christ leaves you unable to testify about His power where the experience of living for Him each day equips us with the experience that will resonate with others and draw them to Him.
Revelation 12:11 is one of my absolute favorite Bible verses. Notice the two critical elements: the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. The first changed and empowered them and gave them their testimony about God. It was their testimony that attracted others to God. His objective was not their deaths, but the powerful sharing of their testimonies so that people would be turned to Him. It was the great power in their sharing and the results of their testimonies that caused Satan to want to silence them with death. How willing are you to let God use you so that your testimony will have power and turn the hearts of others to Him?
There is the smell of victory in these words. I love testimonies and the environments that produce their sharing.
Raj,
This is an excellent article. It brings out the main problem I have with my church–it’s arrogance. The Bible nails us, however, in the Laodicean Church of Revelation. Sometimes I wonder if God will choose another more teachable group that will present similar doctrine in a Christ setting and not about us. When will He tire of our narcissism and send His latter rain message to other Christians? When will we understand the sign will not be about a day saving us, but celebrating that day because it represents the rest we have in Jesus?
Perfect.
It is a good article.Writing in either way is a major Leadership Ministry. We write to teach, inspire and passing of a message Have you ever thought how many people you have been reaching? IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD AND WE NEED TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO COME ON BOARD much to say many of our writers are from the U.S.A
Raj-
Yes I agree stories shape our lives much more than we are aware. My doctoral work at Fuller was in the power of stories. The images and emotive truth in stories shape and form our life and identity. And yes, Jesus Christ, is the core story of Adventism. It would appear soon the edges of the church both conservative/traditional and liberal/relative will shake lose by the story of Jesus in his precious word. And from the community will come those who have received Grace and kindness from the priesthood of all believers.
Stimulating thinking, Raj
Jesus taught in parables exclusively for much of his ministry.
He declared his own life was a story to Peter, who came to understand who Jesus was, not by Jesus explaining himself, but by Jesus’ Father revealing to Peter whom Jesus is.
Matthew quotes Jesus’ response to Peter’s affirmation that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.’
Stories always serve as the foundation of a denomination, as the stories of the remnant of Millerism served for the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist church, for example.
However, founding stories rarely lead churches forward because they so easily morph from being about one’s experience of the Holy Spirit, to one’s experience of the church.
Church members are in perpetual fear of new stories because they are new by reason of the fact that they contrast with the founding stories, reminding us of things we fear we may no longer be able to depend on in the old stories.
Acts 15 was not a walk in the park with the grandkids. But it paved the way for Christian generations nearly two thousand years on.
The strongest hope for most Protestant denominations to survive until the Second Coming is an imminent Second Coming.
And that is because of the stories.
Is there a difference between the stories that appear to have grounded the church in Acts 15 and the stories that appear to ground churches today? Are the stories in Acts 15 about the living Jesus, while the stories today are the stories of now dead people?
What is our personal story, today, as Seventh-day Adventists? I’m thinking about that. Does it stretch back further than 1844 or go deeper into Revelation 14 and following? Or are we left with animating someone else’s story?