Idaho faith: Telling the American story, we can learn from the Gospels of Jesus

Humans love stories, fictional and nonfictional. A good story entertains us and creates a world that we momentarily inhabit; it lets us see the world and ourselves through different eyes.

We make sense of our own lives and make sense of historical events through the telling of stories. We connect events, ideas and facts together to tell a history. It’s how our brains comprehend the world.

Christians put the Gospel, the story of Jesus, at the center of our spirituality; however, in the Bible there are four written Gospels. These four each link together the life, teachings, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus into a life-and-world-changing experience — each doing it their own way, not always agreeing in details.

And today, we Christians continue to retell the story of Jesus because it brings us meaning and fulfillment, it creates community, and it guides our lives. The story of Jesus is our story, one that gives our lives meaning.

But not all stories are life-giving. Some of them are downright false, like conspiracy theories that get more convoluted and complicated with each telling. And with mostly true stories, we may react badly when someone points out a problem with how we tell it. We fixate on how we tell the story rather than the truth of the story, and the story loses its ability to inspire, guide and unite.

Many generations were taught a simplistic story of history. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered the Americas. However, we all know that there were many Indigenous nations here long before Columbus. He wasn’t even the first European to set foot in the Americas.

The story that was told — and the many truths left out — made it sound like Columbus was a heroic discoverer, and thus he and his fellow countrymen had the right to take the “new” world, even though the Native Americans obviously inhabited the place.

The way we tell the American story has been too simplistic as well. We have told a story of liberty, but left out the ways in which liberty-loving Americans have denied liberty and justice to others. People were denied the right to vote based on their lack of wealth, their race, their gender — why else did we have to amend the Constitution? For centuries, Americans legally enslaved their fellow human beings, and some of those people were the founders of our nation.

Instead of facing the nuances of the story of America, many have responded by letting their feelings become more important than the facts. They feel that a nuanced story cannot inspire or unite. Imperfections must be glossed over for the sake of the story.

A nuanced story can be the most powerful of all. Remember when I said that there are four Gospels, each telling the story of Jesus? They are not consistent in details or sequence — and this is no threat to my faith. Each writer is telling me the story of Jesus their own way, to show me something about him. Each story helps me to love Jesus more, and I love telling the story of Jesus in my life and preaching.

What might a nuanced story of America be like? A story in which we can see freedom denied as well as the expansion of freedom? A story where the failure of the founders to secure liberty for all people is no threat, but a powerful reminder that We the People are the spirit of America, not the founders — and We the People are stronger when we secure liberty for all?

That’s a story of live-giving hope for a nation in turmoil, a story that can unite and inspire us all.