The Power of Parable

"It was an out of place blue door among the ruins of a forgotten world. Proudly it had been built. With cheers it had been painted. In reverence it had been passed. By shouts it had been defended. In screams it had been lost. With cries it was remembered until it was remembered no more. Behind its timbers hid both the foundation of a kingdom and of that kingdom's demise, and if time would allow, the rise of that kingdom once again."

A blue door, an ancient story, and a mystery. With a few words we find ourselves being pulled into a story.

After a crazy week of many messages, I found myself at a lost for my Tuesday night youth service. We've been working straight through the book of Ephesians and the next couple of verses stumped me on how to present them. I understood them, but I just wasn't sure how I could get it across to my students.


At some point in the preparation process I realized that I could change the imagery to something completely different and yet it would most likely be more understandable. Within moments a story began formulating around the that image in my mind and it was off to the races. I was under a time crunch, but I wrote, edited, and wrote some more. When it was done, I found myself with two verses to read, a story to share, and hopefully some discussion to follow.

I was actually substitute teaching as I wrote and the one class pestered me to read it even though it was half finished. It's amazing what power there is in a story. That class sat in total silence as I read a story. Even better there was that "arghh" moment when I got to the halfway point and had to stop. Later that night as I shared the finished version with my youth ministry the effect was the same. Attentive listening. The story brought them in and afterward we were able to look at the verses from a different perspective.

Telling a parable does have risks. Sometimes I hide deep spiritual truths within the confines of the words and other times a certain element was written for no other reason than it was written. The lead character putting on a red scarf could symbolize the shed blood of Christ, or it could have been cold when I was writing and that influenced where the story went. There is always that risk that the listener won't understand to what the story is referring or perhaps worse, add something that wasn't there at all. Yet, the power of a story to draw people's attention is worth the risk.

In sharing a story that I write I always make sure that there is time to discuss the story in light of Scripture. I can't just assume that my message will come across clear. The story captures the attention, but often there still needs to be a time of unpacking it a little for the hearers. Also, I'm not even opposed to discussing where the story doesn't adequately capture what the Bible is teaching. God's Word is the end result, the story just a tool to help us get there.

So where does the story of the door of blue lead? I have no idea, but it's a story I would love to hear.