Is anyone else daunted at the challenge we are all called to?  Of evangelization?  Proclaiming the Gospel to all the world?

Oddly enough, I gain inspiration to do this from one of my favorite musicals:  Once on this Island, which I was introduced to in high school (which happens to be polytheistic in presentation).  In particular from the closing song, “Why We Tell the Story”:

And she stands against the lightning and the thunder
And she shelters and protects us from above
And she fills us with the power and the wonder
Of her love

And this is why
We tell the story
Why we tell the story

Why we tell the story
Why we tell the story

If you listen very hard you hear her call us
To come share with her our laughter and our tears
And there’s mysteries and miracles befall us
Through the years

We tell the story
We tell the story!

Life is why
We tell the story
Pain is why
We tell the story
Love is why
We tell the story
Grief is why
We tell the story
Hope is why
We tell the story
Faith is why
We tell the story
You are why
We tell the story
Why we tell the story
Why we tell the story
Why we tell the story

So I hope that you will tell this tale tomorrow
It will help your heart remember and relive
It will help you feel the anger and the sorrow
And forgive

For all the ones we leave
And we believe
Our lives become
The stories that we weave

I find resonance in this song of the Christian life. There is joy, sorrow, pain, grief, and hope. Stories connect us to each other and stories teach us. Why do we proclaim the Gospel? To help others live this life well. To grab people by their hearts and impart the faith which saves.

What does this song highlight for me?
There is a God who fills us with the power and the wonder of His love.
A God who calls us to share with Him our laughter and our tears. Our prayer should be sincere and intimate, and not reserved for those times when we feel pious, but perhaps especially when we are not, or when we do not feel like praying.
The Gospel has relevance for every aspect of life.
The Gospel is the reason for our hope and our faith.
We need to keep ever before us His passion, which He suffered on our account, and to forgive those who have wronged us.

But perhaps most of all, because our lives do become the stories that we weave. What we say, what we repeat, what we choose to expose ourselves to… all these things shape us into the person we are. We are what we repeatedly do. What stories am I incorporating into myself and sharing with others?

It also contains a fundamental truth of the interconnectedness of all human persons. We are made for relationship and we are made to uphold and uplift each other.

So, why do we tell the story?

YOU are why!
🙂