Telling Tales

A Catholic priest friend of mine said something very interesting when we talked about how the message of Christianity has become diluted, changed, boxed in and irrelevant. He said its because we betray our heritage. We used to tell with passion the greatest stories on earth - the rights and wrongs, dos and don'ts, trials and tribulations of being a human in search of a God - now we just give out rules and statements. And that is it. Where are the stories that set the heart aflame with a desire to seek and to change? Where is the inspiration and comment on a broken world that gives hope? I go to Church most Sundays and never hear a story that sets me alight (sorry chaps!)

Telling stories is in our very genes, it is how we have always made sense of an unfathomable world. From our earliest times on earth we would have told each other great stories from simple tales to huge epics - but they all do the same job. Jesus was a master at telling tales. Listening to stories real or imagined, helps us relate and gets our inner emotions engaged, no encyclical on earth will do that for me. So - as we wait with bated breath for the Pope's new one due out on Monday, which is supposed to have environmental wisdom in it - I wonder if it will be magical interplay on words and imagination? Will it make us wonder about who and what we are and the quality of our relationships, that are often beyond the capacity of utilitarian language? Let's wait and see....