TELL ME A STORY

He replied, “God has granted you to know the meaning of these parables, for they tell a great deal about the Kingdom of God.” Luke 8:10

 

In November 1969, a minor miracle occurred on the American Public Broadcasting Service when Sesame Street debuted. Creators Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett teamed up with puppeteer Jim Henson and a host of producers and writers to create a new type of children’s television show with educational goals and a curriculum.  Henson’s “Muppets,” as they are called, interact with each other and with human actors to convey learning concepts that prepare very young children for school—particularly children from low-income families. Techniques such as song, repetition, and humor were used, and almost immediately, educators and social scientists began weighing in on what methods would improve the children’s educational experience. Social competence, tolerance of diversity, and nonaggressive ways of resolving conflict were introduced. And later, some real-life crises like the September 11^th terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina were addressed. It was clear to the creators, researchers, critics, and the children themselves that the story lines on Sesame Street gained kids’ attention and taught them not just how to learn, but how to cope with and solve life issues.

 

Jesus knew the telling of stories was an effective way to teach people about the kingdom of God. A “parable” is described as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” In Matthew 13:11-15, Jesus explained to the disciples that they had been given special understanding of the Word of the Lord. But, as was prophesied in the 6^th chapter of Isaiah, the average people of the time had closed their ears and no longer listened to the Lord’s warnings. So when Jesus went to explain the kingdom of God to the people, He used stories as examples of how God’s kingdom worked. A lamp as the Light of the World; a kind Samaritan showing caring for another; weeds in the wheat crop; the pearl of great price were all illustrations of God’s work on earth.

 

When I speak in public about God’s miraculous work in my own life, I always start with a story and I use stories throughout my talks. Like the producers of Sesame Street—and Jesus—have shown, the stories are what get a point across best.

 

Story-Teller God, shine through us in the stories we tell. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan tells stories of wisdom, strength, fear, joy and risk-taking. Daughter of a raging alcoholic mother, and survivor of sexual assault at gunpoint, Corrigan has shaken a dismal past and flung herself into the arms of Christ, Who sustains her in her daily walk of grace. She shares with her listeners her incredible story of surviving and thriving through many trials during her seven decades walking this fragile earth. She has been described as a Renaissance Woman, integrating her formal training in psychology and counseling, an enlightening experience as a percussionist for a Polynesian show troupe, and most recently as an inspirational author and blogger. Her exposure to many life experiences has enriched her passion for spreading Christ’s word and helping other trauma survivors. She has a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling and thirty-plus years of experience in the field of counseling and social work.  She lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, with the love of her life, Patrick, and their formerly disenfranchised rescue dog Ginger. www.MegCorrigan.com    MegCorrigan@comcast.net

UNFORGIVING SOIL

Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold. Mark 4:8

 

It is nearly impossible to get anything to grow where we live. I have actually broken hand tools in the clay soil in our yard. My passion for gardening is fueled by the short growing season here in Minnesota, and my soul is fed and healed by the warmth of the sun and by getting plants to cooperate and grow! But the soil in our area must be reckoned with if it’s going to produce. It is mandatory that compost and other organic matter be mixed into this unforgiving, pasty, mucky clay before any sort of evolution occurs. And when left alone, it seems the clay continually wins out. More good stuff must be added to bring that dirt back into compliance. God does allow beautiful plants to flourish in our terrible soil, but only if I tend it carefully and patiently.

 

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus taught the people about a farmer who went out and scattered some seed. As He explained later to the disciples, He wasn’t really talking about planting seed, but about spreading God’s Word. “Some people are like the seed along the path,” Jesus said, “…Satan comes and takes the Word away” because it never takes root (Mark 4:13). People whose hearts are like “rocky ground” don’t develop a deep enough faith to develop deep roots and they fall away (vs. 16-17). Thorns are like “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things (that) come in and choke the Word” (v. 19). But “seed sown on good soil” will be heard, accepted, and produce an abundant crop (v. 20).

 

I can look to my gardening experiences and note that not all soil is “good” without some diligent, patient, and appropriate work. In my spiritual life, as in gardening, I cannot just sit by and expect my faith to flourish. Through the years, I have continually studied God’s Word, soaking up each phrase and verse and doing my best to apply it to the way I live. In good times and bad, I must keep “feeding” the soil of my faith to make it grow.

 

Great God, thank You for tending the soil of my heart through Your mighty Word. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan is the author of three books: Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child; Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist; and Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of New Mexico and has over thirty years’ experience working with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, war veterans, and other trauma survivors.  Her books may be purchased through her website, www.MegCorrigan.com or from www.amazon.com .

ALGORITHMS

Peter told them, “You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me in a vision that I should never think of anyone as inferior.” Acts 10:28

 

Wikipedia.org provides an “informal” definition of an “algorithm” as “a set of rules that precisely defines the sequence of operations, which would include all computer programs….Algorithms are essential to the way computers process data.” I recently read an article explaining that social media platforms use algorithms to determine what people like and to bombard them with advertisements for those things. Thus, our computer usage keeps us in somewhat of an “information bubble” where we are only exposed to the same things over and over again—unless and until we express an interest in something else. If you only like cupcakes, your computer screen will continue to show you cupcakes until you demonstrate that you also like fudge, and then you will be bombarded with both fudge and cupcakes.

 

This pattern would seem to stymie our exposure to diverse life experiences. Indeed, algorithms help companies develop “target markets” where cupcake manufacturers don’t waste their time with fudge lovers. But this type of marketing also keeps us from learning that we might like fudge. How would we know if we are never exposed to fudge?

 

Peter had a vision of the heavens opening up and a large sheet being lowered containing “all sorts of animals, snakes, and birds forbidden to the Jews for food” (Acts 10:12). A voice said, “Go kill and eat any of them you wish.” Peter’s “algoriths,” as it were, caused him to reply that he would never eat unfamiliar things “forbidden by (the) Jewish law” (v. 13). But the response was, “Don’t contradict God!” The vision was repeated three times. Shortly thereafter, Peter was summoned to Caesarea to meet with Cornelius, a Roman officer, “a good and godly man, well-thought of by the Jews” (v.22). Cornelius, a Gentile but clearly a believer in God, beseeches Peter to enter his home and spend time with him. Peter “algorithms” are radically changed when he realizes that his vision was not about food, but about God’s ability to cleanse the hearts of people other than the Jews. He accepts Cornelius’ invitation.

 

Lord, free us from the “algorithms” of sameness, and move us to love all of Your precious children! Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan tells stories of wisdom, strength, fear, joy and risk-taking. Daughter of a raging alcoholic mother, and survivor of sexual assault at gunpoint, Corrigan has shaken a dismal past and flung herself into the arms of Christ, Who sustains her in her daily walk of grace. She shares with her listeners her incredible story of surviving and thriving through many trials during her seven decades walking this fragile earth. She has been described as a Renaissance Woman, integrating her formal training in psychology and counseling, an enlightening experience as a percussionist for a Polynesian show troupe, and most recently as an inspirational author and blogger. Her exposure to many life experiences has enriched her passion for spreading Christ’s word and helping other trauma survivors. She has a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling and thirty-plus years of experience in the field of counseling and social work.  She lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, with the love of her life, Patrick, and their formerly disenfranchised rescue dog Ginger. www.MegCorrigan.com    MegCorrigan@comcast.net

 

SPIRIT AND TRUTH

“A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24

 

I hired a team of women editors to review my early memoir manuscript. For a fee, they read my book and provided feedback. “Putting my story out there” was a little unnerving. Having survived my mother’s alcoholism as a child, I was sexually assaulted at gunpoint at age twenty-five. God’s miraculous healing in my life was a story I had to tell. But I wasn’t prepared for the all-out criticism I received from these three supposedly experienced literary critics. They said my book was too long. What was my “target audience?” Would my story “sell?” Following a very negative critique, these women asked me if I had any questions. I timidly asked if they thought I had any future as a writer. Expressing disbelief, they proceeded to tell me they thought I was an excellent writer! “Why,” I asked them, “didn’t you tell me that in the first place?!?”

 

Jesus may appear to have given the Samaritan woman a hard time. “If you knew the gift of God and Who it is that asks you for a drink,” Jesus says, “you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). He says He knows she has “had five husbands, and the man (she) now (has) is not your husband” (v. 18). The woman could have believed that Jesus was a self-righteous Jew, criticizing her, a lowly Samaritan with whom Jews did not associate. But there must have been something in His voice, or the way He looked lovingly at her that she did not become angry. Instead, she pressed Him to acknowledge the coming Messiah and how the truth would be revealed in Him (v. 25). He replied, “I, the one speaking to you—I am He” (v. 26). Jesus had told her things that no stranger would know, and yet He did it in a manner causing her to believe He was indeed the Messiah, but also that He loved and cared for her in a divine way.

 

Jesus, speak to us in grace, kindness and truth through the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

Both candid and humorous, insightful and ponderous, Meg Blaine Corrigan’s memoir, Then I Am Strong: Moving From My Mother’s Daughter to God’s Child, takes the reader through her chaotic childhood with an alcoholic mother and enabling father to a violent assault that nearly ended her life. She populates her tale with vivid descriptions of her parents, other influential adults, the attacker, and her disastrous first marriage. But this story has a happy ending, when Meg finds solace in a God she didn’t think she’d ever believe in, when He gently helps her heal from her past lives and move into the best times of her life. Meg has also written a novel, Perils of a Polynesian Percussionist, about said first marriage, as well as a Christian devotional, Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian, comprised of blogs from this site. Stay tuned for sequels to her last two books! All of her works may be purchased through her website, www.MegCorrigan.com or from www.amazon.com .

WHY THE LOCAL WELL WAS THE FACEBOOK OF BIBLICAL VILLAGES

Guest Writer, Stephanie Landsem

 

As I like to say, women of today and women of biblical times have more in common that we might realize. Community, for instance. We might stay in touch with our friends and family in a different way, but we do it for the same reasons. Consider the local village well and Facebook. They don’t seem to have much in common until we look a little more carefully.

Water — as always — was of vital importance in the Bible as it is today. It was just harder to get than turning on a tap. Women needed water in ancient Israel not only for drinking, irrigation, washing, and cooking, but also for religious ritual. Because of its importance, water was a common spiritual metaphor. From the great flood, to the parting of the Red Sea, to Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee—water had huge significance.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the well was the most important place in the ancient village. We see plenty of important happenings at village wells in both the Old Testament and the New:

Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, was found at a well.

Moses and Zipporah met at a well, as did Jacob and Rachel.

Jesus stopped at a well in Samaria and proclaimed himself the Messiah to a lone woman.

The well was the center of a village’s social and economic life. Early every morning, before the heat of the day, women would go to the well to fetch water in heavy clay jars, sometimes carrying it long distances back to their homes.

Using just a little imagination, we can surmise that friends used the well to check in with each other before starting their day of work —much as many of us do with our social media sites today. Maybe they even made a plan to go at the same time so they could have something to look forward to each morning before they started their many chores. Surely, they were eager to tell friends any good news they had—who was betrothed, who with child. They asked for prayers for aging parents or sick children. They mourned with each other or rejoiced.

Kind of like we do with social media. We check in with our friends, share news, discuss family and politics. Just like Facebook, there was no doubt some vice at the well—gossip, snubbing, some not-so-subtle bragging.  Probably some unfriending happened on the long walk home after the water was drawn. We can be certain that information was passed along from house to house until the whole village had had a chance to like, comment, or share each bit of news.

Next time you check in with friends online– be it first thing in the morning, on our lunch hour, or late at night–take a moment to remember these women of the Bible that were not so very different from us.

Stephanie Landsem writes novels that bring the unknown women of the Bible to life. The Living Water series—The Well, The Thief, and The Tomb, a Novel of Martha—are biblically authentic stories of women who are transformed by encounters with Jesus, the Incarnation. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, occasional adult children, two cats, a dog, and a tortoise named Moe. When she’s not writing, she’s gardening, cooking, and dreaming of travel to far-off places. You can find out more about Stephanie and her books at StephanieLandsem.com.

Stephanie Landsem

The Well (Howard Books/Simon&Schuster)

The Thief (Howard Books, 2014)

The Tomb, A Novel of Martha (Howard Books, April 2015)

sblandsem@comcast.net

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