Today, Tomorrow, Forever - Discipling Through Story

Imagine you are holding a footlong undecorated cardboard-brown tube. Along the length of the cardboard tube you have hand printed in big bold letters: “G O S P E L”. You hold the tube in front of yourself so the group of five year olds can see the word.

“What does that spell?” You ask. 

Glancing to a parent and then back to you, one bright youngster shouts “GOSPEL!” 

“And what is the Gospel?” You ask. 

A moment of silence and then a questioning answer: “The Bible?” You nod and gesture that you want more answers. “Jesus?” another kid hazards. You smile, still holding the tube so they can read the world G O S P E L.

“You are both right,” you say. “The Gospel is the story of Jesus in the Bible. The Gospel is everything that Jesus did for us and will do for us. The Gospel means God loves us and that’s what the Bible is all about.” You pause and look down at the cardboard tube, surprised. “What’s this?” you ask. “Does anyone know what’s in my hand?”

“The GOSPEL!” the kids shout in unison. 

“True,” you laugh. Then you spin the tube in various directions so the kids can see it’s shape. “But, what is this thing that says GOSPEL on it?” 

“It’s a toilet paper roll,” one kid says. “It’s too long for that,” another kid corrects. “It’s a paper-towel roll.” 

“Good answers,” you say, “but let me show you something.” You hold it longways again, the word “GOSPEL” facing the kids. “This way it’s a rectangle,” you draw a rectangle tracing the two dimensional shape facing them. Then you turn it end out, “But this way, it’s a circle, isn’t it?”

The kids all nod. “That’s because it’s a tube!” one future-scientist exclaims. 

“Yes,” you laugh, “it is a tube. But this tube never had paper of any kind wrapped around it. In fact, my GOSPEL tube may look plain and boring but that’s only because you haven’t looked inside it. Who want’s look look into my GOSPEL tube?”

Pandemonium breaks loose in the church as the kids raise their hands and beg for you to call them. “I’m only going to show one of you,” you say. You choose a little boy who comes forward. You stand him side-on to the audience and ask him to close one eye. Resting the tube gently against the open eye, you point it up toward the light, slowly rotating it as he looks through. “What do you see in my GOSPEL tube?” you ask him, holding the mic to his mouth as he looks through the kaleidoscope. 

“It’s, it’s...” Awed by the beautiful fractal patterns of light and colour the boy searches for the right words. He goes quiet for a moment as he stares upward. Finally he whispers, “It’s beautiful!” 

Helpers appear and stand at the edge of the stage, each holding a large box. 

“The Gospel is beautiful and it can only be truly understood when you look for yourself!” you say, “As you go back to your seats, take a GOSPEL tube from one of my friends and enjoy looking through them!” 

How do you tell the Gospel story? Do you tell it differently when telling it the first time to a five year-old and a fifty year-old? Of course you do! Why?

Each of us has had a different experience of discovering the GOSPEL kaleidoscope. Most of us hear the Good News of the Gospel explained early in our faith journey. The first explanation may have seemed as boring as a cardboard tube. Someone held it up, showed you the word GOSPEL, and explained it as a rectangle. Then you met people who held it up and proclaimed its circle nature. And occasionally, some deep thinker who pondered things in three dimensions, proclaimed it was a tube (often to the chagrin of many others in the room). 

Do you remember the day when you picked up the GOSPEL tube and put it to your eye for the first time? How do you explain what you saw? The rectangle, circle, tube thing you had seen so many times, came to life. Colours collided and colluded in patterns of randomly shifting shapes. Perhaps you quickly pulled it away from your eye, wondering if you were doing something wrong. “Why has no-one told me about this before?” You wondered. 

The Gospel is like that. It is something that can only be truly understood when it is encountered personally. The Good News is not a TV show, it’s a friend at a Cafe. It’s not is not web-page, it’s a chat window. The Gospel is something between you and Jesus. And it’s beautiful.

Looking through the GOSPEL kaleidoscope can happen in various ways. It can happen in a conversation with a friend, while you are reading God’s Word, in a song, in something you see, in a sermon, in silence, in nature, in prayer, in a book, or in some other way God chooses to use. The kaleidoscope touches our eye, usually fleetingly, in many wonderful ways. And the Good News becomes richer to us with each kaleidoscopic view we experience. 

Your salvation-testimony is powerful because it is what you saw when you peered through the GOSPEL kaleidoscope for the first time. And each further gaze into the light of Jesus is another story worth telling. This is why the Bible is full of stories - it is a cafe full of people who each have another telling, their own story, of what God means and who God is to them. The Bible, is a library of personal testimonies. It’s meant to show us fractal images of broken people who the light of God shines through. And that light, shining upon us, shapes us. 

Likewise each personal testimony of friends and family is another fresh and beautifully unique view of the nature, power and presence of God. If we are staring into the light of God’s glory, we are GOSPEL kaleidoscopes to the world around us - to those who are ready to see. People can see the Good News in you and through you. There is phenomenal spiritual power at the table, between friends. Your testimony is a view of Jesus that only you can give. When you tell it, you are His personal GOSPEL kaleidoscope. 

This is why Jesus called us to be disciple makers. He wants us to tell the story — both the story of the ancient faith and the story of today’s faith — to those who are seeking Him. Who are you? Who are we? What is truth? These questions are meant to be asked and answered in conversation. God wants to be viewed by those seeking Him through the kaleidoscope of you. 

When He revealed His character to the Israelites in the desert, God said their primary job was to love Him with all their heart, soul and strength so they would speak of Him and His Law — when at home, when on the road, when resting, when rising — revealing their passionate love for Him. 

You are not the only Jesus some people will ever see but you may be the only window they see Him through. Our view of God, as the kaleidoscope turns, is the view of Himself which He wants others to see. Yes, this is ridiculous and amazing. But it is also true. The way God wants to be seen is through you. 

Because of this amazing desire of God, to be seen through us, we should strive to know Him with as much clarity as possible. We need to know Him with our head, heart, hands and horizon. With our heads we study His Word and consider all that He has taught us. With our hearts we express our love for Him in worship and compassion to others. With our hands we extend His mercy to the world around us in acts of selfless service. And in all this we continue to grow the horizons of His Kingdom by constantly striving to welcome new people and ideas. 

At each step of our journey we tell a new story. It is new because we are reaching new horizons through the work of our head, heart and hands. Each new thought, new deed, new song is a small turn of the kaleidoscope causing the coloured fractal we see of Jesus and His Kingdom to shift, giving us a new story to tell. And it is through these stories, these living moments in the Gospel, that God wants to be seen and known. We are called to revel in and reveal the Good News of all Jesus has done, is doing and will do in us and for us. 

If we want a church today, tomorrow and forever we need a story today, tomorrow and forever. We need to tell the eternally relevant Gospel story of God’s Kingdom now and new every day! This isn't easy. It takes humility. It takes fresh eyes and a heart willing — even longing — for the kaleidoscope to turn. It takes relationships carefully and lovingly cultivated beyond small talk. It takes a personal challenge to our head, heart, hands and horizons. Ultimately, it takes the desire to see each generation become well discipled disciple-makers. and this happens only through shared story. So let us share our faith story — as we sit, walk, rest and rise — one turn of the kaleidoscope at a time.

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Implied Biblical references: Deuteronomy 5:1-6:4-8, Matthew 28:16-20

Jimmy and the Black Dot

Jimmy was excited! He had been waiting for this day for a long time. Today was they day of the eclipse.

They had studied eclipses at school. Jimmy had learned it was called a solar eclipse when the moon gets between the sun and the earth. Today was going to be a very special solar eclipse because it was going to be a total eclipse—the sun would be completely blocked for a short time.

At school, they had learned how to look at the eclipse. You should never look directly at the sun. It can hurt your eyes! The way to look at an eclipse is to poke a hole in a piece of paper and hold it above another piece of paper—white paper. The sun will shine through the piece with the hole and onto the paper on the ground and the shadow will have a dot of light where you poked the hole. Jimmy had already poked holes in about 10 different kinds of paper. He wanted to find the best one. But, when he took them outside and tested them, he found they all worked perfectly.

His teacher assured the class that when the eclipse was happening the dot in the shadow would copy what was happening in the sky. As the moon blocked the sun, the dot would have a bit missing. When the eclipse was full the dot would be gone. You would also be able to tell the eclipse was full because it would be nearly dark in the middle of the day.

Jimmy had been talking about the eclipse for weeks. His dad had surprised him last night by saying, "Jimmy, how would you like to stay home from school tomorrow and I will watch the eclipse with you?" Jimmy had jumped up and down with excitement. Just Dad and Jimmy, watching the eclipse.

Now the time was here. The eclipse would be starting soon and Jimmy had been testing his pieces of paper all morning. His dad opened the front door and asked, "How's it going? Started yet?"

Jimmy said it should start soon. His dad came out and picked up one of Jimmy's papers. He tested it out. "Hey, this works really good!"

Jimmy and his dad didn't have to wait long. Soon they noticed a piece of the dot missing. Then the missing bit got bigger.

"It's working!" Jimmy laughed. "It's really working!"

As they waited and watched, the eclipse slowly progressed. Soon, half the dot was missing.

Then the phone rang in the house. Jimmy's dad said, "I have to get that, Jimmy. I'll only be a few minutes." Jimmy didn't mind, he was having too much fun watching the eclipse.

When the eclipse was full Jimmy was amazed. The dot was gone and it was almost dark. Jimmy could just make out the shapes of things around him. It was like dusk—After the sun has gone down but before it gets completely dark.

In the semi-darkness, Jimmy had an idea. He had seen pictures of eclipses. In the pictures of full eclipses there was a ring of glowing light around a black dot. Jimmy wondered if that was what the sun looked like right now. He knew he wasn't supposed to look at the sun. But he thought, one quick look wont do any harm. And Jimmy looked at the sun.

There it was—a glowing ring in the sky. Jimmy was amazed. He should have looked away, but he didn't. After a few moments, on one side of the ring, a shiny diamond started to appear. Then it got bigger. And bigger!

Jimmy was so transfixed, he forgot he was staring at the sun. He watched as the ring disappeared completely and a shiny round diamond took it's place. It wasn't until the eclipse was finished that Jimmy had a sudden panic. I'm staring at the sun! He jerked his eyes away from the sun and looked at the ground.

Have you ever stared at a bright light and then looked at something else? If you have, then you know what happened to Jimmy's vision. He had a dot in the middle of everything he saw. It was a black spot—opposite to the big bright sun—a residual image. Everywhere Jimmy looked, the big black dot was there, in his way.

Jimmy blinked his eyes over and over. He could not get rid of the dot. He started to get scared. If Dad sees me like this, he will know something is wrong, thought Jimmy. Dad will be able to tell I am not looking at him properly. Jimmy kept blinking his eyes rapidly, hoping it would make the dot go away. But it didn't!

He decided to go for a walk around the block. Maybe if I walk, Jimmy thought, and look at lots of different stuff and blink a lot, the spot will go away. He walked and blinked—blinked and walked. Around the first corner. Then the second. And the third. He was almost home and the black dot was still as strong as ever. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Jimmy saw Andrew.

Andrew was a homeless man who often slept on the park bench around the corner from Jimmy's house. Jimmy had brought Andrew food a few times. And on hot days, if Jimmy saw Andrew, he would bring him a bottle of water. Andrew was laying on the bench. He's probably asleep, thought Jimmy as he walked and blinked.

Then Jimmy had the strangest idea. I wonder, if I put the black dot on Andrew . . . It would be like Andrew just disappeared. Like he didn't even exist. Jimmy liked the idea of making someone disappear! He stopped in front of the bench and looked straight at the sleeping Andrew.

In the black dot, the bench disappeared. Andrew was gone. Then something really weird happened. It was like a movie screen coming to life inside the black dot. The dot flickered, went bright white then black again except that Andrew was in the middle of the dot. The dot was as dark as ever, but Andrew was lit up like the sun was shining fully on him.

Andrew sat up in the black spot. He looked at Jimmy. And then he spoke. "I could really use a hug, Jimmy." Then the dot flickered, Andrew disappeared and it was just a big black spot again.

That was weird, Jimmy thought. Well, I guess I can give Andrew a hug. Jimmy leaned over Andrew on the bench—he was asleep again—and wrapped his arms around the man's shoulders.

Andrew woke with a fright. "I'll move! Don't hurt me!" Andrew shouted, "Don't take me to jail. I'll move officer!" Jimmy stumbled backward as Andrew lurched into a sitting position. "Oh, it's you, Jimmy! Why were you grabbing me?"

Jimmy said, "I thought you wanted a hug."

Andrew looked at Jimmy with a quiet stare. Then he said, "I suppose I did, Jimmy. I don't get many hugs. And I do like them!"

"I gotta go now," Jimmy said.

"Yup, ok." Andrew replied. "Come back any time you need another hug!"

"Thanks Andrew," Jimmy said. "I will."

When Jimmy go home he went into his room and closed the door. He hoped everyone would leave him alone until the dot went away. His dad yelled from the kitchen asking if Jimmy was hungry for lunch. He was, and his Dad let him eat in his room. He heard his sister and mother come home from school. They were talking about the eclipse and the great day at school. He heard his mum cooking in the kitchen. Then he heard his mum yell out, "Time for tea! Everybody to the table."

The spot was still as big and black as ever. Jimmy had been practicing walking around without bumping stuff. He was pretty good at using his peripheral vision—the edges of his view—where he could still see. He opened his door, walked down the hall, pulled out his chair and sat at the table.

During tea, Jimmy did his best not to look at anyone. It was hard to eat tea without being able to see it! He had to look at his plate out of the corner of his eye without looking strange. It was hard work and took a lot of concentration.

He had almost emptied his plate when his mum said, "Jimmy, would you like more mashed potatoes?"

"Yes please," he answered. Then as he saw her, out of the corner of his eye, scoop up some potato and reach toward his plate he looked up and said, "Thanks, Mum."

He didn't mean to do it! He just looked look up without thinking! He was a good kid and always said please and thank you. But looking up was a big mistake.

His mum was in the middle of the black spot. She had the spoon in her hand and the potatoes were in the air—frozen in mid flight! It was as if the dot stopped reality and only allowed whatever it wanted.

Jimmy's eyes were focused on his mothers face as she looked deeply into his eyes and said, "I love you so much, Jimmy. You will make mistakes in your life, but no mistake will ever be so great that I will stop loving you. I will always love you, no matter what! I need you to know that."

Then WHAM! The potatoes hit the plate. Jimmy looked back down and everything was normal again. Well, normal except for the big dot. What just happened, Jimmy wondered. Mum was so serious. I know she loves me but that was just weird. It was like I was hearing her deepest thoughts. Jimmy was confused and a little bit scared.

Jimmy cleaned off his plate, enjoyed his desert and then asked to be excused. He went to his room and went to bed early. I hope the spot is gone when I wake up in the morning! And with that thought in his mind, Jimmy fell asleep.

The next morning, when Jimmy woke up, before he opened his eyes, he said aloud, "Please be gone!" He hoped more than anything that his eyes would be back to normal. Surely a good night's sleep would fix the problem, he thought. No black dot, no black dot, he thought over and over. Then he opened his eyes.

The dot was still there, and as big and black as ever. Jimmy was upset, but got busy getting ready for school.

He made it through breakfast without looking at anyone. He brushed his teeth, packed his bag and headed to the bus stop.

When the bus arrived, Jimmy let everyone else get on first. As he entered the bus, he knew he needed to find a seat. He stared walking to the back of the bus—hoping there would be an empty seat next to the aisle. And there was!

He looked at the empty seat and then glanced up to see if anyone was in the seat next to it—by the window. His eyes met Sally's eyes.

He didn't mean to do it! It happened so quickly! Sally was in the black dot. Everything around her disappeared and Sally said, "Please sit next to me, Jimmy. And would you please talk to me?"

Jimmy plopped into the empty seat, breaking the black dots connection with Sally. They sat there in silence as the bus started rolling down the street. Then Jimmy remembered what Sally had asked. She never talked to anyone on the bus. People avoided Sally. Jimmy didn't know why, but he usually did to—just because everyone else did. But, today, she had asked him to talk to her.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy asked.

"Going to school. What are you doing?" Sally responded.

"Yeah, going to school," Jimmy said. "What do you have for lunch today?"

"A sandwich," she replied. "What about you?"

"Yeah, a sandwich," Jimmy said. "Actually two sandwiches. I always tell mum I only need one. But she makes me two because she says one day I will start growing and will want the second one."

That seemed to be enough talking for both of them. They sat in silence until the bus pulled into the school yard.

As Jimmy started to stand, Sally grabbed his arm. "Jimmy," she said, "thank you for sitting next to me. And thank you for talking to me!"

Jimmy paused, thought about it, and then said, "I thought you wanted me to sit and talk with you."

"Oh, I always want someone to sit next to me," Sally said. "And I always hope someone will talk to me." Sally's head fell forward and she stared into her lap. "But nobody ever does."

They were alone on the bus now. "Well, your welcome," Jimmy said and stood up.

Sally placed her hand on his arm again. "Jimmy," she said, "would you sit next to me on the way home today?"

"Sure." Jimmy made his way off the bus.

As he was walking down the path to the classrooms, Jimmy noticed someone on the swings. You weren't allowed on the swings before school—because there wasn't any supervision. But Frank was different. He came really early to school. And sometimes he stayed until late after school. He rarely did his homework and often didn't have a lunch. Things weren't too good at home for Frank. So, the teachers gave him a bit of leeway—turning a blind eye to his use of playground equipment.

Frank was swinging really high. Some kids could go so high that Jimmy wondered if they would go right over the top of the swing-set. Frank was going super-crazy high. Jimmy was so caught up wondering about how high Frank was swinging that he stopped walking and stared at Frank.

He didn't mean to do it! He forgot! He looked right at swing-set. Frank, in mid-backswing—at the highest point—froze in the black dot. He was hovering impossibly above the ground. In his frozen state, Frank turn his head and looked right at Jimmy. "I'm really hungry Jimmy. I haven't had any breakfast." Frank said, and then started to swing again.

Jimmy reached into his back and opened his lunch. He took out the extra sandwich and walked over to Frank, making sure not to look directly at him. "Hey Frank, I have an extra sandwich," Jimmy said. "Do you want it?"

Frank dug his heals into the dirt and brought the swing to a screeching halt. He looked long and hard at Jimmy. "Why?" Frank asked, "Why are you giving me your sandwich?"

"I thought you were hungry," Jimmy replied. "And my mum always gives me two."

"I am hungry," Frank said looking at his feet as they dangled from the swing. "But how did you know that?"

"It's hard to explain," Jimmy answered, "You just look like you haven't had breakfast."

"That's true," Frank said in surprise. "I haven't eaten since yesterday."

Jimmy reached his arm out, extending the sandwich toward Frank. Frank took the sandwich, thanked Jimmy and started to eat it ferociously.

Jimmy saw one of the teachers headed up the path, directly toward the playground. Even out of the corner of his eye Jimmy could tell it was Mr Rankie.

Jimmy rushed for the path, he didn't want to get in trouble. Mr Rankie was the cranky teacher. He was always grumpy and telling kids off for doing things. Nobody knew why he was never happy. He was so mean that he was alone. Nobody lived with him. No wife. No kids. He was too grumpy for family, that's what the other kids said.

Jimmy was on the path now. He tried to walk normally—like he had been on the path all along, like he wasn't just on the playground. He didn't want to get in trouble. He walked toward Mr Rankie. And Mr Rankie walked toward him. Oh, no! Jimmy thought, I'm going to get in so much trouble.

When he was about to pass Mr Rankie, he was so nervous he forgot about the black spot. He knew if he said something nice it would help. Jimmy looked up at Mr Rankie and smiled.

He didn't mean to do it! It was an accident! And now Mr Rankie was in the middle of the big black spot.

Jimmy stood frozen like a statue. Mr Rankie looked down at him. "I'm not really a mean teacher," Mr Rankie said, looking deeply into Jimmy's eyes. "I just need someone to love me."

Jimmy stood there—it seemed like forever—studying Mr Rankie's face. He doesn't know he just said that to me, Jimmy thought. Everyone seems surprised when I know what I have learned about them from the black spot. Maybe I should just go around Mr Rankie and go to class. But Jimmy had a weird feeling about what he had just heard Mr Rankie say. He may not know he needs someone to love him, but he does need it.

Jimmy sat his backpack on the ground. Then he stood as tall as he could, wrapped his arms around Mr Rankie and gave him the biggest hug a little boy can give. While still hugging Mr Rankie, Jimmy looked up at his face and said, "I love you, Mr Rankie!"

A big tear ran down Mr Rankie's cheek. He rested one of his hands on Jimmy's shoulder and tussled Jimmy's hair with the other one. "I love you too, Jimmy," Mr Rankie said. "Thank you for that hug."

"Your welcome, Mr Rankie," Jimmy said with a smile. Then he picked up his bag and ran to class.

As the day went on, the spot slowly faded from Jimmy's vision. By the time he got on the bus that afternoon, and sat next to Sally, the spot was completely gone.

After talking to Sally for awhile, Jimmy stared out the bus window and thought about the black spot and all that he had learned from it.

Then Jimmy made a decision, "I don't ever want to stop seeing people the way I saw them after looking at the sun."