Dear one,
I’m late in sending this blog to you, and yet, as I’ve shared with you recently, I am seeking to heed my own words regarding rest …
Because this is Memorial Day weekend, my thoughts have strayed to the few stories my father shared regarding his WW2 experiences: he piloted “Ford’s Folly,” a B-24 Liberator. As I have recalled those stories—particularly his flight across the Atlantic—I have again remembered the power of “stories”: I can see him hand controls to his co-pilot, while he sought a short, half-hour nap … the engines droning … pitch dark … radio silence … only to awaken and realize that his co-pilot had fallen asleep … Were they off course? Would his throttling-baclk save enough fuel to make Dakar? Many a Liberator never reached African shores.
As defined by Webster’s, “history” is “an account of what has happened … a story; a tale,” which accords well with the Greek word from which it is derived, ἱστορέω (historeo). In Classical usage, ἱστορέω meant “to examine, observe” and thereby “to know.”[1] Within the New Testament world, this word came to mean: “to visit (for the purpose of coming to know someone or something).” [2] Thus this knowledge was very personal to the one inquiring and equally personal to the one who shared his or her knowledge or “story.”
The word ἱστορέω only occurs once within the New Testament, Galatians 1:18, where Paul noted that, after his conversion, he “visited” Peter in Jerusalem. Although Peter and Paul’s relationship later knew a stormy moment (cf. Galatians 2:11-14), surely Paul’s first “visit” with Peter consisted of relating his personal “story” with the Risen Christ, and his subsequent, thoughtful examination of the Scriptures. In other words, Paul shared his recent history, whereby Peter came to know Paul—and God at work.
Stated more generally, by the rehearsing and/or retelling of our stories, the histories of our lives, both we and others gain personal knowledge of ourselves, of one another, and of our world. The Greeks encouraged, “know yourself” (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), knowledge often best gained through the retelling of our stories—particularly our stories of faith.
May we re-story and often,
Stan
Ps. When my father landed they had less than an hour of fuel remaining. He never doubted Who piloted them mid-Atlantic.
[1] Greek-English Lexicon: Liddell & Scott (Oxford: Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1968), p. 842.
[2] A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Danker (ed.) (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000) p. 483.