A WORD FOR TODAY, April 28, 2022
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, April 28, 2022
“On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight. There were many lights in the upper room where we[a] were gathered together. A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third floor and was taken up dead. Paul went down and fell upon him, and embracing him said, “Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.’ When he had gone up, and had broken bread and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed. They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.” Acts 20:7-12, ASV
I like to tell stories. This is obvious in the daily posts of “A WORD FOR TODAY”. You’ve listened to my stories day after day. Sometimes my stories are from my past, and sometimes they are about the things I experience now. I tell stories about television shows, movies or commercials. I have even used other people’s experiences. I find ways of using stories from books I have read or newspaper headlines. While not all the devotions are written as stories, they all tell a story in some way. At least I hope they tell all tell a story: the story of God’s grace in the world.
Certain topics find their way into my stories on a regular basis, like my cats, my family, and travel. I talk about wildflowers and weather. I like to tell the stories of the Saints and other historic people. Sometimes I worry that I’ve told the same stories over and over again. I confess that after writing this devotional for nearly twenty-three years, I do sometimes post edited repeats, including this one from twelve years ago. My life these days isn’t very exciting. I hope that even the repeats continue to offer new lessons for us as we grow in faith. Sometimes I just like telling the story again.
There are some stories that I like to tell. After having told them a number of times, I have developed the story beyond words. The stories have rhythm and I know when to change my tone of voice or use my body to emphasize a point. These tiny details make the stories more interesting; they help keep the listener’s attention and create an emotional response. That’s what stories are meant to do: some make us laugh and others make us cry. They help us to share our lives and build relationships. Though we have told the stories over and over again, they become a shared experience that bonds us together.
My children, however, never really appreciated my reruns. It doesn’t take much to spark a memory: a word, a sight, a noise, a smell. The kids often have experiences similar to things that happened to me when I was their age, and their storytelling leads us back to my memories. They get frustrated by this because they have already heard the story and they aren’t usually very patient about it. “You told me this one already, Mom,” they say with a sigh. This response makes me stop talking; after all, I don’t want to bore my kids.
I sometimes worry that the readers of my devotions get tired of hearing my stories over and over again. I hope that even if my life isn’t very exciting, the lessons of God’s grace that I find in my experiences are enough to keep your attention. I don’t think I’ve sent anyone falling off a wall with my storytelling. I don’t think I could talk all day and then all night. Paul certainly had something to say that day recorded in today’s scripture, didn’t he? He probably filled the time with stories, stories of his own adventures with the Gospel and stories of Jesus. He knew the scriptures, so I’m sure he also told those stories to the people listening.
Did the young man get bored? Perhaps: young people are not very patient with us old folk and our stories. It isn’t that they aren’t interested. After all, Eutychus was there, listening to Paul. But I can see him sitting in the window, on the edge of the crowd. He was probably like the kids we have in our communities of faith, anxious to learn, but wondering how the stories of those adults have anything to do with them. Our kids would probably have their social media open on their phones, only half listening to the sermons.
I’m not sure what lesson we are meant to get out of the story of Paul’s fatal sermonizing. Yet, as we read this story, we see that it only took a personal touch from Paul for Eutychus to come back to life. Perhaps the stories were boring to the young man, but a relationship was built between the two that day. And though our kids might get bored with our old people storytelling, they want to be in a relationship with us. They want more than stories; they want that personal touch. So, even as you share your own stories, don’t let their impatience destroy what might develop between you. Give them the stories, but also the personal touch. Show them how God’s grace is relevant to them today.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org