| Ross |
I have to write a paper for English class on my favorite stories. |
| Chris |
That should be easy. (pause) What are your favorite stories? |
| Ross |
That's just it: how do I pick? There are so many.
And I'm supposed to explain why they're my favorites.
This is harder than it sounded at first. |
| Chris |
I guess you're right. It is harder than it sounded.
(other kids show up and sit down with their drinks and books and such)
Why don't you just pick a couple stories to get started, then you can
sort of make up why they're your favorite. |
| Leah |
Oh, you have to do that too? I thought it was just our class. |
| Kendra |
Yeah - what are you going to pick? |
| Ross |
I don't know - I'm stuck at the very beginning. There are just
too many stories that I like; how can I choose my favorites?
|
| Leah |
That's where I am too. I mean, think of all the stories you've
ever read, or heard, or seen on TV or movies, or whatever – this is just
about impossible. |
| Kendra |
I think Chris was right, though, just pick a couple and see if they
help. |
| Ross |
OK. I always liked that book, Harold and the Purple Crayon.
That was a cool story. |
| Kendra |
Right, that was a good one. And Goodnight, Moon - that was one
of my favorites when my Mom used to read it to me. |
| Leah |
Not much of a story to either one of those, really. I mean in
a plot kind of sense. Make Way for Ducklings, now there's a plot. |
| Chris |
Yeah – but still, those are probably your favorites just because of
who told them to you, or when they were read to you. |
| Ross |
Sure, but that's a reason, isn't it? I mean, it's not exactly
literary or anything, but it's still a reason why they're my favorites. |
| Leah |
True. But does it count? |
| Ross |
I don't know, but it's the best I have so far. |
| EERR |
We were just talking about stories in youth group a few weeks ago,
remember? |
| Emily |
I don't think I was there that night. What did you talk about? |
| EERR |
Well, it started out with how much better all the TV shows used to
be. We were talking about how sad it is that kids today don't get
all those great shows we used to see on Nick and Nick Jr. |
| Emily |
How does that relate to trying to find our favorite stories? |
| Kendra |
Well, the shows now don't have as much of a story to them as they used
to. When we were kids, they had great stuff like Pete and Pete, and
all that stuff. |
| Ross |
I don't know if kids' stories and TV shows are going to cut it for
my paper, you guys. |
| Leah |
You mean all our papers. |
| All |
Right, yeah, et cetera |
| Ben |
Hey, remember those magazines they have at the doctor's office?
You know, the ones with jokes and stories and everything? |
| Chris |
You mean Highlights? Those were always fun while you were waiting
to go in to see the doctor. |
| Emily |
And they always had that Children's Bible Stories book there too. |
| EERR |
Oh, right. That one with all the pictures in it, so you didn't
mind looking at it when you were a kid. |
| Ross |
That's right. I always kind of liked that book. That's
probably the first place I ever heard any of the Bible stories. |
| Kendra |
Me too. I always liked the Noah's ark story in that one. |
| Ben |
I liked the hidden pictures. You know, where you had to find
a baseball bat hidden in the lines of a tree trunk, or a duck hidden in
the clouds, or something. |
| Ross |
That was in Highlights, Ben, not the Bible! |
| Ben |
I thought we were still talking about Highlights - I know that wasn't
in the Bible. |
| Kendra |
But those hidden picture things were pretty cool, I have to agree. |
| Leah |
But what about stories? We have to figure out what our favorite
stories are, and why. |
| Chris |
Well, since you mentioned the Bible, what about some of the Bible stories?
Kendra already said Noah's ark was one of her favorites |
| Ben |
David and Goliath is a good one. It gets mentioned all the time
on sports on TV. Either that or Cinderella. |
| Matt |
I like the story of Esther. It's got everything: beauty pageants,
bad guys, drama, danger, lynch mobs, and a happy ending. |
| Ross |
There's one, anyway. That's not a bad start. |
| Paul |
Yeah, and Matt even got us started on some reasons for liking stories. |
| Katy |
What? Beauty pageants? |
| Paul |
No, but most of the rest of what he said. You know, stories have
to have drama, conflict, .... |
| Katy |
Right! protagonists and antagonists! |
| Ross |
Now we're getting somewhere. I'm going to start a list of what
the stories have to have. Protagonist and antagonist; conflict; resolution;
what else? |
| Katy |
Don't forget about the denouement! |
| Paul |
What? Nobody cares about that. |
| Katy |
I know, I just like the word, that's all. |
| Ross |
Whatever. OK, we would probably like some plot twists, or false
leads too |
| Katy |
Red herrings! |
| All |
<sigh> |
| Chris |
Let's get back to listing stories. That might make finding out
what makes us like them easier. |
| Katy |
OK, I like the story of Saul on the road to Damascus. You know,
where he sees the blinding light and hears Jesus talking to him. |
| Paul |
That's when he becomes Paul instead of Saul, right? I like that
part. |
| Emily |
Why am I not surprised? Oh, and don't forget we already had Noah's
Ark in there. That's got danger and a happy ending. |
| Matt |
Not for Noah's neighbors. |
| Paul |
Moving right along. I like the book of Joshua. |
| Chris |
That's pretty long. Why do you like that? |
| Paul |
Well, it's got a lot of history, a lot of action, a lot of people doing
stuff – it's not just long descriptions or speeches: something actually
happens. |
| Katy |
True – they knock down the walls of Jericho in there, don't they? |
| Paul |
Yep, and lots of other stuff, too. |
| Ross |
OK, I've got those down too. What else? |
| EERR |
How about Joseph? You know, like the Technicolor Dreamcoat?
It's got bad guys: his brothers, Potiphar's wife. It's got
danger – sold into slavery, famine in the land, prison, finding his family,
his mother is dead, |
| Katy |
Sounds like a country song to me. |
| EERR |
But in the end, they all get back together and everything works out. |
| Katy |
Never mind, it's definitely not a country song. But David and
Goliath could probably be one. |
| Ben |
Hey, how about Peter walking on water? That's so cool until he
panics and starts to sink. It's kind of like the cartoons where they
run past the end of the cliff, but they don't fall until they realize where
they are. |
| Ross |
I don't see the protagonist and antagonist in that one, but I guess
there’s conflict – at least something happens. |
| Leah |
Another one in a boat is when Jesus calms the storm. You know,
He's sleeping in the boat, and the disciples are afraid, so they wake Him
up and basically He just tells the storm to cut it out, and it does.
Pretty amazing. |
| Katy |
And the Red Sea – it's kind of like they walked on water. That's
got a chase, and an army, and danger, and everything |
| EERR |
Good one. I've always liked the one with the kids in the furnace
– Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. Hey, most of the stories we're
picking are Veggie Tales. We must be on to something. |
| Leah |
And how about when Jesus fed all the people with hardly any food?
Just some loaves of bread and a couple fish. |
| Matt |
Not a low carb meal, I guess. |
| Leah |
<glares and sighs> |
| Matt |
What? |
| Paul |
Jesus ate a meal with Zacchaeus. That's a cool story, where he
has to climb a tree to see Jesus because he's too short to see over everyone
else. |
| Katy |
And he's kind of the bad guy and the good guy at the same time in that
one. |
| Ross |
OK, I've got a huge list of stories here. We've got to figure
out which ones to choose, and how to explain why they're favorites. |
| Chris |
It seems like the best stories are the ones where something happens. |
|
EERR: Some of these stories don't have very good guys, though.
It seems like they're good mostly because they don't bother anyone else,
or just because they're up against really bad guys, you know?
|
| Katy |
Right, but when it's a story about God, it seems like He's good just
on His own, not because someone else is the bad guy.
So God is good. |
| EERR |
All the time. |
| Katy |
All the time. |
| EERR |
God is good. |
| Ross |
OK. So, stuff has to happen in the story, and there should be
good guys and bad guys. Yes, we definitely like the stories with
good guys and bad guys up against each other. |
| Katy |
You mean protagonists and antagonists. |
| Kendra |
No, he means good guys and bad guys – the conflict is bigger that way. |
| EERR |
You know, someone mentioned the story of Naomi and Ruth the other night.
It's not real action-packed, but it's a story about courage, and it has
a happy ending, after the beginning where almost everyone dies. |
| Katy |
What about denouements? |
| All |
<just look at her> |
| Ross |
Just when it looked like we were getting somewhere.... |
| Kendra |
Speaking of a happy ending after someone dies, how could we miss this
one? What about the story of Easter? That's full of action,
conflict, bad guys, good guys, death and torture, but it still has a happy
ending. |
| EERR |
You're not kidding, a happy ending. What could be better than
having Jesus come back after being killed? |
| Katy |
And on top of that, that He died for us, and His resurrection means
we have eternal life too. |
| Matt |
Here's that story in the Bible, from Matthew's gospel. [read Matthew
27:57-61, 28:1-10, 16-20] |
| Emily |
Don't forget the part where Jesus walks with two of the disciples on
the road to Emmaus. That's even a story about stories – Jesus explains
to them how He's in all the stories in the Old Testament. Remember?
They were walking along with Jesus, but they didn't know who He was, and
they told Him that the women had told them He was risen, but they didn't
believe it.
Listen: [reads Luke 24:25-36,44-48]
Both of those stories are telling us to tell them to other people.
These are stories that need to be shared. |
| Leah |
Yeah. A story can't be your favorite if you don't like it enough
to want to tell it to someone. |
| Chris |
Not just like it enough – Love it enough. |
| Leah |
So the best stories are the ones that climb inside you so deeply that
they're a part of you. |
| Chris |
The Easter story is sure like that. I mean, knowing that Jesus
died for us and rose for us – believing that He did that for us, well it
makes you a whole new person. |
| Ross |
OK, how about this? Using the story of Easter, we've got this
to say about a favorite story:
-
It's full of conflict, but with a good resolution
-
It has good guys against bad guys, or even better, it's a good versus evil
kind of thing.
-
It's true – not only did it happen, it tells us what's really important;
what's real.
-
It's so important to us that it becomes a part of our lives. It's
sort of like the story is about us ... and like we're about the story.
-
It's one that is so basic to who we've become, that we have to share it.
When it's your favorite story, you want to tell it to everyone. And
you want to hear it again and again.
Excellent! I think I can write my paper now. I just
have to figure out how to work in something about the denouement. |
| Katy |
Hey! That's my word! |
| Ross |
OK, then how about if you give us a denouement? |
| Katy |
Sure – how's this one? [reads 1 Peter 1:3-4] |