Jesus used stories almost exclusively in his teaching about his alternative vision for his people, the Kingdom of God. Can a story stand alone as a sermon today? In this paper I share my experience in using story-sermons to illumine the Bible, making The Story our story. I’ll share the process I experienced as I tried to not only use story-sermons as a homiletical technique - be they stories in their entirety, mostly a story, or as Incarnational Translations - but also as a way to encourage Christians to embrace Jesus’ political and economic values. These values are rooted in my congregation’s outreach efforts at loving others. I serve a diverse church that is located in the capital city of New York State, a place that not only experiences the ravages of greed and power-abuse, but also is the home of those who hold the keys to economic and political change. My church has a tradition of social outreach - both charity based and advocacy based - that is rooted in the belief that to help those in misery is a way of loving them. We do this because Jesus told the church to love others into the Kingdom. Jesus spoke out against the failures of the system of his day. And he spoke against the many levels on which the system inflicted misery on the majority of the people in first century Palestine. Today, when we too are experiencing a system that impoverishes the masses, I explored the use of Jesus’ technique to address such a similar situation. My exploration of the use of story-sermons confirmed that they can be a valuable addition to a preacher’s repertoire. They can be helpful in presenting sermons that contain both encouragement for “changing the system” and spiritual insights.
