Shaka, when the walls fell

There is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which Captain Picard is trying to communicate with a species that only speaks in images.  Metaphor.  Historical myths.  In order to understand them, one must have a background in the stories that form the basis of their language.

It started me thinking.  What would our communication be like if we only spoke in metaphor and images?  For instance:

In West Virginia --

• Devil Anse and his neighbors
• The football team, dead in a field
• Buffalo Creek dam, broken.

In our country --

• Native Americans on a trail of tears
• Independence, declared
• A railroad underground
• December 7, 1942
• Two towers falling

If I made a list like this for a country or a world you didn't know, you wouldn't understand what I was saying, but if you are part of the culture from which they arose, the phrases mean so much more to you that just words.

The same is true of our faith --

• A woman with a tent peg, standing over a commander
• Two in a garden
• Isaiah and a coal
• Daniel and the lion's den
• The virgin and the angel
• Jesus on a cross
• Saul, blind on the road
• John, revealing God's love

Read those phrases as if you have never seen them before, and remember that we are called to spread the news, not just to those who already know about it and are part of the faith from which the stories arose.  If we speak these phrases to those we are called to convince, to those outside of the faith, they will not understand.

So what do we do instead?  I wonder if the place to start is with our own faith story.  Can you tell the story of how God has encountered you on the road and opened your eyes?  Can you tell of an instance when you were made clean through God touch on your lips with fire?  Is there a time in your life when you took a step of faith, only because God called you to do it?  Can you relate to someone else how God has saved your life through the death and resurrection of his son? 

Can you tell your own faith story to someone who only would understand your language, and not the language of our faith?