Thursday, January 13, 2005

blue like jazz

i'm presently reading "blue like jazz" by donald miller. thus far it IS really good.

reading the book has brought one thing to the forefront of my mind and that thought that has come to the front of my mind is that i have become sick of the word "story". i love the fact that so many have begun to focus on the importance of conveying truth through stories. i love that we have begun to recognize that JESUS was and is the master story teller and that HE conveyed real truth not through propositions but through the use of metaphor, allegories, and well ... stories. i'm not feed up with the concept of stories, rather it is the word itself that i have become feed up with. it seems like presently you see it everywhere within ministry. the word "transparent" was the same awhile back. "story" is simply one of the hot words right now and therefore it just seems like people say it as much as possible.

the good thing is that the truths of telling metaphors, allegories, and "tales" as a way of conveying truth and becoming better story tellers are here to stay. that's a good thing. i just wish the word "story" would not come out of everyone's mouth 90% of the time.

that's my story and i'm sticking to it. :)

posted by robert terrell at 7:49 PM |

7 Comments:

  • Jerk. I like the word "story". Even more, I like the idea of it. So nyah. You can't see it, but I'm sticking my tongue out at you. I'm keeping that word.
    J.T.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thursday, January 13, 2005 9:25:00 PM  

  • i'm sticking my tongue right back at you j.t. so there! that's another word i'm fed up with - the word "there". we should get rid of that word also.

    By Blogger robert terrell, at Friday, January 14, 2005 8:37:00 AM  

  • Oooh, oooh - and what about "Extreme". Hasn't that been done to death? Come to think of it - why don't we just get rid of words altogether, and get back to a simpler time, when men grunted, and spit, and gestured with their hands, and women just smiled and looked pretty. After all, in Mclaren's book "The Story We Find Ourselves In", he says that the more sophisticated and complex our societies get, the further we get away from God, and what he intended. Which, apparently, according to me was grunting and spitting. So there.

    Word.
    J.T.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Friday, January 14, 2005 9:12:00 AM  

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger robert terrell, at Friday, January 14, 2005 10:28:00 AM  

  • sounds good to me - grunt, grunt, grunt, grunt. so there - whoops i mean "grunt, grunt".

    i definately agree that "extreme" was overused. it's one of those that i personally would never want to see in the title of anything again. "postmodern" or "pomo" are at the point of over use for me also i would consider much of what i do ministry wise as "postmodern") i'm just saying that "story" is fastly approaching that same status (though i love the concept behind the use of the word "story"). i've heard too many messages recently where the word "story" was used in every other sentence.

    ARGH! it kills me.

    By Blogger robert terrell, at Friday, January 14, 2005 10:32:00 AM  

  • I get where you're coming from. It must be nice to be somewhere where you might actually hear a sermon where someone would be talking about "story", lol. Next up for use, overuse, and subsequent banning: "context" and the phrase "fully present".
    J.T.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Friday, January 14, 2005 2:19:00 PM  

  • oh my i hadn't even thought of those words yet. yep you're right those are definitely on the list for words that could be overused. what a forward thinker you are. now i have to worry about words that i'm not even tired of yet. i guess they are "pre-tired" words.

    By Blogger robert terrell, at Friday, January 14, 2005 2:37:00 PM  

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