Get Your Pretense On!

32 • Get Your Pretense On!

true message that the consensus of the ancient Church fleshed out. The great traditions of Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, and the Protestant Reformation have defended it, artists have drawn it, musicians sung it, and missionaries brought it. All we need to do is rediscover it, and embody it once more. Let us ask God to give us the courage to re-embrace this Narrative of narratives, this grand tale of God’s matchless love. When all is said and done, it is a simple story after all. It can be understood through Scripture’s testimony of creation, and seen in the great acts of God throughout the history of Israel. This great tale comes to its climax in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus. Now, by faith, you can enter the Story, too. If you look around, you won’t fail to see many weird and fanciful competing master narratives seeking our allegiance. Religious jihad, political ideology, and strange philosophies all try to explain the meaning of the universe – where we came from and where we are going. For us who believe and follow Jesus of Nazareth, however, we need only hold onto the biblical Story. This Story of God’s saving acts in Christ for us is the narration of the entire universe. In its retelling, enactment, and embodiment, the truth about all things is made plain. All the big questions of life can be understood through the inspired telling of God’s acts in history. You begin to understand who you are the more you come to understand what God is doing, and how you fit into it. Every time we go to church or Bible study or prayer meeting, we have an opportunity to rehearse the truth about God’s great Story, and about his salvation in Jesus. You see, we are a continuation of the Story; we are that people who live out the Story in our confession, our songs and worship, our discipleship, and our testimony about Jesus. He is more than a tale; he is our very life and hope. Getting your pretense on is no fanciful or fantastic idea; when you act in a