Ghost stories
My team and I were ministering in a drug and alcohol rehab facility in late October a few years back. I opened by saying “Normally we come here to talk about scripture and answer questions about the faith but since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought that we would switch it up and tell ghost stories instead – Holy Ghost stories.” I was quite surprised that out of the sixteen women present, all but three were willing to share stories about how God broke in and changed their lives. One woman said “My mother was in an accident and wasn’t going to make it. We called for [the anointing of the sick] and shortly after that, she turned the corner and eventually recovered.” Another offered “I remember growing up and my dad lost his job, He said we should pray so the whole family did and the next day he had a job offer.” Story after story was poured out. Some were simple, some were complex, but all were heartfelt and honest, and the tears shed in the retelling were the proof.
Jesus told ghost stories
Jesus was many things; teacher, healer, redeemer, and savior (to name a few). But above all, Jesus was a storyteller. His Modus Operandi was to walk into town, find the local synagogue, and then tell stories about the Father and the Holy Ghost while working signs and wonders to underscore His teaching (exactly what we are commissioned to do – but that’s another story). Jesus knew that stories had power and He often used them to underscore a point. For example, when someone once asked Him “Who is my neighbor?” (Lk:10-29), He replied with the story about The Good Samaritan. In another instance, the Pharisees and Scribes condemned Him because He associated with sinners (Lk 15:2). Jesus’ response to their vitriol? Three powerful stories, the lost sheep, the woman who lost a coin and the Prodigal Son. Stories are important because they are timeless and easily recollected. For example, most Catholics haven’t the foggiest idea where the story of the ten virgins is in the Bible (Mt 25:1-13) – but they can recite it!
Ghost Stories Will Save the World
This may sound overly simplistic, but I believe it is true. Imagine a world where every second or third person you ran into had a ghost story that they were willing to share. A statement like “My kids have fallen away from the Church, and I don’t know what to do” could be answered with “the same thing happened to me, but I talked to my deacon, and he gave me some good advice”. Another example might be “I’ve got cancer” which might be answered with “someone in my church had cancer but they were prayed with and were cured”. Or how about a statement like “it just seems hopeless these days” which could be answered “when I feel that way I pray [this] prayer” or “my priest just wrote an article on despair…let me get you a copy of our bulletin”. Don’t you think that our world would look different than it does if this happened? I certainly do. And why not? If everyone was talking about God, how could it not be a better world? Not only that, but since they are our ghost stories no one else can dispute them. In other words, if you tell someone a story about how God worked in your life, no one can say “wait…it didn’t happen that way” because it is your story.
Evangelization
Evangelization is, at heart, telling a story. Many will say “I can’t evangelize because they don’t know enough about the faith”, but I say, you don’t need to know about the faith because evangelization is about Jesus, not about knowledge of the church. Think about it, if I asked you about your best friend in High School would you start out with facts and figures like their height, weight, birthdate, and age, or would you be more likely to say, “let me tell you, there was this one time in gym class when we…”. I’ll bet it would be the latter. Trust me, no one knows everything about the Catholic faith, not even the Pope. Are you still feeling unprepared? Then you are in good company when you consider that almost no one in the Bible felt prepared. Was Jonah prepared to so to Nineveh? Nope. Was Moses prepared to go into the desert? No way. But that’s okay because God does not call the prepared, He prepares the called, and you are already prepared because you have ghost stories to share. So don’t let your (real or apparent) lack of knowledge get in the way of a good story. Ask yourself “What would Jesus do”? (Answer: He’d tell a story).
Besides, it’s not your story
“But wait…you just said it was my story”. Yes, I did. However, our stories are really God’s stories. God – who knows the number of every hair on our head (Lk 12:7) – is the architect of every opportunity and happenstance in our lives. We can either choose to cooperate with Him or do it our own way and hope for the best. Did you think that you just “stumbled” on that career that you have, or do you think it was “luck” the time you avoided that accident in the nick of time? I’ll bet if on Sunday morning while you are waiting for Mass to begin you took some time to think about your week you would have at least one or two ghost stories – and that’s just in a week! Always remember that ghost stories are more about The Ghost than they are about us. So, in a sense, if you aren’t sharing your story, you are stealing the glory from God.