We Live Inside a Story

Megan McKenna is a popular workshop facilitator, retreat leader, and author. In this book she uses images of Russian dolls and nesting baskets and boxes to show the relationship between stories and spirituality. She sees stories as critical to living, "intertwined with truth in such a way that we can carry them with us, remember them, and pass them along, sharing them as needed." The book opens with the story of the Trinity and goes on to creation, the Incarnation and Paschal Mystery, the Spirit and church in the world, the Spirit in our world, small communities, and the individual person. Each chapter contains stories, set off by a graphic of nesting dolls; a section of questions, activities, and prayers; and notes. The chapter on small communities, friends, and families connects "house" churches in the days of Jesus and his followers to those of modern times. At this level, McKenna explains, the imagined dolls, baskets, and boxes are among the smallest. "The dolls have to have room for others inside." She uses scripture stories showing Jesus' reaching out first to those related by blood and marriage, then to all who believed in him, "but especially to the poor, the outcast, the shunned, those others considered sinners, and those in need." She writes of the early churches of Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome as small groups "that became family and shared Baptism and the Spirit." Today's small Christian communities (SCCs) afford the opportunity for groups to listen and reflect together on scripture and "hold one another accountable for doing the works of mercy and justice." They are, today, a place where people come to rest, be listened to, pray with others, and "struggle to be the children of God in their neighborhood and families." These groups usually gather once or twice a month, often around a meal. Questions and activities for this chapter revolve around beginning and sustaining SCCs in the parish and neighborhood.