Personal stories in sermons present challenges.

I deliberately used personal stories today to help integrate the thoughts presented in topic 3 with steve-taylor blog noted. I used family stories but kept them at a distance. The theme was being lost (The widow's mite) and being found(The lost sheep). The angle I wanted to note was that of the quality and talents of the lost or loser of coins in both stories was not important in Jesus eyes. The widow was without status in Jewish society and the lost sheep was lost and in real danger. The stories I used were those of my brother who is severely intellectually handicapped. In the 3 stories involving him being lost and our immediate reaction to find him, I drew people into identifying that everyone is of immense value in a family, and it is not based on their emotional or mental capacities. Family usually go great lengths to "find" the lost among them. Likewise Jesus is stressing the same in these stories. We do not earn being found, it is out of the Sheperd's love for us that he heads out to "find" us. Because I kept the stories at a safe distance I could hear "the penny drop" among the congregation. Their "yes" to being "found" by a loving God was tangible in the air as I spoke. I found it easier to draw the congregation into the personal stories by keeping at a distance. It works!