Stories and Main Characters - pp. 37-58

"Our contemporary unbiblical preference, both inside and outside the church, is for information over story" (p. 41).

I'm pretty sure this is empirically true, but I'd like to talk about it on our next phone call. How do we and the people around us express or demonstrate a preference for information over story generally? How about when it comes to handling -- studying -- scripture? What are we actually doing as pastors/teachers/preachers to help people approach scripture in the ways Eugene describes in this chapter?

What do you think about the idea that we're characters in God's story rather than God being a character in our stories -- a kind of "supporting actor" to the main character who is ME (or, possibly, someone else)? I'm afraid that I, at a practical and functional level, am often operating as the main character in my own story -- or giving someone else a lot of dialogue and space on the page -- and then pleading with God to please get involved in what's going on with me. Reading The Shack was helpful to me on this point recently: it gave me more of a feel for living my life within the life of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Where are you and I catching a sense of what it means to live lives that are embedded in God's life and interpreted by who God is -- and where is that persistently not happening with each of us?

How does -- or can --the way we read and exegete scripture help us read and exegete our own lives? What does each of us need to import from those practices into our lives as a whole? And, as we make our way into this book, what modifications are you beginning to consider to the way you currently read and exegete scripture?