I love stories.  I REALLY LOVE STORIES. 

This week, as we continue our sermon series Jesus of Nazareth, our message is “The Parables of Jesus,” which means that I get to discuss two of my favorite things:

Faith AND stories.  How awesome is that?

Jesus told FANTASTIC stories: stories that invited His audience into His faith space, stories that encouraged people to reach outside of themselves, stories that dared His listeners to imagine the world in an entirely different way.  They were groundbreaking, awesomely simple, and at the same time incredibly complex.  They were stories that, in retrospect, walked Jesus up to the very cross on which He died, and ushered in a new world with His resurrection.

I don’t know about you, but I am ALWAYS up for stories like that.  And so this week, we focus on The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, and The Rich Man and Lazarus.  Yes, you have heard them before - but what if this week they unlock something entirely new for you?  The stories are that as well - the key to life’s greater meaning.

And as I typically do - I am going to tie this week’s message to a current world story.  I can’t tell you what - that would spoil the surprise.  But I will give you a teaser.  It involves a very Big Fish.