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Dear Friends,
Sometimes we preach a sermon series… and usually we do so on purpose. But given the past two Sundays—and the next two—we seem to have stumbled into a sermon series on parables. Both Elizabeth and I have been preaching on parables recently, and I plan to continue that theme this Sunday and next.
And that has me thinking. Often, we treat parables as if they were fables—stories meant to make a single, clear point. But they are not the same.
A fable tells you what to think.
A parable makes you think again.
A fable gives you a moral.
A parable gives you a mirror.
A fable leaves the answer on the board so you can memorize it and move on.
A parable stays with you—and won’t quite let you go.
A fable behaves itself.
A parable does not.
It unsettles. It lingers.
It invites you to see something you might have missed the first time.
Which is to say: if you leave worship with everything neatly resolved, the preacher may have given you something you want—but not what the parable has to offer.
Grace and peace,
Geo. Anderson
P.S.
Here’s a parable:
A man says, “Let there be light,” and flips the switch.
His daughter asks, “Have you forgotten what the dark is for?”
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