The Stories We Return To
Today’s devotional
A story can remain with you after the screen goes dark. A character’s courage, a moment of reconciliation, or an image of success may influence what you admire. Stories can help us recognize experiences we have struggled to name. They can also make contempt or domination feel familiar enough to escape our attention.
Philippians invites believers to attend to what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and worthy of praise. This invitation belongs alongside the call to practice what they have learned. Discernment concerns more than selecting pleasant material. It asks whether our attention is making room for truth and whether what we receive can serve the life of faithfulness before us.
Jesus’ parable of the compassionate Samaritan shows the moral power of a story. He gives his hearer a person to notice and a costly act of mercy to consider. The question becomes concrete: who acted as a neighbor? The story leads beyond admiration toward participation. Its hearer is invited to practice mercy across a boundary that had made such care difficult to imagine.
Consider the stories you revisit in entertainment, conversation, and your own account of your life. Who receives compassion? What kind of strength is celebrated? What is treated as worthy of sacrifice? You can enjoy a story while asking thoughtful questions about its vision of human life. Share that conversation with someone when it would be welcome. Ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your imagination through the life of Jesus, so the narratives you carry make room for costly kindness, truthful hope, and people whose experiences extend beyond your own.
Adapted from Chapter 12: The Liturgy of Story & Screen in The Formative Gift of Gathering by Dr. R. C. Titus.
Read the Scripture
Open each passage and read slowly. Notice what these words reveal about God and the life before you.
Philippians 4:8-9 · WEBU
8Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
9Do the things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Luke 10:30-37 · WEBU
30Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion,
34came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’
36Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?”
37He said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Pause and respond
For reflection
What does a story I return to encourage me to admire, excuse, or overlook?
A practice for today
After a story, film, or episode, name one thing it invites you to value. Consider that invitation alongside Jesus’ example, and discuss it thoughtfully with someone if the opportunity fits.
A prayer
God of truth and mercy, attend to the stories shaping my imagination. Help me receive what deepens understanding and question what makes another person smaller. Through the story of Jesus, enlarge my capacity for courage, compassion, and faithful hope. Let what I imagine find a worthy expression in life. Amen.
Your place is remembered in this browser. No account needed.