Dear Reader:

Jerry Falek, master storyteller, told us in Sunday’s blog, that:

 …The wisdom of elders is available to us whenever we want it. It’s in the old stories.”

He was referring, in this instance, to folk tales and fairy tales…but isn’t this statement true of Bible stories?

For no reason (out of the blue) I started singing one of children’s’ favorite hymns….Tell Me the Stories of Jesus the other day on the way home from the Aldergate Methodist Church presentation.

When I got home I googled the origin of the hymn and discovered a wonderful blog site (The Meltdown Continues) by Keith Hunt… who had done research on this same hymn….adding some personal anecdotes….very compelling and heart-warming. Here is the story behind the story of the hymn…

Tell Me

the Stories of Jesus

William Henry Parker, 1845-1929

 Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear.… Scenes by the wayside, Tales of the sea, Stories of Jesus, Tell them to me.

It all began in  the summer of 1885…with a warmhearted Baptist businessman in Nottingham, England.

His mind settled on the young students in his Sunday school class. Wanting attention. Needing direction. Always tugging at him with one request: “Tell us another story.”

Before the day was over, William Parker had written the lyrics of this song made memorable by the soothing melody it later inspired, when a publisher ran a contest to find a fitting tune.

Parker probably knew the then-popular “Tell Me the Old, Old Story,” written twenty years earlier by Britisher Kate Hankey. Her “Tell Me” is drawn from a long poem titled “The Story Wanted,” in which the narrator begs a gospel story: “Tell me the story slowly … often … softly … always … simply, / As to a little child.”

Tell me—tell the children-—-the story. Many Christians have grasped hold of the challenge today. Others are rediscovering their heritage. I recently read of a mainline pastor who reshuffled leadership priorities—when he discovered his Sunday school children could not name one Bible story that had any relevance to life here and now. Suddenly retelling stories to children seemed more important than tending to endless administrative tasks.

“Tell me the story” It’s a request of every generation of children. Every year at her birthday dinner, my young friend Glenna asks her mother the same question: “Tell me the story about the day I was born.”

I vividly remember an incident one summer evening in 1985. ( a hundred years after William Parker wrote “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus.“)

I was visiting my parents for a weekend, and another guest graced the house: my youngest niece, a toddler still in diapers, just beginning to string words into sentences. With granddaughter Elizabeth snuggled at his side, my father “read” through Peter Spiers Noah’s Ark picture book. Telling the story. Naming the animals. Walking the rainbow. Closing the book.

And then came Elizabeth’s supplication, as basic as it can be: “Read again.”

Repeat the stories. Our children need to hear them.

Long ago and far away does matter. Here and now.

First let me hear how the children – Stood round his knee;

And I shall fancy his blessing – Resting on me.

So until tomorrow…(Hunt’s beautiful prayer)

Lord, give me a new appreciation of the old, old story that you chose to leave with us. Your story. Our story. The Good-News story. Give me opportunity to tell the story in a fresh way to someone—of any age—-who is eager to hear it.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

* An interesting side-note: The painting in the title photo came from the children’s Bible Story Book by Egermeiers….my publication dates back to 1955…although the first publication was in the 1920’s….

My younger brother David and I received this children’s Bible Story Book from my cousin, Elaine. Her mother wrote the inscription because my cousin was severely brain damaged as an infant…when she was given too much penicillin for a high fever… about the time it had just come on the market for doctors everywhere.

Today she lives in a special home and we correspond. She writes like a first grader and her letters are beautiful to me. So many memories came flooding back as I looked for a picture for the blog and found this wonderful treasure instead.

* I headed over to Mandy’s to help her with Eva Cate and Jakie, after Libby left Monday… while John is at an out-of-town meeting until Wednesday. I am sure I will return with lots of fun stories.