The way God reveals himself to us-who He is and what He does -is given to us in the form of story both in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible: Adam and Eve, Mary and Martha, Moses, David, Peter and Paul-you get the idea! Indeed, the climax of this one large and long story of the personal creating and redeeming God is found in Jesus who comes to us as a teller of stories.

We call these stories ‘parables'. The word ‘parable' may sound religious to us now, but they weren't when Jesus told them. They were about life: like farming or money and trade. Parables were ‘folk tales', seemingly harmless, but also puzzling stories. Yet we are reminded that ‘Jesus did not say anything to the people without using a parable' (Mark 4.34). Why? Because they were far from harmless and they were puzzling for a reason. When Jesus was asked, "Why do you speak in parables?" He pointedly said, ‘though seeing, they do not see; though hearing they do not hear or understand" (Matthew 13.13). In other words parables were not only meant to reveal, but also to conceal, for both the story and the storyteller could be easily missed or dismissed if one so chose.

But reveal or conceal what? The kingdom or rule of God on earth. Often the parables begin with ‘The kingdom of God is like..." The parables reveal what the rule of God is like and what the ruler is like, who turns out to be Jesus himself! So this summer teaching series will explore nine of Jesus' parables. But warning! These stories are not to ‘teach a lesson' nor do they provide us ‘principles to live by'. The parables are to pull us into God's presence (His rule) now, not then, here not there. The parables are always about the local, the personal and the relational rule of God. "He who has ears to hear let them hear!"