Every month we submit an article to Great Shelford's monthly magazine. Here is our latest contribution for the March 2026 edition.

Stories

I love stories. I love getting lost in a book, experiencing a whole other world, getting attached to its characters and their happenings. I’m currently awaiting the publication of the next novel in a series I devoured over the Christmas holidays. What new events will take the heroine (and me) by surprise? Will the pained characters find redemption and healing? Will laughter or tears hold greater weight in this next volume?
 
If I’m watching a television show after it was originally aired, I often have to fight the urge to look up spoilers – partly from my own impatience and partly because knowing the ending sometimes helps to make sense of everything else. How many of us have changed our minds about Darcy and Wickham by the time we’ve reached the end of Pride and Prejudice? Or felt more sympathy for Snape by the end of Harry Potter? Not to mention the complex feelings my young daughter has about Prince Hans even after her 50th viewing of Frozen! Knowing the bigger picture, seeing where things end, can help to orient all that has come before.
 
I wonder if you’ve ever thought about the bigger story your life is in? Is it all randomness, up to us to make the best of it and find what joy we can along the way? Is the world moving forward in progress, albeit with some bumps along the way? And do these different narratives change how you feel about the circumstances you face each day?
 
The Bible tells a different overarching story, beginning with a good and beautiful creation, into which came pain and conflict as people turned their backs on God and his good ways, then God’s rescue plan to make all things beautiful again, with a cross and an empty grave at the centre of it all.
 
For Christians, this is the story that makes sense of our individual stories. There is beauty and joy, there is struggle and suffering. Through it all, God is with us, loving us and helping us, and leading us as we trust in him to a place of unparalleled belonging and unending joy: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). It is the ultimate happy ending. Is this a fairy tale? Is it too good to be true? Or is this the story that could make sense of your story?
 
May God bless you wherever you are in your story.
 
Monica Cragg
Assistant Minister
Great Shelford Free Church