TV with friends

Again and again in scripture, God’s people recite the story of God’s work among them. This recitation is an act of communal self-definition. As the people tell the story of God they also tell the story of themselves, and they become a people through the telling of it. These days most of the stories that we share as a culture come from television, film, and novels.

While the stories in popular culture do not compare with scripture, they are nevertheless important: as shared stories they create community. Preachers know this and refer to them in sermon illustrations. The televised stories create a culture with stories in common, but even more powerfully, the stories gather smaller, close-knit communities of watchers.

When I was in elementary school my family had a date each week to watch The Cosby Show. We shared laughs, and I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime. The Huxtable kids’ growing-up years were intertwined with my own; their relationship with their parents became intertwined with my relationship with mine. When I recall the Huxtables, I remember being a child.