If you had the joy of gathering with family over the recent holiday season, chances are high that stories from generations past made their way around the dinner table. Perhaps your grandfather spoke of his grandfather, or your mom recalled a Christmas spent with her great-aunt. You may have heard about Depression-era celebrations with few gifts and a sparse meal, or wartime observances characterized by gratitude for the gift of life itself.
Around the world, many people groups embrace such an oral tradition in their day-to-day lives. The pastime of sharing stories of generations past isn’t merely reserved for special occasions but is built into mundane afternoons and dinner dialogue.
This is who you come from, these conversations explain. This is who we are. This is who you get to be a part of. This is your legacy.
Some of the earliest Scriptural accounts encourage us to be faithful to remember, speak, and share what God has done for and in his people. Take Deuteronomy 6, for example. God issues a communal call to the Israelites—one that comes with shared responsibility. They are to “impress” God’s commandments upon their children and to talk about them continually (6:7):
When you sit at home. When you walk along the road. When you lie down. When you get up.
Later in the passage, God tells the Israelites that their children will ask them what God’s commandments mean. Rather than having them respond with lengthy explanations or lists of more rules, God commands the Israelites to tell their children stories. He tells them to share the account of God leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, and to strengthen their hearts with reminders of the God who makes and keeps his promises.
Much of American culture tends to reserve this way of storytelling for special occasions. But Scripture offers Christians a different way of thinking about legacy and story—one that encourages us to tell the stories of our biological families and the story of God throughout history and around the world. Accounts of the church fathers, of desert saints, of brothers and sisters martyred even now aren’t just distant lore—they’re threads in the tapestry of our shared legacy as the family of God.
One such thread woven into our Christian story is that of the 21 men who were martyred in 2015. ISIS executed these men on a beach in Libya then released a video of their brutal murders for all of the world to see. As the seven-year anniversary of their martyrdom approaches, the ISIS video remains the only publicly available visual storytelling that features the courageous faith of these faithful believers. MORE Productions has partnered with the global Coptic community, Coptic iconographers, and a host of artists from around the world to address this deficit.
Stories like that of the 21 Martyrs are not easy to read or recount. At times, it can feel as though they stand at odds with the triumphs of God’s goodness through the ages—as though they are evidence that he is not protecting or providing. But if we remain faithful to draw our comfort from the person of Christ and to root our hearts in the story of Scripture, we will find that God’s promises not only remain intact but are, at times, fulfilled through the martyrdom of those who refuse to deny him.
In choosing to read and share just one story of a brother or sister facing persecution for the cause of Christ, we can strengthen the unity of the family of God. These accounts are links in the chain of our legacy, bonding us to one another. Sharing these stories can happen around the dinner table, in Bible studies, from the pulpit, or the passenger’s seat of the family van. All we have to do is trust that God’s command to share the stories is one of purpose and power—and then we do as he’s commanded.
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