Jesus often spoke in parables. The shrewd servant, the pearl of great price, the four soils: each one carries a bit of truth that Jesus, wanted to convey. The word "parable" is a transliteration of two greek words that mean "to throw" and "alongside". We get the word parabola from the same two Greek words. A parabola is a geometric shape that has a line of symmetry and two branches that are mirror images of each other. One branch appears to have been thrown down alongside the other. So too, with the stories Jesus told, he would throw a story alongside some bit of truth that he was trying to teach to his disciples. Our goal is not to take the stories literally, but to find that line of symmetry and understand the point in the reflection of the story.

In the few stories that follow, I want to throw some ideas down in order to build a frame of reference. What questions should we be asking? What is essential? What might we leave behind as we follow Jesus on this road of planting and growing Christian communities in the years ahead?