View
The Upper Stories
Tara L. Jernigan on the Importance of Narrative in Christian Formation
My father had a special way of telling stories. Just as he never laughed at his own jokes, he never really offered to tell his stories. We always had to ask; he just primed the pump. Without looking at us, he would settle himself into his recliner. He would get comfortable, reclining back and putting his feet up. He'd light up his pipe and take a long draw from the tobacco. Only then would he ask the question, "Did I ever tell you about the time . . ."
It could be anything: the time he taught a dog to drive, the time he caught Santa Claus, the time he skipped school and got caught (and severely punished). More often than not, the stories would be about our ancestors, relics from the family tree—like my grandfather, who was an air-raid sergeant; or my grandmother, who was afraid to be at home without him during the raids; or my great-grandmother, who tried to shoot down an airplane; or my great-uncle, whose plane it was she was trying to shoot.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Tara L. Jernigan is a vocational deacon in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and the director of deacon formation for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. She serves on the task force for Marriage, Family and the Single Life for the ACNA and as an adjunct instructor for Trinity School for Ministry. Tara and her husband have two sons at home and one in college.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on education from the online archives
28.5—Sept/Oct 2015
on Our Sacred Duty to Teach the Devil to Death by Marcus Johnson
more from the online archives
32.4—July/August 2019
Does Biblical Language for Man Matter? by Stephen F. Noll
37.5—Sept/Oct 2024
The Death of Conservatism & the Negative World by J. Douglas Johnson
32.2—March/April 2019
on Preserving Physical & Spiritual Nourishment by Nathanael Devlin
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
