Heard the Word(?): Kevin Kling, Storyteller

Kevin Kling!

So, this was billed as some kind of talk entitled, "Preaching with Holy Imagination," but I don't think that's what actually happened. Instead, I think Kevin Kling treated us to some great stories. I kept waiting for the preaching application, for the explicit link between what he was doing and what we were doing there, but I never really heard it. So, was it preaching?

Before we jump into that one, let me first say that Kling is an immensely talented storyteller. He spoke about seeing grace in the everyday things of life, and through his stories it was easy to see that he finds humor and relationships to be the means of that grace. He had the audience immediately with his wit and ease. He shared about himself in ways that could have been uncomfortable, but he did so with a grace that made it friendly, made it personal, made it sharing.

All of Kevin's stories had a sweetness and an edge to them--many of them involved his navigation of life as a person with a disability. And I noticed that Kling is a master of taking the audience right up to the brink of grace, and then giving it a flick of humor, sending the moment off in a fit of laughter. And observing this made me wonder whether grace is experienced as fully when it's packaged as a punchline. In speaking with my classmates afterwards, everyone seemed to have enjoyed his talk. And rightfully so: his vignettes were masterfully crafted, his presence was unassuming, and he kept us with him the whole way.

For me, the experience lacked seriousness, and for some reason, I equate this with grace, with preaching. It's likely this says more about me than it does Kling. But then I began to wonder whether the grace of the experience was just in the experience itself--in laughing together, in glimpsing what life for someone who is differently-abled than me is like without feeling exploitative, in hearing familiarity and difference in our lives, in hearing his witness to the power of prayer and sacramental vision. I don't know.

And I still don't know if I think this was preaching. But I can tell you that I'll be chewing on that for a while.