Dane Bundy
Mar 303 min read
Step 1: Listen for God's Echoes - Framing Stories with God's Story
- Dane Bundy
- Jan 19
- 4 min read
© 2026 Dane M. Bundy. All rights reserved.
Editor's Note: This is the second installment in a series on Framing Story's with God's Story. Click here to read the first installment.
Today, we'll explore the first step in the Framing Stories approach - Listen to God's Echoes.
Jerram Barrs refers to this presence in our stories as echoes of Eden. “It seems that among every people on the face of this earth,” he writes, “there is a recollection of the original good creation; there is awareness that the world we now live in is broken and fallen, and there is recall of the promise and hope of restoration of what is good” (Echoes of Eden, 74).
The language of echoes here is helpful, and I think Barrs would agree that it is not only Eden that echoes, but the rest of God’s Story too. The echoes of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation are present in the imaginative works of his image-bearers, whether intentionally or not, and in some places stronger than others. But the echoes alone do not tell the full story; they are but echoes of the substance. It takes the full revelation of God in the gospel to help us see the symphony the echoes proceed from.
The first step in the Framing approach is to listen to God’s echoes that appear in the story we are studying or teaching and then place them on the illustration of God’s Story. I will walk through each movement of God’s Story and offer ideas on how you might do this. The biblical passages are guides for each movement of God’s Story.
Creation (Echoes of Genesis 1-2)
One of the first books I taught as a teacher was The Yearling, the story of Jody Baxter and his deer. For Jody, the story opens in an Eden of sorts. He is a child both innocent and enraptured with the delight of his friend. Suffering is far from his imagination and he is at rest and play.
Whenever we see stories that begin in this manner—“behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31)—we can make note of the echo of Creation—same with themes such as purpose, love, and rest, reminding us of the fellowship and calling Adam and Eve had with God in the garden. Above the tree where I have written Gen 1 is the home for these insights.
Fall (Echoes of Genesis 3)
As The Yearling continues, Jody and his yearling cannot stay in Eden, for as Jody grows, so does the deer, and with it many problems. Jody must let go of his youth and let us go of his friend. The Yearling is a beautiful coming of age story in which Jody experiences the thorns and thistles of a cursed world for the first time. Coming of age stories usher us through the loss of innocence and the realization of a fallen world, stirring within us a longing to return to Eden.
The great pieces of literature and film spend much of their time echoing the Fall, driving the hero into darkness and pain, though not without purpose. Because every reader or viewer lives in the same fallen world, this journey resonates within us.
Where the line falls downward on the illustration and reads Gen 3, place these insights.
Redemption (Echoes of Jeremiah 31)
For now, we will move away from The Yearling and explore another echo that is embedded into Western literature and film. If the Fall introduces chaos into the Eden-like part of the story, so redemption is the journey to reorder and renew what the chaos has brought. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo embarks on a journey to destroy the one ring and save the Shire, preserve Middle Earth and all who live in it. Frodo can no longer stay in the Eden-like Shire, for Sauron is advancing with great power and speed; Frodo must venture outward and upward to Mount Doom. The journey for him, and all who answer the call, is costly, one of great sacrifice, something we know is necessary and at the heart of redemption.
Hope, sacrifice, and journey are themes that echo through the stories we tell, and they point us to what God has done in Christ, a grand reordering and renewal of the cosmos that cost far more than we could have ever imagined.
Where the line moves upward on the illustration and reads Jeremiah 31, place insights.
New Creation (Echoes of Revelation 22)
The final section of The Lord of the Rings ushers in a new chapter of the story. The destruction of the ring and the power of Sauron have unlocked the gates of the Shire once again, except now Frodo is not the same person. He understands good and evil more deeply. The Shire he returns to is not the same one at the beginning of the story. Rest and peace reign here now. Sauron will not rise again, and here we have a happy ending.
Tolkien in “On Fairy Stories” suggests that fairy stories offer four valuable things to its readers: Fantasy, Recovery, Escape, and Consolation (67). Consolation is most applicable here, for it means comfort and it flows out of a great reversal in the story, ushering in the happy ending. Stories like this have the opposite structure of a tragedy, and they are what Tolkien coined eucatastrophe (the good catastrophe).
That every human being desires a happy ending points to the New Creation, where good has vanquished evil, God reigns, and God has restored his people in true fellowship for all eternity. When a story ends and good is victorious, you are experiencing an echo of New Creation. Place these insights near the garden of New Creation.
Next month, we’ll explore Step 2 in which we’ll a detour back to grammar and/or middle school to refresh ourselves on basic plot and story structure. . For more insights on thinking biblically about story, culture, and the imagination subscribe to our monthly newsletter here.
This is the second installment in a series on Framing Story's with God's Story. Click here to read the first installment.
Dane Bundy is President of Stage & Story and Director of Fine Arts at Regents School of Austin.
Comments