Hauerwas on the story "not of our own making"

"the church does not believe that you should have no story except the story you chose when you had no story. Rather, the church believes that we are creatures of a good God who has storied us through engrafting us to the people of Israel through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Christians do not believe that we get to choose our story, but rather we discover that God has called us to participate in a story that is not of our own making. That is why we are called into the church as well as why we are called 'Christian.' A church so formed cannot help but be a challenge to a social order built on the contrary presumption that I get to make my life up."

Stanley Hauerwas, "America's God," Communio: international Catholic review 34, no. 3 (Fall 2007): 480. That one from your colleague there at Duke just for subscribing, Roger!