Mercifully, most of us live unspectacular lives. We have never been captured at sea or kidnapped in Baghdad, or embroiled in a celebrity ménage à trois.

No doubt the 15 young sailors and marines who have just been released from Iran have powerful tales to tell, and no doubt we would be interested to read them. But, whether or not it’s right for people in the armed forces to make a killing from the papers, it’s worth asking ourselves whether we, too, are trying to sell the story of our lives.

We may never actually offer it for sale – let alone find a buyer – but still we may be anxious to make our personal story seem somehow worthy of attention. We aspire to be well known, perhaps, and certainly well loved. We may exaggerate things to create a buzz about ourselves. We may even embellish our Christian testimony for greater effect. It’s easy to think that if nothing has ever happened to us that would make a headline, we are inconsequential - end of story.

But ultimately, of course, our stories are not commodities. Instead, as children of God, we are called to celebrate a great reversal: the significance of the seemingly insignificant - faithful relationships, honest commitments, transparent lives.

In fact, it’s in the very process of demonstrating that everyday life is sacred in itself that we let our lives speak most eloquently for themselves. It won’t make the front page if we love our children deeply or visit the sick faithfully or do our jobs creatively to the glory of God; but it will, in its own subversive way, stand out serenely in a consumer culture that is screaming for attention.

And if, like Norman Kember last year, we do happen to be caught in the crossfire for something we believe in, we don’t necessarily have to milk it for all it’s worth. Whatever our take on Mr Kember’s presence in Iraq, it was refreshingly countercultural that the interviews he gave on his release were to the Harrow Observer and the Baptist Times.

In the end, of course, what matters most is that our lives are linked with the epic story that has been unfolding since the Word, in the beginning, was God, and was with God. Journalists may not queue with chequebooks for the scoop, but it doesn’t matter: the good news will out in the end.

Brian Draper