Loading...I attended the annual festival gathering of the National Organization of Biblical Storytellers. It was held at a retreat center just outside of Ashville NC. It lasted from 11:00 Wends day Aug 5, 2014, to noon Saturday Aug 8. Wed, Thurs, and Fri, the program went on until 9pm with opportunities for storytelling even later. The keynote speaker was Vickie Garvey, the does the Christian Education Program for the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. She gave three presentations which were very informative and filled with ideas for making Christian Education more attractive and productive for both children and adults. There were a series of workshops to choose from. I attended the following:
- Provoking the gospel-using drama to help with interpretation of lectionary passages presented by Richard Swenson. He has written four books, Provoking the Gospel of John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke which I use as part of my sermon preparation every week.
- Texts of Terror-how to preach or at least talk about some of the most difficult passages in the Bible. This was led by Marti Stuessy who was my Old Testament and Hebrew professor in seminary.
- Women who do not appear in the Lectionary-stories of the rest of the women. This was led by Gloria (I forgot her last name) who has written several books about women in the Bible.
- Storytelling Behind Bars-Led by Annette Bomershine. She demonstrated the program she uses to teach biblical storytelling and of course biblical stories in a prison setting.
There was also a featured teller, who was head of the African-American storytellers association, and worship every morning. The worship was amazing with lots of dramatic presentations. And there was the epic telling where many people took a part of the gospel of Matthew and told the entire gospel from start to finish. Hearing the entire gospel told really made it come to life.
This was not the first time I have been to one of these gathering although I have not attended for several years, and it will not be the last gathering I attend. It has reignited my love of storytelling in general and biblical storytelling in particular. I now tell the gospel every service instead of reading it, and the congregation has reacted very positively. I really appreciate the financial help I received from the diocese, and would be happy to lead a storytelling workshop at convention or some other diocesan gathering. Thank you for helping to make this opportunity possible.
the Rev. Ellen Jones Morell
motherellen@ymail.com
