Susan Bennett, long-time member of the Scripture by Heart group at Grace UMC, Dayton

From the Heart

What do you feel when you are telling?

I feel the eyes of the congregation on me.  They give me their undivided attention.  It’s kind of weird to receive this attention, and if I think about it too much, I get self-conscious.  I feel their love for me, as well, and I know that they trust me to share what I have discovered in the text as I tell it.

I feel gratified, or grateful is maybe a better word, when they seem to “get” what I “got” out of it, when they laugh at the places that I thought were funny and take seriously the things that I do, as well.

When I’m done telling, I often feel as if I did nothing myself.  Emphases, gestures, vocal tones, and facial expressions that were not rehearsed happen as surprises  to me, sometimes, and I realize that I really have internalized the story in a way I did not realize until I told it in worship.

Susan Bennett
“Grace by Heart” member

Experiencing the Power of the Stories…
…On the Inside

Flyer for Sept-Dec 2018 COW in jail and prison

This Fall, and continuing into December, the theme for story selections at both the Dayton Correctional Institution and the Montgomery County Jail has been “Forgiveness: Stories from the Gospels and Acts.” Women and men in prison have major issues with forgiving themselves for the harm they have done others, including their families.

They also find it difficult to forgive others for the harm that has been done to them. A high percentage of incarcerated men and women have suffered some sort of abuse in their lives: physical, emotional, sexual. This is the case even when they know they would be more at peace if they could forgive, or if they know, as Christians, that they are “supposed” to forgive.

Engaging this set of stories provides an opportunity to explore the dynamics and meaning of forgiveness and to grow in understanding this central concept of the Gospel.

A favorite story with women living inside the jail is the story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). We spent two weeks on this story. The first week took us through the short parable Jesus tells about a man with two debtors. The second covered the whole story through Jesus’ words to Simon and his blessing of the woman.

Once we had learned the story more or less by heart we acted it out. A variety of scarves provided simple “costumes” and differentiated the characters. A narrator read the story, and was prepared to feed the characters their lines, but they knew them by heart. The woman who portrayed “a woman of the city who was a sinner” quietly said at the end of the story, “I feel forgiven.” These stories are powerful. Powerful enough to communicate divine forgiveness inside a county jail.

The New Testament Soundscape:
A Case Study of Mark 16:8

Tom presents for Mark Session at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature

In November, GoTell traveled to Denver for the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature/American Academy of Religion. It’s a huge gathering of some 10,000 academics from seminaries, colleges, and universities around the world.

There are multiple sessions throughout the five-day event, which for us included a pre-conference workshop on the pedagogy of biblical storytelling. This year Tom presented a paper in the Mark Section entitled “The New Testament Soundscape: A Case Study of Mark 16:8.” It was well received, creating a lot of lively conversation.

The Denver Convention Center was a wonderful venue and the event was so intriguing that even this oversized blue bear wanted to see the action.

Denver Convention Center, November 2018

May the blessings of this Advent and Christmas Season be with you,
and all the bears stay outside your house
Amelia