Call of Abram for United Methodists
A clergy friend took this for her Twitter page-thank you, Meghan!
Last month I told the Call of Abram {Gen 12:1-9) for one of the worship services at the Annual Conference of the West Ohio United Methodist Church. There’s somewhere around 2000 delegates; it was the widest stage, loudest amplification, and largest crowd I’ve ever addressed. Monitors all over the place-you can see my image on one of them in the lower right of the photo.
The day before when I did a sound check and heard my voice echoing in that enormous space I about passed out from stage fright. But lots more practice in the space, visualizing the congregation, and much prayer support resulted in an enjoyable experience. Many people expressed appreciation for the telling and I hope were inspired to do scripture by heart in their local congregations.
This link will take you to the Livestream version. My telling is about 19:00 minutes into the top video which is titled “Tuesday Morning 2.”
A Year in Jail with Sacred Stories
“Locked Cross” by Cortney L. Haley
A year ago this month I led the first biblical storytelling workshop downtown at the county jail. A clergy friend invited me to try it out in the class she leads there every Friday. I taught the story of “The Widow’s Offering” from Mark’s Gospel. It went very well, and the chaplain approved a trial program for the Fall. We covered the stories from Mark 1 over the course of eight weeks-one story every Wednesday afternoon.
I remembered Jesus’ strategy of sending out the disciples in pairs, so I issued invitations for partners and some were accepted. The wisdom in Jesus’ strategy became obvious the few times I went on my own; the class always went much better with two of us “outside sisters” present.
For different reasons I changed the name of the program a couple of times (much to the confusion of the friendly officer at the front desk), until finally settling on “Sacred Stories.” But while the name of the program may have changed, the impact on those of us who have been leading it has not. It’s always interesting and challenging, with moments of deep sadness mingled with moments of lightness and laughter.
We regularly experience the power of the stories to connect us with God and each other, no matter how different we are. We feel that in a small way we have been faithful to Jesus’ expectations of us as disciples. And every week we leave feeling truly appreciated. Expressions of gratitude are given at the end of every class: “Thank you for coming; drive safely.” We are, as were Abraham and Sarah, “blessed to be a blessing.”
This month we are doing a summer series on stories of women in the Gospel of Mark. The first participant who came in the classroom for the first story (“Simon’s Mother-in-Law”) beamed when she saw me and said, “I remember you! You were here last summer!” It took me a moment to recall that first time I had come and taught “The Widow’s Offering,” and I was amazed at her recollection. The name we have settled on for the program fits: biblical stories truly are “Sacred Stories” for any time and place, perhaps especially downtown at the county jail.
Peace be with you,
Amelia