A visit to DC and Georgetown

I just visited Washington, DC and Georgetown to attend the annual GURT (Georgetown University Roundtable). The topic this year was 'telling stories'. I learned a lot and have a list of books to read as a result of hearing the many good presentations. This was a first for me to visit GU or GURT. I both enjoyed the conference and the surroundings. DC has a great public transportation system. That's a place you'd have to ask the question, 'why have a car?' The parks were fantastic too, especially Rock Creek. A great place to run, play soccer, walk or whatever.

The Cowtown 10K

I ran in the Cowtown 10K this year and really enjoyed it. It's been many years since I ran in a 10K, but I figured it would be great to participate with friends. It meant getting up too early and running in the cold, but well worth the experience. I could've done without ice in the water. To add to the experience, Janet, my wife gave me her story of what she saw as a spectator, such as the Wholly Guacamole float and the strategies employed at the 10K start and the children participating in the 5K. We both like visiting Fort Worth too.

Learning Ecclesiastes

The epic telling at this year's NOBS gathering is the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Plus our small storytelling group suggested we tell stories of confession since we're now in the season of Lent. Ecclesiastes seems to me a confession of the human condition, so I thought I'd give it a go and see how far into it I get. Now that I've told half of chapter one to some encouraging friends, I feel spurred on to learn more of this marvelous story or quest. Like what happens after choir practice, I tend to sing the anthems during the week, I find myself mulling over the images that The Teacher has created: "meaningless, vanity, wearying, tiresome, nothing new under the sun'. I'm having fun with this thinking of the images evoked, rather than memorizing the words. I hope to have the first chapter ready to tell and then weave in a story from my experience.

Network of Biblical Storytellers (NOBS) Gathering 2007
We participated in the NOBS gathering for this year in Norcross, GA. The keynote speaker was David Rhoads, a professor at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. He performed Paul's letter to the Galatians and Philemon. Having read those letters many times over the course of my nearly 40 years as a Christian I was impressed with the difference it made hearing and seeing them performed in their entirety. The impact from the non-verbal and auditory communication plus receiving the letters in full was amazing. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the Bible. Most likely, this is the way the first hearers in Galatia and among the church that met at Philemon's house received these letters.
We also attended workshops on dramatic tellings, hymns and Bible stories, epic tellings, and parallels between African moral tales and Bible stories.

'I can see clearly now the rain is gone'
Ah, a relief from the rain. This is a photo from Friday night, marking our first break in the deluge here in Dallas. Things are still sodden and we have a large variety of mushrooms in our yard. The weather is very comfortable now, nothing like the dry and hot of 2006. Fortunately we live at one of the highest elevations in the Dallas / Forth Worth area and have been spared the flooding.

This weekend we drove to Fair Park in Dallas to see the exhibit of Ancient Treasures of the Holy Land. I see it's in Dallas until July 28. You can see archaeological finds of the Bible lands and hear stories associated with them. I noted the evolution of pottery, how items such as lamps became smaller and more elaborately decorated. The displays were great, but the stories were worth listening to and made the experience more cohesive.

We had a close call last night. A huge storm with hurricane force winds ripped through central and northern Texas, with gusts over 85 mph. Our corner of south Dallas was not spared and many trees were either uprooted, split or snapped. This morning we noticed a cedar tree that split in two and nearly smashed our neighbor's roof. Hopefully we'll have electricity by this evening. At least we have candles for tonight. Our mobile home is fine, just a few chairs blown over. Even our newly planted flowers made it through in good shape.