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.