Tuesday July 7, 2009

insight on spirit-centred leadership

Bibliodrama
Midrash Lives in Small Group Process

by Tim Scorer

When I look at a biblical text I see the black of the letters as well as the white spaces in between. I am as much interested in the meaning that resides in the space as I am in what is expressed for all to see in the visible type. The Jewish tradition of Midrash is all about exploring the white space and Bibliodrama provides a very simple yet incredibly effective way of bringing the ancient spiritual discipline of Midrash to a gospel text. Bibliodrama is a group practice in which the facilitator uses a specific methodology to lead members to insights and revelations within the text.

When I am preparing and leading a bibliodrama session I pay attention to five things:

• Text that lends itself to the situation and the practice of bibliodrama.
• Places to pause and step into the experience of one character by speaking for them.
• Questions to ask at each of those places of exploration.
• Ways to amplify the responses of group members to deepen the meaning the text has for them.
• More Questions to ask to help group members think even more deeply about their relationship to the text.

 For the purposes of this article, I will use the story of Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus, the tax collector in Luke 19:1-10.

I begin to tell the biblical story:

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.

I pause here and say, “You are Zacchaeus. What's it like to be rich from tax collecting?”
Someone says, “A mixed blessing.”
I say, (amplifying) “I am Zacchaeus and I feel blessed by the wealth I get from doing this work for the Roman occupiers, but scared by the hostility of the other citizens.”
I ask again, “What's it like for you, Zacchaeus?”
Someone else says, “I don't sleep well anymore.”
I say, (amplifying) “I am Zacchaeus and sometimes I see how I have traded away things like sleep and rest.”
I ask the person who spoke, “What are you thinking when you are laying awake at night, Zacchaeus?” They respond.

And so it goes - a rhythm of inviting responses from people in the voice of Zacchaeus, amplifying those responses, and asking questions of Zacchaeus when that feels useful. There isn't space here to record all the conversation of one session, nor would that be particularly helpful, but I will offer an outline for approaching the story of Zacchaeus through bibliodrama.

The story continues:

He was trying to see who Jesus was,

I ask, “Zacchaeus, you’re interested in Jesus. Is there something in particular that draws you?”

…but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.

I ask, “A rich tax collector who is short. What’s that like?”

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’

I say, “You are Zacchaeus and not only have you been successful in seeing Jesus, but Jesus has spotted you. And, more than that, he has said that he wants to stay at your house in the heat of the day. How is that for you?”

Then I turn the spotlight on Jesus. “You are Jesus and you are used to crowds in all the towns you come to. What makes you pick out this person from all the rest?”

So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.

I ask, “Zacchaeus, what’s it like for you to meet Jesus?”

Then I go to other characters in the story. I say, “You are somebody in the crowd watching. What’s going on for you?”

All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I pay back four times as much.’

Then I ask (a little more philosophically), “Zacchaeus, what kind of world are you wanting to bring into being?”

Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

Finally, I decide to get a final word from Jesus. “You are Jesus. How do you feel about your day with Zacchaeus?”

Leading bibliodrama does take skill and practice, but when you feel at ease with the process, it is one of the most effective methods of transformative Bible study available to us. To find out more about bibliodrama do a Google search of Peter Pitzele, the Jewish teacher who has done more than anyone to make this discipline accessible to leaders in North America. His book, Scripture Windows: Toward a Practice of Bibliodrama, provides a good introduction to this methodology.

For another example of bibliodrama in practice go to the Archive section of  i n s i g h t  and click on the Lent edition for 2007. There you will find one of my earlier articles dealing with the story of Jesus teaching the crowds by Galilee.

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insight on small groups

Breakfast with Jesus
Storytelling Our Way to Truths in Ancient Stories

by Tim Scorer

As I browsed through the three volumes of Ralph Milton's Lectionary Story Bible I found myself reading refreshingly new versions of many familiar Bible passages. Even though Ralph has written the stories with the younger members of the community in mind, they have the power to open adults to new ways of hearing them. My attention came to rest on a story (Year C , page 125) that we tend to turn to only in the season of Easter, although I think that it can be explored at other times with great benefit. It's the story of the disciples' breakfast encounter with Jesus on the shores of the lake and the amazing catch of fish that came after they threw their fish net over the other side of their boat. It leads into Jesus questioning Peter, “Do you love me?” and Peter's response. You'll find it in John's gospel chapter 21: 1-17.

I recently introduced this story to a small group during the season of Pentecost and I liked the ways that we were able to see into it without being overly influenced by the proximity of Easter. Having had my attention drawn to it, I thought I would challenge myself to identify five ways of using this story as a resource in the life of a small group. Here goes.

1. Make the most of warm summer weather and call your group together early in the morning at the sea or lake. Get there before the group so that you can have a hot fire ready by the time they arrive. You have the fish, bread, and cooking utensils all ready to go and you've even started to cook the fish so that when you reach that point in the story you only have to put the finishing touches to the cooking. It only takes twelve minutes to cook small trout over the hot coals of a fire. It would be enough to read the story as far as verse 14 where there is a natural conclusion before the storyteller launches into the conversation between Jesus and Peter. Take the group to the shore of the lake or sea and begin to tell the story. In verse two you can substitute the names of the disciples with the names of your group members. The intention in telling this story is to give the sense that it happened not only “back then” but that it happens always. As you read verse four, turn in the direction of the fire, where Jesus might be standing. Verse nine has you moving toward it. You pause, giving people time to absorb the picture of Jesus there at the fire with a breakfast of fish and bread (and perhaps a little wine!) ready for them. At verse 13, food is being served sacramentally and you have the opportunity to move into breakfast, celebrating together the power of presence and membership in a new-life community.

2. Suppose you are not at the side of a lake or sea, but in a room, likely at a church. This story is loaded with visual detail and lends itself to being told or read meditatively with great attention to the detail. You should always feel free to add detail that contributes to the sense of “being there.” For example, the fishing net has a powerful presence (both real and symbolic). Given the poverty of these fishers, it is certain that the net would have been repaired many times. You could draw attention to the knots of repair, and the fragile quality of the net, thus adding to the astonishment that “the net was not torn” (verse 11).

3. This powerfully symbolic story comes near the end of this gospel. A small group setting is fertile ground for uncovering the meanings of this ancient passage. After hearing the story and living into the drama of it in the ways already suggested, ask the members of the group to go beyond the events of the story and to think about the meaning it had for John. Why do you think John included this story? What was he trying to achieve given the realities of his time and his community? Before John wrote this story into the gospel, it had come to him through an oral tradition, constantly shaped from teller to listener. What details do you think John was careful to include? After exploring it from John's perspective, ask about the meaning it has for your listeners. Read it aloud again and then ask questions like: When you heard the story just now, what caught your attention? When you think about the story as a whole, what does it mean to you?

4. It is important to remember that this story originated in an oral tradition in which people were free to nuance the story in their own way. We can get some sense of that tradition by giving ourselves permission to tell it from the perspective of our own 21st century lives. You might read it a couple of times with the group so that you all have a chance to “receive” it from John the ancient storyteller. Then close the book and have group members participate in “telling” it to one another. Encourage someone to start the storytelling process and then others to join in. Don't censor anything: whatever comes from the mouths of the storytellers is the new gospel! When you are done, ask people to take time to reflect on what just happened. What did you notice happened to the story? What new insights and meanings emerged from our telling? If you were telling it again to another audience, what would you be sure to add as a result of our telling? What insights do you have about the traditions and power of storytelling? Where are stories being told today that make all the difference in people's lives?

5. I haven't made reference yet to the verses (15-17) of the story that come after Jesus serves breakfast. Even though they tell about an encounter that takes place in the same setting and thematically adds to what has already happened for Peter, they can be treated separately or left for another session if time is short. They provide a nice opportunity for a time of silent reflection and journal writing. For example, you can use the structure of the same question being asked with slight variation three times as a structure for journal writing. Invite people to be in the place that Peter was in as he heard these questions from Jesus: _________, do you love me more than these? ________, do you love me? ___________, do you love me? Encourage them to respond honestly to these questions from Jesus, going beyond a simple yes, no, or maybe. Then invite them to hear Jesus respond: Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. and to write reflectively about the meaning those responses have for them today. The group then becomes a place for conversation emerging from this time of journal reflection.

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insight on authors: Ralph Milton and illustrator Margaret Kyle

by Ingrid Turnbull

Ralph Milton and Margaret Kyle have collaborated on all three Lectionary Story Bible books. Year C was released this spring. Ralph’s easy-going and loving story-telling style marries nicely with Margaret’s sympathetic illustrations. Both author and illustrator are grounded in a God-of-love, and this shines through the books.

Ingrid: Ralph, your interpretations of the bible stories are fresh and imaginative. Your tellings have an energy to them that seems to carry us into the middle of the event. How do you get into your imagination? Have you always been a storyteller?

Ralph: I think everyone has always been a storyteller. Some have that spark extinguished early in their childhood by cruelty and neglect or suppressed in the name of logic and practicality. But stories are not the opposite of logic and practicality. Rationality and imagination complement and enrich each other and both are needed if we are to be fully human. The God who created the laws that order the universe is the same God who created love and laughter.

I was blessed by growing up in a story-telling family. My father invented bedtime stories and encouraged us to take part in the telling and to keep the story going in our heads after he kissed us goodnight. My sister June spent hours reading stories from The Book of Knowledge to my sister Peggy and me (see photo). There was no library in the village in southern Manitoba where we lived, but I vividly remember selecting the books we ordered from a lending library in Winnipeg and the excitement when the parcels arrived in the mail.

I’ve been able to relive some of that with my own grandchildren who are also blessed with story-telling parents. There’s nothing like trying to keep up with the imagination of a six-year old to keep the grey matter percolating.

So yes, I have been telling stories all my life. The day I stop telling stories, in my own head if nowhere else, is the day you should plan my memorial service.

How do I get into my imagination? With most of those biblical stories, it was delightful and easy. I would ask myself, “Why did those ancient people tell this story to each other?” I would try to imagine the character of the main actors in the story and wonder what kind of people they were. I would simply sit down and start typing. The Bible is full of compelling stories and intriguing characters.

But this is where the other side of the brain kicks in. My initial draft was always messy – with lots of unnecessary dialogue and description – and occasionally without any connection to the biblical story. The free-fall burst of dialogue and description on a computer screen is only the beginning of good writing. There is always lots of re-writing, detail checking, and commentary reading to follow. It is simply hard work.

I had in my head the sound of how young children talk. I learned from my grandkids. They’re teenagers now, but I can remember how they once told and imagined stories. And my life-partner, Bev, is an ordained minister who once taught elementary school. She has always been my first and best critic and often convinced me that I needed to go back to square one on a particular story.

There were times when it was desperately hard to find a children’s story within a given set of reading. Some Sundays in the Lectionary cycle have nothing but the ragings of ancient prophets, the verbose theology of John’s Gospel, and the dense ponderings of Paul. Nothing much in there to engage adults, much less children. Then it was a matter of sheer, bloody-minded, obstinate trying again until something emerged.

But it was worth it and I was the main beneficiary. I’ve come out of the experience with a renewed delight and respect for the wonderful book that holds so much of our spiritual heritage.

The stories we tell ourselves, the stories we hear on TV and the internet, from our friends and families – it is these stories that help us to understand who we are and feel God’s dream for us as individuals and as humans. An essential part of all that is the priceless gift of our Bible.

That’s why I wrote those stories.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Ingrid: Margaret, your illustrations pervade the books with their atmosphere of gentleness and simplicity. I wonder if there is a main theme that you most like to express in your art, or if it varies from project to project?

Margaret: I hope that the art that I have created for the Lectionary Story Bible series (and other projects I have worked on) captures that:

• the God that Old Isaiah, Jesus, and the other characters relate to in the stories is a God of love, compassion, acceptance, and justice (not violence or vengeance), and
• God’s spirit or essence pervades all of creation and “it is very good.”

Some of my favourite illustrations involve children (and Old Isaiah), animals (sheep, donkeys, birds), nature, and the landscape and customs of Jesus’ day.

Ingrid: I'd also like to ask you how you approach your art visioning process. Say you pick a sentence - how do you then proceed? How does your imagining happen? Do you work everything out beforehand? Or do you just start painting...?

Margaret: I was constrained to one to three illustrations per story so I usually picked a sentence or two from Ralph’s text and gave it an image or symbolic representation. The creative process that I use when undertaking illustration work goes like this:

• Preparing: I read each story and make notes about possible images. I ask myself about the relationships and how might this story be seen in a new way. I try to put myself into the skin of the characters in the story.
• Discovery: For each story I collect reference material into folders from my notes in step one. (I have a large amount of categorized reference material that I have been collecting over the years from magazines and newspapers, books, the internet, etc.) This part is very absorbing and also serendipitous. I like to stay open to coming across an idea/image I hadn’t considered.
• Drawing: I make choices from the reference material and create the rough pencil drawings and then scan them to place on the pages of the book
• Refining and finalizing the scanned pencil drawings
• Painting in acrylic, pastel, and watercolour pencil

Painting is the last thing I do. In most cases, the paintings turn out better if my pencil drawings are as complete as possible and also scaled to the layout of the book.

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