Wilmington

July 15, 2007

I have almost always gotten temporarily mis-oriented (ie, ‘lost’) in Wilmington, DE and despite Mapquest, I still had to ask for directions. Westminster Presbyterian Church is an immense, urban church in the heart of Wilmington.
They completed an addition in the mid-1990s and were currently restoring one of their stained glass windows in the transept of their sanctuary. It had the feeling of a medieval castle and with its raised altar space, would be a wonderful venue for storytelling!

This was to be my second scheduled stop and my hosts were Shelley and Mary Beth Howard – known to everyone associated with NOBS (the Network of Biblical Storytellers) as “By Heart”. They are sexy and funny, enhancing without distracting from their wonderful ‘tandem’ telling of Biblical stories, spiced with comic ingenuity (how about that for a promotion – and it’s true!).

Shelley and Mary Beth took material I had sent for “The Prologue” and found fledgling Biblical storytellers in their church (including a woman who had never ‘told’ before) and assigned them stories. I followed with “The Love-song” and we did the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 as our closing. What a wonderful evening – and a good boost for their local NOBS chapter and for doing Biblical storytelling at Westminster Presby! Cynthia Pollard is another expert NOBS teller in the area, but her father had been very sick and recently passed on. Though prevented from participating, she was still on hand to attend our performance. Back at Shelley & husband Mike’s home, we enjoyed some wine and snacked while catching up about NOBS, our churches, etc.

[Let me take a moment to re-define what I mean when I mention my program titles: “The Prologue”, “The Sabbath”, and “The Love-song”. The following is a listing of those scripture references for the stories I have been telling…]

The PROLOGUE

The Jordan Mark 1:1-11
The Wasteland Luke 4:1-15 [Matt. 4:4b]
The Galilee John 1:43-51
Nazareth Luke 4:16-30
Cana John 2:1-11
Capernaum Mark 2:1-12
The Kingdom Matthew 5:1-16

The SABBATH: Mark 2:23-5:43

Sunrise The Synagogue
Morning The Mountain
Noon The Street
Afternoon The Beach
Sunset The Sea
Midnight The Other Side
First Light The Return

a LOVESONG to GOD

The Woman
The Woman Caught in Adultery John 7:53-8:11
The Anointing and Mary Magdalene Luke 7:36-8:2
Mary and Martha Luke 10:38-42
The Son of God
The Turning Point Matthew 14:1-33
The Samaritans
The Decision Luke 9:51-62
The Journey to Jerusalem Luke 10:1-16
The Return of the 72 Luke 10:17-24
The Samaritan Luke 10:25-37
The Son of Man
Lazarus John 11:1-57
The Crucifixion John 19:25-30
The Resurrection John 20:1-2a,11-18