Biblical Storytelling
“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about:” is a very important statement. This verse bit comes from Mathew 1:18 in the Bible. This sets the stage for a powerful story that has moved nations and generations. The Bible as we all know is in a written format, passed down from parents to children, from priests to laypeople. Today the Bible is read, studied and analyzed. Key verses are even memorized! So the Bible is the book of both the novice and the intellect. Today we have 8 primary versions of the Bible, and each one of them was translated from the Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek. Now we need to travel into the past and arrive at the time, when manuscripts were created – manuscripts that have been combined to become the Bible of today.
So how was the word transferred before someone wrote it down? ‘Oral’.
People listened (not just heard) many times to someone telling the story and in-turn told the story to others. The big challenge was how accurate were the re-told versions. We usually conduct a game called Chinese whispers or Gossip in our Corporate Storytelling training, in which a message is passed on from one person to another in a line, until the last person shares what he has heard. It is fun, but the results are usually disastrous – with the original message getting twisted and even irrelevant.
Now, we have tried the same with small stories and found that while the original key message remains, participants have added or deleted some stuff to frame their own creative way of retelling the story. We then guide all the participants to use verbal and non-verbal ways to actually relive any story. Once they have come to a level of comfort, we conduct the same exercise – with one difference – the technique of storytelling is used and the results usually are phenomenal. Most of the time, the story comes clear with all the content. (with a few verbal changes!) This has proved again and again the power of Storytelling.
Getting back to the Bible, we now know that initially it was transferred by the art of storytelling from one to another. So the transfer of content is very much possible. It just needs time and practice in the art of “Story-listening” and “Story-telling”.
So the big question for today is this: Why are we not telling the stories of the Bible?
Why do we always have to open the Bible even to tell a story in all its originality? Can we also learn to be like the storytellers of old, who passed on the original Oral Biblical manuscripts?
It is yes, a challenge, but is very much possible.
The Network of Biblical Storytellers (http://nbsint.org) and Tom & Amelia Boomershine (http://gotell.org) along with many others are bringing back this important practice of retelling God’s Story, right out of the Bible. This amazing method is called ‘Biblical Storytelling’.
No, this is not memorizing the Bible, but reliving the Bible word for word. It is the art of visualizing oneself with the characters of the Bible and retelling the story with correct emotions, words and historical accuracy. It is not just storytelling, but storytelling with visual meaning!
Welcome to Biblical Storytelling.
Now, we plan to start a Story Guild, where members can learn to become visual storytellers of the Bible and also of their own lives.
Well, let’s pray that God will make this a reality in the New Year 2010.
Till the next blog: “a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.
Blessings.
