NBSC Video Library
Tellings, talks and theatre
Story Theatre 2024
Annunciations
Advent has us thinking about times in the Bible that people hear the Spirit invite them to bear within them new life.
And so we gathered to tell these stories by heart.
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Story Theatre 2024
A Concert of Calls
It’s a truly beautiful thing, how God calls each of us to be part of the holy work of mending the world and embodying the Word. And God calls each of us in exactly the ways that are right for us. This “Concert of Calls” shares stories from the Hebrew and Gospel scriptures of people called by God on a journey of faith.
Pegi Ridout
Susan Philip
Heather Sandilands
Harry Disher
Jean Bubba
Linnea Good
Karen Coogan
Jean Dudek
Pradeep Kumar
Bev Brazier
John Wesselson
Keynote #3
Travelling Through
the Liturgical Calendar
Examine with Steve the tradition of the Christian calendar year as a storied framework, and explore how the idea of pilgrimage gives shape to our lives, forming us both as individuals and within Christian community.
Story Theatre: May 2024
John 3:16
The winds of the Spirit are blowing mightily, and tellers of the Good News always feel those winds as the incitement to tell!
Led by the Canada-India By-❤️ group, the Story Theatre will hold stories that each of them has chosen as a reflection on the treasured gospel words: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Workshop 3B
Biblical Telling 101 Part 2
Make yourself a part of the Greatest Story ever told. Engage with the Word of God, experience it like the first listeners did, empower yourself with the techniques of learning the art of biblical storytelling. This two-part workshop will teach you how to learn a biblical story by heart.
You will be walked through the seven steps of learning a biblical story, each step being experiential, all the while being encouraged by one another and your coach. The two sessions will culminate in a shared telling.
Workshop 1A
Biblical Telling 101 Part 1
Make yourself a part of the Greatest Story ever told. Engage with the Word of God, experience it like the first listeners did, empower yourself with the techniques of learning the art of biblical storytelling. This two-part workshop will teach you how to learn a biblical story by heart. You will be walked through the seven steps of learning a biblical story, each step being experiential, all the while being encouraged by one another and your coach. The two sessions will culminate in a shared telling.
Workshop 4B
Telling as Devotion
Where is God in the story? Where are you? What is God calling you to be, to do, or to change?
Drawing on the lectio divina approach for meditating and interacting with scripture, Kathy helps us to make deeper connections with the Word, to see God in the story, ourselves in it, and our relationship to each other. Together we explore how seeing such can inform our understanding and shape our telling.
Workshop 3A
Take the Bite out of Stage Fright
Stage Fright…the poor cousin of anxiety and phobias. Stage Fright, however, is different than the other two in that presenters usually know when a ‘’Fright Attack’’ will happen (i.e., 10:35 Sunday Morning). Dr Ritz leads participants in exploring five methods to mediate Stage Fright.
Workshop 1C
Seeing What You Say
Word By Heart is a program used to “rememberize” scriptures. The goal is for the Scriptures to become so real that you will remember them and share them just like we do with events and experiences in our own lives. We will become like an eyewitness to Jesus’ story, experiencing Jesus personally and sharing him in a unique way through the prism of our personality, humour and language; while still using the exact words of scripture.
Epic Telling 2024
Wilderness Wanderings
The "Epic Telling” - an energizing team-telling in which we experience a large portion of scripture together, as told by a variety of tellers.
Festival 2024 had the book of Deuteronomy as its Epic telling performance – a re-membering of stories already told and known by the Jewish community to whom it was originally told.
YOUTUBE LINK
Keynote #4
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
What is it that Deuteronomy was trying to teach our Israelite ancestors? Why all the repetition? And what’s different about the Deueteronomic re-tellings?
Keynote #2
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
We will study the role of Midrash in the Jewish tradition. In this context, we will better understand Jesus’ teachings.
Keynote #1
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
We will explore the “two creation stories” and examine how these narratives inform and colour the way we tell Biblical stories. We will look at other examples from the Prophets that shape Christian relationship with Jewish Scripture. Using Genesis 1-2 as a template, we will also delve into the politics of translation.
Plenary #4
Reflection
Dr Randy Richards is joined by the three biblical tellers-Bev Brazier, Jeff Lawrence, and Sandhya Ruban Hobday, for a time of reflection.
The storytellers will seek to unpack some of the Aha! moments we all encountered as we see to remove some of our own cultural blinders in hearing a biblical story better. Questions, comments and observations from participants throughout the conference and will be addressed during this final keynote session.
Plenary #3
Understanding The Story
Sandhya Ruban Hobday, an experienced storyteller from India, will tell us again the familiar story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well.
As with all the keynotes, the last fifteen minutes will be led by a storyteller helping us see how understanding the story better helps us to tell it better.
Plenary #2
Know What Went Without Being Said
Dr. Randy Richards will note how the story highlights inheritance and Joseph's arrogance.
We make Joseph a hero, when the story is about the restoration of Joseph. When something is left unsaid, often the story doesn't quite make sense.
To make the story work, we usually fill in the missing piece with what goes without being said from our culture, even if the "filling in" is done by non-verbals in the telling, or by location, when we think the story needs to be told. In this case, flipping the story to make Joseph the hero can influence how we tell the story.
DIRECT DOWNLOAD
YOUTUBE LINK
Story Theatre:
The Word told by Heart
Join three storytellers as they share their experience of journeying to the centre of Luke.
This past year Claudia Barnes, Karen Coogan and John Epp have used the Bible's ancient convention called "Ring Compositions" to learn and tell biblical stories.
Plenary #1
Telling Stories Frontwards
All of us have a worldview, which we got primarily before we were old enough to ride a bike. Our worldview provides us a lens through which we view the world, including how we read Scripture. Like any lens it helps us to focus to see some things more clearly but, alas, it also can blind us from seeing other things.
As a storyteller, you may say, "All I do is repeat the story," but how we understand the story affects our nuances, gestures, tones and the thousand other non-verbals that we bring to play--the things that make storytelling wonderful! In this session, we will look at some common ways that a Western (aka "Individualist") worldview can impact how we read (and misread) Scripture. The goal is to understand Scripture better so that we can tell it better.
Festival of Biblical Telling 2022
April 22 - Closing Worship
Festival of Biblical Telling 2022
Witness the Closing Worship of the Festival of Biblical Telling, with sermon shared by Rev John Snow and Rev Bev Brazier, musical ministry by Steve Bell, presided by Rev Jan Bihl and Rev Steph McLellan.
Festival of Telling 2021
Featured Teller:
Randy Ritz
Randy Ritz performs his extraordinary midrash bible monologues during the Festival of Telling. (April 2021)
Story Theatre: November 2022
Story Theatre:
Bold Women of the Bible
The Canada-India By-❤️ Guild, along with NBS India, presents “Bold Women of the Bible”.
Stanley Benjamin opens with the song “Vaazhnaal Ellaam”
Susan Ida Boucaud tells of Rahab’s intrigue with the Israelite spies.
Linnea Good tells the trilogy of Mary of Bethany
Pradeep Kumar shares the “bold” moments of Queen Esther in Hindi
Sandhya Ruban Hobday tells of Bathsheba’s schemes
Pastor Cornelius shares in Hindi the story of Hagar
Susan Philip relates Hannah’s sorrow, joy and promise
Vancouver School of Theology
Biblical Storytelling:
A Short Why and How
Linnea Good
for Vancouver School of Theology
Linnea presents an engaging walk-through of the origins of telling Holy Word by heart and invites participants in this workshop to begin the process of learning and by-hearting.
With visuals and humour, this is a good introduction to the discipline of Biblical Storytelling.
Story Theatre: February 2022
Story Theatre:
The Word told by Heart
The Northern Sacred Story Group presents a Valentines story concert: "Love Letters from God - texts of love from the Bible”.
The Canada-India By-Heart Guild tells the II Kings story of "Elisha and the Shunammite Woman”,
Keith Metzger shares Romans 8:31-39 - I am convinced!
Linnea tells Luke 9:28-36 - Jesus’ Transfiguration,
Sharon Pradeep shares Isaiah 6:1-8 Holy, Holy, Holy!
April 22, 2022
The Epic Telling of Personal Encounters in the Gospel of John
The Festival Gathering reaches a high point in the performance of the "Epic Telling.”
This is an energizing team-telling that gives us a chance to experience a large portion of scripture together, as told by a variety of tellers. It is such a gripping event that it has come to be known as EPIC.
Training Workshop
NBSC Workshop 101
October 23/21
Beyond mere "memorizing"! Explore the methods and techniques that open up the Word, increase memory and understanding, and learn the origins of this ancient discipline of telling.
Leadership: Master Storyteller, Dean of the Academy for Biblical Storytelling, Tracy Radosevic.
Training Workshop
NBSC Workshop 201
October 30/21
With attention to heart and mind!
Lori Ruge-Jones leads in a series of questions and conversations in this enrichment level workshop. Mining the array of possible emotions in a story allows the teller to portray them with more depth in performance. Lori gives us some research tools for "exegesis" - or drawing out the original meaning of the words, context and story.
Story Theatre 2021
NBSC Story Theatre November 20/21
Luke's John the Baptist proclamation, Revelations imagery, Matthew's Baptism of Jesus, the Saga of Brave Queen Esther, Mark's Transfiguration and a blessing from the Letter to the Philippians. All this in November's Story Theatre. (The conversation to follow is not recorded, for privacy purposes).
Festival of Telling 2021
Keynote I:
Dr Tom Boomershine
The What, Why, When of
Biblical Storytelling
The ancient origins of biblical storytelling in Israel, and in the telling of stories of Jesus, how the discipline is re-emerging as a way of studying the text, and about some of the experimental research into current scripture telling.
Festival of Telling 2021
Keynote II:
Dr Tom Boomershine
The Origins and Impact of
the Gospel of Mark
Jesus talked about a new upside-down kingdom - about responding to
enemies and violence with good. Tom explores the storytelling origins of
the Gospel of Mark and how, in the aftermath of the Jewish-Roman War,
the themes of war and peace loom so large in this Gospel. We hear these stories as an encounter with Jesus and his new Way.
Festival of Telling 2021
Keynote III:
Dr Tom Boomershine
The Story of the Messiah of Peace
Ancient and modern tales tend to glorify the myth of redemptive violence - the belief that evil can only be overcome by more violence. Here Tom focuses on the climactic accounts of Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection - stories which stand as vindication of God’s Way of overcoming the powers
of evil. Tom shares the implications of these stories, which can lead us to peace-making in our day.
Festival of Telling 2021
Keynote IV:
Dr Tom Boomershine
Jesus: The Messiah of Peace
What is Biblical Storytelling? How can we better understand Mark's Gospel by exploring its origins as a spoken word performance - by real people to real communities? Will this change the way we interpret the tone and the text? This is Tom's reflection for the public closing worship of the Festival.
Festival of Telling 2021
Steve Bell
Reflection & Song
"This is Love"
Canadian guest theologian singer-songwriter Steve Bell reflects on Jesus' way of self-sacrificing love. His words stand as introduction to the song "This is Love".
Festival of Telling 2021
Ray Aldred
Plenary Reflection
"Conversation with Ken Quiring"
An end-of-evening reflection on Day One's presentation featuring Cree Elder and Vancouver School of Theology faculty member Ray Aldred.
May 23/21
Acts 2:1-21 Pentecost!
A shared, worldwide telling
The Network of Biblical Storytellers Canada, with friends from the NBS India and others share the account of the Holy Spirit filling the community with fire, breath and the gift of tongues. In English, bursting into 14 different languages.
June 19, 2021
Story Theatre
June 19, 2021
The Network of Biblical Storytellers Canada, with friends from the US and India, shares an hour of a beautiful variety of scriptures by heart.
July 24, 2021
Ancient Stepping Stones
Workshop
July 24/21
John Frank-Epp leads a 90-minute workshop in a method of discovering the "architecture" of a text, identifying its key words, or "stepping stones", in order to create a flow of gesture memory.
VIDEOS AND HANDOUTS:
April 11, 2021
Closing Worship at the NBS Canada Festival of Telling
including Epic Telling
April 11, 2021
