A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to a Guild Meeting . . .
In years past, The Biblical Storyteller would run a humor column titled “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to a Story” on the back cover each month. Last night’s CinDay Guild meeting reminded me of that column.
Our troubles began when Darrell Miller and Janet Steele tried to access the Great Miami River District offices just north of Cincinnati. Despite multiple attempts, the outside door could not be opened. When Amelia and Tom Boomershine arrived from Dayton, we determined that meeting elsewhere would be best.
Darrell led us to the local Starbucks. We parked at 7:21 p.m. to learn their location closed at 7:30 p.m. After purchasing caffeinated fortifications, we determined it was too noisy to meet outdoors—this Starbucks is located on busy Montgomery Road. Back to the District offices we went, planning to meet in the picnic shelter, and hoping the mosquitos wouldn’t find us.
In the interim, Janet worked the phone. First she alerted JoAnne Clark that we would be unable to Zoom that evening. Then she left a message for Nancy Newton to ask why we could not access the building. As we arrived back at the picnic shelter, Nancy called and gave us the secret code to the lock-box Darrell had spotted on the porch rail. It contained a key to the building, so we were confident of gaining entry. But as patient as Nancy was in explaining, not one of us succeeded in opening it.
So the four of us made ourselves comfortable on the benches on the front porch, and…
The meeting of the CinDay Biblical Storytelling Guild began at approximately 7:40 p.m. on September 4, 2024.
Cleansing of the Temple – John 2:14 – 25
Darrell led off with his telling from the Common English Bible. His telling was well-received and after comments from Tom and Amelia, Janet told the story from the NRSV translation. Again, comments were made and the topic switched to Amelia’s presentation of a workshop at Chillicothe on the Wedding at Cana story we all told last meeting. Amelia wanted to share her teaching materials with us, but we determined that would be difficult 1) outdoors, 2) in fading daylight and 3) without tables. So Amelia’s presentation is postponed to October.
Finally, the evening was Tom’s. He too told the story from the NRSV but first gave each of us the script printed from the GoTell.org website. For those of you not familiar with this incredible resource, it contains Tom’s telling of every Gospel story in the three-year lectionary cycle (Years A, B, and C), the story in script form, and Tom’s commentary from a performance criticism perspective. In recent years Tom and Amelia have also added their “Monday with Jesus” videos and discussion. It is a rich, rich resource!
Tom pointed out that the thrust of John’s Gospel, from the calling of Nathaniel under the fig tree through the stories up to and including chapter ten, are an invitation for the hearers to become believers. And the way to tell these stories is for the teller to be the person inviting belief in the name of Jesus. Profound wisdom from the master, shared freely in our monthly Guild meetings.
SEM Terrace Programs
JoAnne and Janet will visit SEM Terrace Retirement Community in Milford on Thursday, September 12. We’ve been invited to share time with the weekly Bible study group to offer an introduction to biblical storytelling. The passage we’ll be telling and teaching is Matthew 6:25-34, the summation of the Sermon on the Mount. This is an experimental outing to see who might be interested in learning and telling Bible stories.
We have also committed to a Christmas program at SEM Terrace on Tuesday, December 10 at 3:00 p.m. JoAnne texted Janet with the suggested theme of “Giving and Receiving Gifts.” Everyone agreed that allows for good biblical/parallel tellings to be developed, which we’ll share at the November meeting.
2024 Meeting Dates
We determined that while it is customary for CinDay Guild to go on hiatus in November and December, we will need to meet in November to discuss the SEM Terrace Christmas program. These are the agreed-upon meeting dates for the rest of the year:
September 24 – 7:00 p.m. in person, 7:15 p.m. Hybrid (Boomershines excused due to travel)
October 22 – 7:00 p.m. in person, 7:15 p.m. Hybrid (Amelia presents workshop)
November 19 – 7:00 p.m. in person, 7:15 p.m. Hybrid (prepare Christmas program)
December 10 – 3:00 p.m. at SEM Terrace, present “Giving and Receiving Gifts”
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. as the geese flew overhead and the light faded.
Notes by Janet Steele, Guild Leader