Storytelling Through the Ages

Dear Lovelies,

Due to our new Godly Play curriculum and its emphasis on telling Bible stories, I have been thinking about storytelling. It is at the heart of most of our Biblical learning: stories passed down orally from generation to generation and eventually transcribed and translated into what we know now. Some of the oldest recorded Biblical texts were songs from Miriam and Deborah, now found in Exodus and Judges, respectively, but that wasn’t until approximately 750 BCE.

To me, one of the most fascinating things about storytelling is that stories, or histories, are told through the lens of the storyteller. Each story is subject to the storyteller’s own time, circumstances, concerns, even hopes. It is the storyteller’s interpretation of a story. As a listener, we also interpret a story by the time we are in, our circumstances, concerns, and hopes. The beauty of listening to stories, particularly Bible stories, is in what is revealed in every telling. The words may not change but the way we hear them and what we take away from them is just what we need at the time we receive them.

Happy Day!

Traci Billman, Director of Christian Education