A Workshop to help families and members learn, tell, share, and preserve their stories.

Copyright © 2004 Karen McIntyre (email kjmcinty@comcast.net). May not be used for profit, republished, or placed on a website. Published by The General Board of Discipleship, http://www.umcworship.org, telephone 877-899-2780, ext 7073.

STORYTELLING FOR FAMILIES

I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell! They'd advertise -- you know!

How dreary to be somebody! How public like a frog To tell one's name the livelong day To an admiring bog!

Emily Dickenson spoke to our hearts….

Ethical Wills:

Passing on Treasures of the Heart

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pub/1998/wills.html

Days pass and the years vanish and we walk sightless among miracles.

Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing.

Let there be moments when your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk.

Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns, unconsumed.

And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness and exclaim in wonder.

“How filled with awe is this place and we did not know it.”

Telling THE Story by weaving in your own…….

Think Hebrew……

Stories from life and familyBy Karen McIntyre

Family themes……

The garden at the back of the house which has been in theFamily since the 1600s.

What does the Swastika

say to American or Jewish relatives.

“The memory of things past is indeed a worm that does not die. Whether it continues to grow by gnawing away at our hearts or is changed into a brightly colored winged creature depends….on whether we can find a forgiveness we cannot bestow on ourselves.”

Dominic Maruca

What does the Swastika sayto newer generations?

My Great-great Grandparents

David Ludwig Voltmer Christina Mohme Voltmer

Diederich Friederich Heinrich Strohman

Dorethea Maria Louisa Backhaus Strohman

Linen tablecloth..See Ist Wilhelmstein in Steinbuder

Wilhelmina Strohmann

“Salvation lies in remembrance.”Baal Shem Tov

Grandpa reading on the porch at Riverside Farm

Sundays at Riverside Farm

  

St. Paul’s Evangelical ChurchSigourney, IAEstablished 1887

Riverside Farm, 2001

I took my daughter Noelle to See the homestead….even Though I had never been thereWhen it was in our family.

The land leading to Riverside,still unpaved, was so muddyin the winter of 1928 that an oldhorse-drawn hearse had to comeFor Great-Grandma’s body!

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;

therefore we must be saved by HopeNothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;

therefore we must be saved by …..Faith

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone;

therefore we are saved by …………..Love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final favor of love

……………………………….which is ForgivenessReinhold Niebuhr -The Irony of American History

I can’t tell Family Stories…

I don’t have family stories…..my family never told family stories or recorded anything.

Why should I try to create a story where none exists?

Remember the story where God gives Jacob a new name – Israel? Gen. 32:24-28

"The path to health involves the de-repression of these hidden memories and the reconstruction of the individual's personal history" Keen – To a Dancing God (p.102).

Think HebrewThink Hebrew

Yes you can……..

Think of some characters in your family….

Can you write a sentence or two about them?

Can you describe them and tell one story of something they have done?

You can think…..

Are there patterns?

Are there names that continue to appear generation after generation?

What facts do you know about your family?

You can be a detective……

Are there stories that stand out in your family’s history?

Can you place them in history?

Are there letters, journals

THINGS that help tell the

story?

No tales from the past….What about YOUR past?Think of a time when you were embarrassed

Think of best moment of your life

When someone did something for you that was remarkable

Your worst nightmare

Something about school

Your favorite pet story…..birthday….funeral…..friend….etc.

How do I make it so others will enjoy it?

Use your 5 senses – how does it feel, smell, taste?

is fast paced – what moves the story forward?Characterization is clear Conflict develops earlyClimax occurs late in the story

Plot

Some memory helps

Outline the main points or sequence of events.

Write it down and highlight or mark it for inflections.

This shouldn’t be too hard- it’s a memory for Pete’s sake!

Stage Presence! What’s that?

Plan what to do with your body.

Plan the use of your voice.

Learn to breathe like a cat! (from your diaphragm)

Once you learn your story…..you will use it in teaching.

Don’t shy away from repetition.

A story needs to be told and retold until we’ve been totally nourished by its complexity and depth.

Keep telling it…over..and over….

We must be saved by Hope

We must be saved by …..Faith

We must be saved by …………..Love.

We must be saved by the final favor of love

………………………….which is Forgiveness

AMEN

Resources for Family Storytelling

Pellowski, Anne. Family Storytelling Handbook

Bubbe’s back porch – http://www.bubbe.com/

The Digital Story Bee http://www.bubbe.com/dsb/index.html

Family Stories – http://www.nwlink.com/~spagnoli/telltips/family.htmFamily Education – Pass the talking forkhttp://familyeducation.com/article/0,1120,22-10295,00.htmlStorytelling Resources http://www.gbod.org/worship/