Tony as the storyteller
After 21 years in parish ministry, it was high time I took a sabbatical. But what to do, with three precious months of leave from the parish? Study, travel, professional development ... all beckoned.
For a time I toyed with the idea of doing some serious reading on 'The Theological Roots of Anglicanism': some of those lovely Caroline divines like Lancelot Andrewes, Jeremy Taylor, George Herbert.
But while I was still thinking along these lines, a friend persuaded me to attend a conference at Swanwick on Rural Evangelism. Never think God doesn't have a sense of humour! In fact, I'm neither much of an evangelist, nor is the larger of the two parishes I serve rural; but this conference changed the whole direction of my sabbatical.
The workshop I chose to attend at the conference was on Storytelling, led by Angela Knowles of the Northumbria Community. She introduced the practice of 'text telling': just learning a story from the Bible (internalising it, I later discovered the experts preferred to call it) and then telling it. The experience of this was so amazing, that I returned to the parish determined to try it out; and even my first faltering attempts had such an impact, that I knew my sabbatical would have to explore the whole topic of Storytelling.
And so it came about.
One of the high points of my eventual three months away from the parish was attending a Storytelling School at Heddon Hall, the mother house of the Northumbria Community. This was led by Angela Knowles and Dave Robertson.
As well as the 'text telling', we were also learning general storytelling skills. On one of the evenings there was a ceilidh at which Duncan Williamson, a traditional storyteller from the Scottish traveller tradition, told tales. I remember very vividly feeling that if we had been listening to Yehudi Menuhin giving a recital, I would have thought: "That was fantastic! I could never do that!" But with Duncan, I thought, "That was fantastic! And I could have a go at that!"
Because storytelling is a folk art. We can all play the instrument. We all have lungs and a voice and the imagination and memory to tell stories.
And we tell stories just because we are human:
- to discover who we are, and where we belong
- to preserve our memories, and the memories of those who come before and after us
- to discover our true values and commend them to others
- just for fun! - And what's wrong with that?
Some other links and thoughts
"Jesus was not a theologian - he was God who told stories." Madeleine L'Engle
Biblical Storytelling in India. My visit to Bangalore in April 2002 to tell biblical stories, and encourage others to tell them.
My handout notes on the Workshop on Biblical Storytelling that I lead. Also available as a PDF file.
Telling Stories To Change Minds: How can you use stories to make people think differently about such controversial issues as homosexuality?
More thoughts about The Church and Homosexuality
Some Future Events
<-->Here's what some people have said about my Storytelling
Pictures from Festival at the Edge, 2004
Here are some books on storytelling that I recommend.