Workshop Programs for the Adult Christian Community

Jesus was a storyteller, and it’s no wonder. Telling stories is an ideal way to convey important messages. Storytelling is theater at its most intimate, an age old way of sharing wisdom and knowledge while engage the listeners heart and mind.

Storytelling programs are tailored to meet the needs of your community. In the stead of a sermon, as an evening event that draws in a broad community, or as an adjunct to lecture or adult education program, the stories and shape of the presentation will reflects the themes and style that resonates most in your community.

Common themes chosen by church organizations are:

“Stories of Peace”

“Love thy Neighbor”

“Stories of Courage and Change”

“Stories of ‘the Book”

A popular program is the story Judith created as a commissioned piece for Old South Church, one of the oldest Congregational Congregations in the nation,
The Flame.  Due in the Spring of 2016 is a story to augment the Marblehead UU Church’s celebration of its’ 300th anniversary.

“Judith, what a great presence you have!”
A Show of Faith WBZ TV

“I am writing to thank you and congratulate you on your wonderful appearance here last week. You continue to amaze and inspire me with your gifts and craft. In terms of staking out common ground for Catholics and Jews, “Our Immigrant Mothers” was a perfect vehicle.”
Robert Carver/Associate Director
Martin Institute For Law and Society

Storytelling Workshops For Spiritual and Religious Communities 

GOD TALK…Making Midrash 
From Buddha to Jesus, great theological thinkers have always used stories to communicate values and ideas. It is a powerful and immediate way to teach and to inspire. This workshop is for religious and lay people who wish to explore the Bible and communicate it’s many stories from multiple vantage points. Using tales from the Torah, participants develop their skills as adapters of ‘the word.’ 
2-3 hours

No Straight Roads To Forgiveness
Holding on to wrongs done, pains inflicted, and injustices perpetrated upon us is certainly grounding. We know who to hate, to fear, to shun, and we are quickly defined by these deeply held convictions. But when we demarcate our lives and ourselves in this way, chances are we aren’t having much fun, nor are the folks with whom we share our days.

Can we use stories to drink this pain out of our hearts, and make room for forgiveness and the light that follow’s Alas, there is no step by step diagram or curriculum guide, but we will contemplate and explore this journey in our time together. Sharing segments from longer stories, exploring process, and with the full participation of all, we’ll attempt to sculpt possibilities that everyone can probe, scrutinize and try. 3-5 hours

Authentic Interaction
Authentic interactions is when we, the Rabbis, Ministers, and educators are able to create spontaneous bridges between our listeners, ourselves, and the story. Much more subtle than planned participation AI requires that a teller be open, flexible, and responsive to the environment and listeners in any setting. The teller’s natural responses and adjustments in both style and story creates that unique, once in a life time, moment that makes the story, the d’var, the sermon, the absolutely unique moment that it should be. Our time will be spent identifying that range of interactivity and playing with the possibilities that exist in shaping and reshaping our stories/sermons/ around the listeners who come to hear them. 
2-3 hour workshop

From Heart to Heart
Storytelling, an ancient folk art, has recently been claimed as the communication bedrock for everything from Hollywood films, to corporate self definition (branding). It is powerful because it speaks from the heart of the teller to that of the listener, creating a bridge of understanding. In this workshop, participants will explore that bridge. How do we strengthen the investment of listeners? How do we create a resonance that will last beyond words? How do we shape and share stories that can change the world? Come with some tales (folk, fairy, historic,or personal) that you love, and we will work on that essential thing that sets storytelling apart from other communication arts.

An abridged list of the communities in which Judith has shared this work: 
American Federation of Rabbis (Annual Conference)
Cumberland Presbyterian Clergy Retreat (Nashville, TN)
Newton Andover Theological Seminary (Newton, MA)
CAJE (Conference for the Advancement of Jewish Education)
The Jung Center, NY NY
NSN (National Storytelling Network) Jonesboro, TN
Adult Education programs at Church’s and Synagogues throughout the country

More!