These are slides that accompanied a digital storytelling workshop as part of a research project led by Mary Hess of Luther Seminary on care for creation and faith.

1. The Earth and Your Story
April 13, 2024
St. Mark and St. John American Lutheran churches
Mary E. Hess, PhD
earth.storyingfaith.org

2. A brief outline

3. outline
• gathering in prayer and song
• brief introductions (of each other and
this project)
• a “covenant of presence”
•
fi
rst story circle exercise
• break
• second story circle exercise
• break for lunch
• audio co-laboratory
• video co-laboratory
• sending blessing

4. opening prayer, song, and acknowledgement

5. land acknowledgement

6. We begin by acknowledging that we are learning on land we occupy
across South Dakota that is the ancestral traditional and contemporary
lands of the Oceti Sakowin (oh-CHEH-tee shaw-KOH-we) meaning
Seven Council Fires, which is the proper name for the people referred
to as Sioux.
We acknowledge that before this church was built and named, this
land was called home by people of American Indian Nations
indigenous to this region. The tribal alliance made up of individual
bands of the Seven Council Fires is based on kinship, location, and
dialects: Santee-Dakota, Yankton-Nakota and Teton-Lakota. We
acknowledge the sovereignty of the nine federally recognized Native
Nations in South Dakota: Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Flandreau
Santee, Lower Bruce, Oglala, Rosebud, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Standing
Rock and Yankton Sioux Tribes.

7. We recognize that we are called to be in good relationship with
our neighbors, that the tribes are sovereign nations, that there is
a history of broken treaties and broken trust, and that there is
lots of work to be done. But we also recognize that as
Christians, we have faith in new life, in hope for mending what is
broken, and in our calling through the Holy Spirit to this work.

8. We grieve at the news of the 215 children of the Kamloops Residential
School who were found in a mass grave. Since then many more
children have been found. In honor and memory of the children of the
First Nations People who never made it home, and for those still living
the nightmare imposed on them as children, we hang this orange
banner in our sanctuary in remembrance and lament of each child that
was thrown in that hole. We grieve and remember Indian people who
are going through a very sad and heartbreaking time in their collective
psyche.
The color orange is symbolic and came form the inspiration of a
survivor of that era Phyllis Webstad, she stated that when she arrived
as a 6 year old little girl she was stripped of her clothes which included
a new orange t-shirt her grandmother gifted her and was never given
back. The orange shirt/color now symbolizes how the church and the
schools they administered took away the Indian identity of the children
in their care.

10. introductions!

11. setting context for this project

12. stories matter — your own and others

13. “Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love.
Anger protects that which is loved. And when we
think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act
that returns us to love.”
Valarie Kaur

14. people don’t care what you know until they know
that you care

17. a covenant of presence

18. Be fully present, extending and presuming welcome.
Set aside the usual distractions of things undone from
yesterday, things to do tomorrow. Welcome others
into this story space and presume you are welcome
as well.

19. Listen generously. Listen intently to what is said; listen to
the feelings beneath the words. As Quaker Douglas
Steere writes, “To listen another’s soul into life, into a
condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the
greatest gift we can offer to another.”

20. Author your story. We all have a story. Some might say,“I
don’t have a story” or “a story worth telling,” but you do
and the world is in need of hearing it. You must claim
authorship of your own story and learn to tell it to others so
they might understand you, be inspired by you and
discover what calls you to be who you are, to do what you
do or to love what you love.

21. We come as equals. We don’t have the same gifts,
limits or experiences, but no person’s gifts, limits or
experiences are more or less important than
another’s.

22. Sharing is encouraged, not required. You will be
invited to share stories in small groups. The invitation
is exactly that. You will determine the extent to which
you want to participate.

23. Trust in our roles as witnesses, rather than
fi
xers. We are
not here to set someone else straight, right a wrong, or
provide therapy. We are here to witness God’s presence
and movement in the sacred stories we share.

24. Suspend judgment. Set aside your judgments. By
creating a space between judgments and reactions,
we can listen to another person, and to ourselves,
more fully.

25. Turn to wonder. If you
fi
nd yourself becoming judgmental or
cynical, try turning to wonder: “I wonder why she shared that
story or made those choices?” “I wonder what my reaction
teaches me?” “I wonder what he’s feeling right now?”

26. Keep con
fi
dentiality. Please keep the stories that
are shared here in con
fi
dence, until and unless a
storyteller gives you permission to share.
(FTE, citation on handout)

27. brief break

28. let’s take some time in silence simply to think about your
response to this prompt:
Can you tell a story about a moment in time and place
when you wondered about God's presence amidst
creation?

29. a
fi
rst story circle

30. keep in mind:
• no story is ‘
fi
nished’
• this is about listening, not ‘
fi
xing’
• set a time limit of three minutes and use a sand
timer or a phone with a digital timer to keep track

31. • sit in groups of four (if you are a group of
fi
ve, one can be
a timekeeper)
• tell a story about about “a moment in time and place when
you wondered about God’s presence amidst creation”
• have each of the other people listen
• then go around the circle and have each person re
fl
ect
back what they have heard (listen for facts, listen for
feelings, listen for values)
• rotate the roles and have another person tell a story

32. Share a story about a moment in time and
place when you wondered about God's
presence amidst creation.

33. harvesting of insights

34. break

35. a second story circle

36. One person in the circle tells a story for up to 3 minutes.
The group pauses in silence for a few seconds
For the next few minutes the group offers possible titles of the
story to the story teller. Remember that this is not a time to “
fi
x”
a problem, or offer support for something that might have been
described in the story, but simply a moment to say “hey, great
story” and offer a title.
The
fi
nal moment is the storyteller’s opportunity to accept one
of the titles which has been offered, or to use her/his own.
Write down the title on a piece of paper, and then rotate around
the circle to the next person.

37. You can share the same story you shared in the
fi
rst
circle, or you can offer a different response to the
prompt:
Share a story about a moment in time and
place when you wondered about God's
presence amidst creation.

38. harvesting of insights and sharing of the “tables of
contents”

39. break for lunch

40. brief recentering

41. Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.
Steady my harried pace
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me,
Amidst the confusions of my day,
The calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves
With the soothing music
Of the singing streams
That live in my memory.
Help me to know
The magical power of sleep,
Teach me the art
Of taking minute vacations
Of slowing down
To look at a
fl
ower;
To chat with an old friend
Or make a new one;
To pet a dog;
To watch a spider build a web;
To smile at a child;
Or to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day
That the race is not always won by the
swift;
That there is more to life
Than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward
Into the branches of the towering oak
And know that it grew great and strong
Because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord,
And inspire me to send my roots deep
Into the soil of life's enduring values
That I may grow toward the stars
Of our greater destiny.
Amen.
(CSJ Ministries Foundation 231102)

42. a “co-laboratory” of audio

43. start by audio recording your story — don’t worry
about making it perfect, simply get it into audio
format
most people will use an app like “voice memos”
from their phone or other device

45. don’t hold the phone too close to your mouth!
look for the icon that will allow you to “share” it to
somewhere you can
fi
nd it again (often your email, or a
google folder, etc.)
that button often lives in a “…” menu

47. if you have access to your email here, you could
send it there, or you could share it to a download
folder on your phone

49. give yourself permission to play with this, but if you
start to get frustrated, ask for help!

50. a “co-laboratory” of video

51. three options I recommend today: iMovie (if you are in
the Apple ecology) and clipchamp.com or canva.com
(if you are not); if you are going to use clipchamp use
a Chrome or Edge browser (I can help you with this)

52. iMovie
Clipchamp
Canva

53. just like a word processor has certain elements that work across
different version, video editors have certain shared elements
• a place to import media
• a timeline where you place media
• a “previewer” to see what you’re doing
• titles
• transitions

54. a few images of what it can look like

55. on a computer

58. on a phone

60. on a tablet

64. it’s easiest to “drag and drop”
fi
les into these
programs — so if you can put your audio
fi
le and
image
fi
les in the same folder on your computer,
that will make it simpler

65. pay attention to “
fi
le extensions”
m4a (my audio
fi
le)
jpg, jpeg, png (my image
fi
les)
mov, mp4 (my video
fi
les)

66. start by importing your story audio
fi
le, then think
about a few images that you would like to add to
deepen your story — you don’t always need to
illustrate directly, but think about an image that might
evoke a feeling

67. places to
fi
nd images for free
• your own photo library!
• Unsplash
• Open Access at the Met
• Creative Commons search

68. this is a time to play! let me know if you need help,
I’ll circulate around, and of course there are others
here who can help you, too!

69. fi
nal harvesting and eval

70. please don’t forget to share your
fi
nal stories with
me, if you are willing to have them be part of phase
two of this research (and there is a separate
consent form for that)

71. & c œ œ
You em
.
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j
œ œ œ œ
brace thesmall est of
C
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crea tures You em
G/B
- - - -
& .
œ
J
œ œ œ œ
brace the whole u ni
F/A
.
˙ œ
verse Your
C/G
.
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J
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ten der ness
F
œ œ œ œ
knows no end We,
Em
- - - -
& ˙ œ œ œ œ
too, rest in your
Dm7
.
˙ œ œ
arms. You em
G
.
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j
œ œ œ œ
brace the wid est of
C
- -
& œ ˙ œ œ
o ceans You em
G/B
.
œ
J
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brace the thin nest of
F/A
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˙ œ
hopes Your
C/G
- - -
& .
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ten der ness
F
œ œ œ œ
knows no end We,
Em
w
too,
Dm7
- -
& œ œ œ œ œ
rest in your lov ing
G
w
arms.
C
.
˙
-
You Embrace the Smallest of Creatures
Bret Hesla
Words and music by Bret Hesla.
© 2017 Bret Hesla. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Licensed via OneLicense.net, Contact: Bret.hesla@gmail.com.

72. On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a
fl
ock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue,
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the
waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth
be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the
fl
uency of the ocean be
yours,
may the protection of the
ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life
(https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/beannacht-blessing/)

73. go in peace!

74. there is lots more information at my website:
earth.storyingfaith.org
meh.religioused.org/web/creationstories

75. (extra slides that may be useful)

76. four kinds of power
four kinds of stories

77. four kinds of stories
• dominant or stock
• concealed
• resistance
• counter / transformative

78. four ways to think about
change and power
• structural
• political
• relational/human
resource
• cultural/symbolic

79. polarization is about high con
fl
ict, and healing is
not simply about “engaging difference” but actually
fi
nding ways to approach relationship

80. “Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love.
Anger protects that which is loved. And when we
think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act
that returns us to love.”
Valarie Kaur

81. fi
nding ways to wonder together…

82. (link to download)

83. “Love without power is anemic and sentimental.
Power without love is reckless and abusive.”
MLK, Jr.

84. mission as dialogue — “
fi
rst step is deep listening
(xiv), “dialogue is the sine qua non of mission. It is
about presence. It is about relationship. It is about
hospitality. It is about openness. It is humble,
vulnerable, joyful”
(Bevans/Ross)