Beatitudes come to life at Manchester church

MANCHESTER -- While many Christians have learned biblical stories and memorized passages by heart, Ben Starr, director of Music Ministry at Trinity United Church of Christ, said there's always something new to be learned from the bible.

Members of Living the Story, part of the DC Area Guild of the Network of Biblical Storytellers and partners with the Convergence Creative Community of Faith in Alexandria, Va., presented the Beatitudes in story and song in Manchester Sunday.

"They brought that to us today with their storytelling," Starr said.

The four biblical storytellers that visited the church were Janice Langholz, Vera DeWeese, Jackie Johnson and Paige Powell.

Jesus begins telling the good news of the coming of the kingdom of God by sharing the Beatitudes, according to the Living the Story, DC website. The group retells those blessings using folktales and stories during a one-hour worship service developed by the members of Living the Story and focused on Matthew 5:1-11.

Langholz told The Story of the Repentant Tax Collector, telling that "those who exalt themselves shall be humbled", while "those who humble themselves shall be exalted."

Other stories included Jesus' Total Submission in Gethsemane, The Story of the Dipper, Old Joe and the Carpenter and The Story of the Son. In the story of Old Joe and the Carpenter, two neighbors got in a fight over a calf even after many years of friendship.

While Joe asked the carpenter to build a wall separating him from his neighbor, the carpenter instead built a bridge, which repaired their friendship.

DeWeese said the group travels around bringing the word to life using stories, such as fables and folktales. The stories make the Beatitudes memorable and grabs people's emotions.

"It brings back the old storytelling traditions, the oral traditions," she said.

Langholz, who started the group about seven years ago, said telling the biblical stories is her calling from God.

"Sometimes it's hard to know how to do what we're told to do in church," she said. "These stories illustrate for us real life ways people can do what we're supposed to do."

Trinity's pastor, the Rev. Suzanne Adele Schmidt, said biblical storytelling is inspiring and brings the story of the Bible to life. The Beatitudes guide how to build God's kingdom here and now, but also give insight into what heaven could be like, she said.

As a teacher, Schmidt said she's always looking for ways to reinforce lessons about the Beatitudes that were given during sermons throughout the last month. She believes the Beatitudes are just as important, if not more important, than the Ten Commandments.

"For Christians, beatitudes really are principles for living as disciples of Christ," she said.

Larry Martin, church member and sound engineer for services, said the Beatitudes were brought out in stories that are relevant today.

"It was good to hear it from a different perspective," he said.

He particularly enjoyed The Story of the Son, which depicted how an art collector's paintings were being auctioned after his death. One of the paintings being sold was one of his son, who died in war.

The gardener, who bought the painting for only $10, ended up receiving all the man's art collection because he bought the painting that meant the most to the owner.

"What you think is nothing may be a lot," Martin said. "Don't take anything for granted."