Middle School Meditation on the Prodigal Son

One of my unexpected joys at the Wild Goose Festival was the impromptu opportunity to guide middle-schoolers through the creation of art around the "Parable of the Prodigal Son," perhaps better titled "Parable of the Faithful Father." I am often pleasantly encouraged by the creativity adults find when they free themselves to live in the biblical narrative. However, I was blown away by the questions these kids were asking about the text and the beauty unleashed in their expressions of those questions.

This is a recording of our conversation about the middle-schooler's reactions to the Prodigal and the art many of them created:

It Could Have Been Different, by Carolyn Kennedy

In our impromptu Stories that Compost workshop at the Wild Goose Festival 2011 we reflected on the biblical narrative of Hagar the Egyptian slave who bore Abraham's first son, Ishmael.

Carolyn Kennedy was one of only two workshop participants who wrote fully developed stories during our writing time. Sadly, I only captured one (technical difficulties). Even more sad, I don't remember the other woman's name, so I can't track her down. All I can remember is that her story angle intrigued me. She was a mature women, real pleasant smile, with salt-and-pepper hair cut in a bob, kinda like Anne Rice if I remember correctly (then again, maybe not). But her smile reminded me of Anne's, and I know I've seen her before. If anyone who was there happens to know who I'm talking about, please let me know.

Carolyn is a soft-spoken-yet-hardy mid-western mom and minister who lives in one of those cold northern-most states. I appreciate her telling this story from Hagar the outsider's perspective. Carolyn saves me the trouble of having to write a version of this story myself ;-).

Joseph the Enslaver, by Jay Beck

I love Jay's voice and visage! It's so untamed, so aggressive. In the opening concert for the Wild Goose Festival Jay spoke of Joseph selling his family into slavery. I found that recasting of the Joseph narrative so compelling that I asked Jay to let me record him telling that story.

Joseph's story was the inspiration of the new Psalter's album, Carry the Bones. The Psalters are amazing musical storytellers and well worth our ongoing support.

The clip ends with a excerpt of the Psalters "Re-member".

Re-membering Forward, by Tevyn East

Tevyn East's understanding of Jesus' temptations in the wilderness is informed by the Sioux tradition of vision questing. In keeping with indigenous rites of passage all over the world, Jesus goes off into the wilderness to become attuned with the Spirit-wind that will at times stir, at others cool, still others billow through his life. Hear Tevyn's moving interrogation of what it means to surrender to the whims of the Spirit-wind of God.

The clip ends with a excerpt of the Psalters "Re-member" from the album Carry the Bones.

Multiple Ways to Tell the Story... of Cain & Abel [ages 15 & up]

The first annual Wild Goose Festival gave me a phenomenal opportunity to collect more stories and to get into thrilling conversations about various ways of unpacking the same story. Those conversations were so much fun that I hope to initiate and record them at various gatherings for the duration of this project.

One such interaction at the Goose took place in the afternoon sun of the festival green with Jay Beck and Tevyn East. Jay is a percussionist and vocalist for the band Psalters out of Philly. Tevyn is a dancer, choreographer and activist whose current project is called Leaps and Bounds. Both are amazing storytellers looking for new and living ways to articulate their faith. Our conversation that afternoon began with the conflict between the Cains and the Abels (the previous story posted).

The clip ends with a excerpt of the Psalters "Re-member" from the album Carry the Bones.