Morning Sessions
Click here for the detailed schedule, and here for speaker bios.
Storytelling: Our Inheritance
Michelle Drake
Storytelling: anyone can do it well! Rediscover this ancient human craft, the craft that laid the ground for our whole idea of story. It doesn’t take magic to tell a great story (though most of the best ones have some magic in there!). All it takes is attention, generosity, and a little courage. The craft of storytelling lets you give a priceless gift to your family, friends, and community.
Singing: Telling Ourselves Our Story
Amber Salladin
From the beginning of history, people have sung their stories together. In the ancient caves in Lascaux, France, archeologists discovered musical instruments as well as careful paintings of musical performances inked on the walls. Within the Christian tradition, music has a vital role in telling the stories that hold the community of God together. In this breakout, learn about the history of church music as story, from Psalms and the Song of Songs to Hildegard of Bingen and Bach’s Masses, to hymns and worship music. Then we’ll sing a song together—no experience required, just the generosity of sharing your voice with us!
The Story-Formed Church
Fr. Matt Burnett
The Church is not an abstract concept; it is a spatial, historical presence. Throughout the last two thousand years, the Church has accumulated a treasure trove of stories—and that trove is open to anyone who wants to enter it! Come explore the vast riches of Christian story, from the precious gift of the liturgical calendar and the feasting/fasting that shapes our years, to the splendor of vestments, whose changing colors tell us the story of God’s love, death, and resurrection over and over, to the tales of saints and martyrs who strove with evil and by God’s grace overcame.
Afternoon Sessions
Session I
The Scandal of Holiness: Sainthood in Literature
Jessica Hooten Wilson
Great literature populates the landscape of God’s kingdom. It’s not just us and God in the Kingdom--it’s a thriving world full of saints and holy folk, and each of them points us in a unique way towards the source of love Himself. Join Jessica to find out how we’re living side-by-side with a whole company of saints who help us bridge the gap between God’s story and ours. Renewal of the imagination not a solo act but a communal activity.
The Enchanted Home
S.D. Smith, Terri Moon, & Jennifer England with Matthew clark (moderator)
Most of us have a house where we live… but how many people can truly say they have a home: a restful place of beauty, order, and abundance where people see God’s story at work? No matter your stage in life—single, married, raising a family, or empty-nester—your house is the setting of your story. With our panel of imaginative homemakers, dig into the way our physical spaces outline the stories we tell in our home—and explore ways to make your home the setting for beautiful, God-filled stories.
Embodied Sainthood: Gender & Dragon-Slaying
Jane Scharl
Sainthood isn’t just a matter of the spirit; our bodies are a part of this as well! Come hear the stories of two saints (St. George and St. Margaret), gifted very different bodies, who go up against the same manifestation of evil, and see how holiness looks different for each of them. We’ll also look at how God set about redeeming the material world—and specifically, our bodies—in ways that are appropriate to each of the two sexes.
Session II
Icons of Christ: Visual Art and Recapturing Our Holy Identity
fr. Anthony Karbo at holy Theophany Orthodox church
Learn the truth (and myths!) about this art form at the heart of Christianity. Icons are more than paintings: they are windows through space and time that give us a glimpse at the larger landscape of God’s holy story. The icon looks at us just as we look at the icon—a reminder that Heaven is watching our story unfold. We’ll also discuss the traditional layout of churches and the reasons behind that layout. This is an off-site event for which you will need to provide your own transportation.
Home Theater: Bringing the Great Stories into your Home
Heidi White
You don’t need to go to the theater to experience drama (as parents know well!). With a few scripts, drinks and snacks, and a little panache, you can lead your friends and family through a classic drama—with THEM as the stars! Join us for an interactive session on drama, and learn how just a few physical and vocal skills can give anyone the confidence to engage dramatically with plays and books--and who knows, maybe we’ll get to show off our skills with a short reading from a great play!
Feasting: Marking Time & Celebration in the Great Story
Matthew Clark
There’s eating a big meal… and then, there’s feasting! Come join us as we experience feasting together: the craft of the long, plenteous shared meal that goes so far beyond food. Feasting involves stories, songs, laughter, prayers. It invites us to share memories of those who’ve come before, and tell our own tales for the sake of those after us. It calls us to spend deep, joyous time in the presence of great deeds, great food, great drink… and to aspire to live so that one day at another feast, a glass is raised, a song is sung, and glory is given to God for our deeds!
Gardening & God’s Story
Christina Brown and Amy Lee discuss with Brian Brown (moderator)
If you had a plot of land, what would you do with it, based purely on your identity as a Christian? The first task we were given as humans is caring for the earth, but in contemporary society, many people feel distant from the earth and unsure of how to care for her. Our two leaders will tackle how each one of us, within our existing space, can fulfill our earliest mandate to care for creation.