These are slides which accompanied a retreat held at Confluence in Missoula, MT on May 4, 2024.

1. Digital Storytelling and the Earth
May 4, 2024
Con
fl
uence
Missoula, MT
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

6. Gracious God – Holy Mystery –
the ancient stories of faith proclaim
that you called the worlds into being and then,
seeing all that you had created,
you saw that it was, indeed, “very good.”
Millenia later, you called us into being within your very good creation –
inviting us to embrace our own stories
as part of your eternal story of love, healing, and wonder.
We give thanks, Holy One,
for your gift of this day and this time
to share our stories with one another.
We give thanks for your invitation
to love and care for your creation
as you love and care for us all.
Bless this gathering, we pray,
with your Spirit of creativity, wisdom, and grace.
In the name of Love Eternal we pray.
Amen.

7. land acknowledgement

8. introductions!

9. setting context for this project

10. stories matter — your own and others

11. “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

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

15. a covenant of presence

16. 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.

17. 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.”

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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?”

24. 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)

25. brief break

26. let’s take some time in silence simply to think about your
response to this prompt:
Tell a story about a time and place outside when
your deep connection to the landscape moved you.

27. a
fi
rst story circle

28. 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

29. • 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

30. Tell a story about a time and place outside
when your deep connection to the landscape
moved you.

31. harvesting of insights

32. break

33. a second story circle

34. 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.

35. You can share the same story you shared in the
fi
rst
circle, or you can offer a different response to the
prompt:
Tell a story about a time and place outside
when your deep connection to the landscape
moved you.

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

37. break for lunch

38. brief recentering

39. Slow me down!
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 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,
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)

40. a “co-laboratory” of audio

41. let’s make sure you are on wi
fi
!
username:
password:

42. 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

44. 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

46. 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

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

49. a “co-laboratory” of video

50. 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)

51. iMovie
Clipchamp
Canva

52. 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

53. a few images of what it can look like

54. on a computer

58. on a phone

61. on a tablet

65. 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

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

67. 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

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

69. 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!

70. fi
nal harvesting and eval

71. 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)

72. & c œ œ
You em
.
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brace thesmall est of
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crea tures You em
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brace the whole u ni
F/A
.
˙ œ
verse Your
C/G
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ten der ness
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knows no end We,
Em
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too, rest in your
Dm7
.
˙ œ œ
arms. You em
G
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brace the wid est of
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& œ ˙ œ œ
o ceans You em
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brace the thin nest of
F/A
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hopes Your
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knows no end We,
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too,
Dm7
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& 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.

73. 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/)

74. go in peace!

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