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Questions for the Week:

• The recent deaths of two police officers in Harlem, NYC have reignited questions about the best ways to truly improve public safety and reduce gun violence. It also calls attention to the debate between increasing police presence and activity versus more community-driven solutions. As noted in a New York Times story, a Harlem Councilwoman who has supported the idea of abolishing police departments, is trying to navigate the fine line between standing with the victims of this shooting, while also standing by her message. I'm not asking you to comment on whether the police should be abolished. Rather, how do you think the church walks a similar fine line as it navigates justice issues? How do we call out injustices while also recognizing the nuances at play?
• A Tennessee school district banned the use of “Maus,” a Pulitzer-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, in its middle school classes because of profanity and depicting nudity which make it inappropriate for children of that age. This decision reflects an ongoing debate about what children can and cannot handle, as well as how to educate children on difficult historical events without diminishing the gravity of the truth. What are your thoughts on this?

Special Guest:
Rev. Tim Coombs, Biblical Storyteller, Co-Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Scotia, NY & Chaplain at Union College

Guest Question:
I have a question about the way we orally read and tell the stories in the Bible. I feel like sometimes just reading the Bible out loud is kind of boring. Does anyone have ideas about a way to make it more interesting? Further, some of the stories were passed down from generation to generation through verbal storytelling, so there must be a way to tell these stories in interesting and meaningful ways. Have we lost that in the modern church, where we either just read the Bible very plainly or immediate try to turn a story into something like a video?

Resource Roundup:
The Network of Biblical Storytellers International

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