Mary Hess

“The work of the people” has long been a phrase used to describe liturgy. Now it’s also the name of a thoughtful website which gathers up the work of artists who produce media for communities of faith. They also produce a video magazine, Alter Video, which is chock full of interesting digital stories. They’re a […]

A recent Diane Sawyer special, Children of the Plains, prompted a group of school kids in the Todd Country School District (which serves the Rosebud Sioux Reservation), to create this alternative digital short telling their own stories: (Hat tip to Dakota O’Leary unplugged)

One of the challenges for Christians living into a liturgical calendar, is that the Christian season of Advent is one of waiting and thoughtful reflection yet it occurs at the height of the commercial pressures of the holiday season. Here’s a lovely small piece by Maggi Dawn that attempts to offer a different reflection for

This is interesting. A new book which has just come out using research from the Barna Group, and talking about young adults and their faith, is being publicized via a website that invites people to send in or link to (using a specific tag) their own video stories. I’m going to be following the site

Temple Emanuel was one of the first groups that Lynn Clark and her team at Denver University worked with in creating a digital story as a form of faith formation. Here is their story:

Christ Lutheran Church in Denver, CO was one of the first groups that Lynn Clark,  Jill Dierberg and the team at Denver University worked with in this project on digital storytelling as a form of faith formation. Here is their digital story:

Here’s an example of a Lutheran church in the Denver area (Ascension Lutheran) which has created very short video pieces showcasing youth as a way to invite/entice people to be involved with their spaghetti fundraiser. While these are not formal “digital stories” nor are they focused on explicit faith formation, they do offer an interesting

Simmons College in Boston has published a really useful short guide to digital storytelling in educational settings. It’s 22 pages long, in pdf format, and free. The guide includes a number of tips and resources that are helpful in the faith formation setting, even though the guide was written for undergraduate faculty to use in

You are a group of friends gathered at a dinner table.  A young black man comes rushing through your door. He yells: “they have my mother and father!” He explains that they have been arrested, accused of providing free health care to an immigrant group of youth. In a world without churches, how do you

You are a part of a family, your sister Joanne and her partner have adopted a baby. They have decided to name the new baby after their good friend Rachel. Joanne reaches out to you, her family, and asks for your assistance on how everyone could welcome the new baby into the family. How do