Naming

“You have called me by name,” rings out Isaiah. Naming is a very important part of belonging, and belonging is a key element of most faiths.

We thought about creating a page of definitions for this site, but that seemed more limiting than expanding. At the same time we realized that it might help people who come to explore and use this site to think about certain kinds of processes. What do people mean by “faith,” for instance? What do people mean by “community”? In this section of the site we’re going to explore how we name certain elements of this work. These explorations will have commenting enabled, so that we hope you’ll join in the conversation about how we name what we’re doing.

  • March update 27 March 2024
    A brief update this month, as Lent and Holy Week have placed heavy demands on my life and work, and I have prayed and learned with others who are praying through Ramadan. Such a busy and holy season this is! My project held a two-part version of the workshop at St. Francis Cabrini in Minneapolis this ...
  • February update 28 February 2024
    It’s nearly the last day of February . I have to note that I have been so busy this month on this project that my communication has fallen behind. I think that’s probably a good thing? But I will seek to do better next month. In any case, workshops in Oshkosh, WI and St. Paul, MN ...
  • January update 26 January 2024
    The first thing I have to share is that this project went on a major “pause” during January, as I caught my first bout of COVID and spent most of the month isolated in our attic, fighting the disease. My gosh I’m glad to be through it, and even more grateful that isolation kept my ...
  • December update 22 December 2023
    Dear friends, it is the shortest day of the year here in North America as I write this note. Darkness has been taking up more and more of each day. Now, however, the days will begin to turn again towards spring, and light will begin to creep into more and more of my awareness. Usually this ...
  • November project update 6 November 2023
    The recent time change we underwent here in the US has made me particularly conscious of how the sun’s rising and falling impacts my sense of time. As the days feel so much shorter, with dark falling earlier, the sense of the earth in this hemisphere settling down for a “long winter’s nap” is tangible. ...
  • October update 18 October 2023
    Welcome to the October update for the Digital Storytelling and the Earth project. I’ve been thinking about water a lot. In the midst of the various violent conflicts around the world, having access to clean water is an urgent life or death matter. I pray that we find ways to engage these conflicts that keep our ...
  • Juxtaposition 13 September 2023
    I can’t help sharing this piece from the Apple launch yesterday, which explores their current achievements around the environment and sustainability. It’s a great little story — but it’s only one version, and so next to that I want to juxtapose Bill McKibbon’s latest essay. Perhaps my point, at least one of them, is that ...
  • September project update 12 September 2023
    I was delighted to join Jesse Lake Lutheran and Suomi Lutheran churches up “on the edge of the wilderness” in Talmoon, MN for the first workshop in this project. 16 people from around the area came together to share stories in story circles, and then to work with their own devices on turning those stories ...
  • August project update 21 August 2023
    This month I’d like to share the following: (1) Our project website is up and running! you can find basic information there about the workshops, as well as some beginning story prompts, and ways to sign up to participate (please share!) (2) Did you know that September 1 is the beginning of the Season of Creation in the liturgical calendar? ...
  • Stories and the earth 21 August 2023
    During the 2023-2024 academic year I will be working on a participatory research project that employs digital storytelling workshops that are based in religious institutions (churches, mosques, schools, etc.) to elicit stories about the earth, particularly the land we live on and with. Phase one is a day long digital storytelling workshop that teaches people ...