Gospel Pilgrimage Stories: A Modern Translation + Paraphrase of Gospel Texts and Illustrations

By Drew Willard

This book is a companion to the storytelling project I did in the summer of 2007. It was called a Gospel Storytelling Pilgrimage as I stopped to visit churches, mentors, family, and friends along my way to the 26th General Synod of the United Church of Christwhich was also celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. I drove up from Florida to Hartford, Connecticut, for GS XXVI then on to Massachusetts and back through New York, Pennsylvania, and finally to Washington, DC. From there I took a nice Auto Train ride back home. There were nineteen scheduled performances, and at 7:00 p.m. each day, I presented a forty-five-minute biblical storytelling program followed by discussion. These are Gospel stories I translated or paraphrased from the Greek, using inclusive language to unpack meaning. The use of capital letters is a reminder of how these texts were often written in ancient times. The drawings are my own and serve more like medieval illuminations rather than illustrations. Jesus @ 2000 was the basic design for my entry into a national art contest. The top fifty were publishedmine mustve been fifty-first . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512777239

Drew Willard

Drew Willard has been telling Biblical stories since he was a student at Lancaster Theological Seminary (UCC) and attended his first Network of Biblical Storytellers festival gathering in 1987. In the early 1990s, he began to do his own translations and paraphrases of Gospel narratives, bringing them alive for his listeners as he puts them in his own words. At this writing, Pastor Drew (“PaDre”) serves the United Church of Christ at The Villages in north central Florida - where he has used these scripts for recitations with his congregation and in interfaith ‘evenings of sacred storytelling’ as well as ‘Gospel pilgrimage’ roadtrips. The texts of this book are written in capitals to be reminiscent of an ancient format for sacred scripture (which were written in continuous lines without punctuation). Indentation serves as an aid for memorization.

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Copyright © 2017 Drew Willard.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-7722-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7723-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017902960

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/10/2017

Contents

The Prologue

The Jordan            Mark 1:1-11

The Wasteland      Luke 4:1-15, Matthew 4:4b

The Galilee           John 1:43-51

Nazareth                Luke 4:16-30

Cana                      John 2:1-11

Capernaum            Mark 2:1-12

The Kingdom        Matthew 5:1-16

The 3 Point Sermon on the Mount                   Matthew 5:17-7:29

You have heard that it was said, ‘One Way’, but I say to you, ‘God is still speaking.’

Don’t pray, donate, or serve just for show, because God is with you wherever you go.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – or else!

The Sabbath: a Day in the Life of Christ         from Mark 2:23-5:43

SUNRISE: The Synagogue

MORNING: The Mountain

NOON: The Street

AFTERNOON: The Beach

SUNSET: The Sea

MIDNIGHT: The Other Side

FIRST LIGHT: The Return

a Lovesong to God

The Woman

The Son of God

The Samaritans

The Son of Man

Introduction

This book is a companion to the storytelling project I did in the summer of 2007. It was a gospel storytelling pilgrimage as I stopped to visit churches, mentors, family, and friends along my way to the 26th general synod of the united church of Christ – which was also celebrating its 50th anniversary. I drove up from florida to hartford, connecticut for gs xxvi then on to massachusetts and back through new york, pennsylvania, and finally to washington, dc. From there I took a nice autotrain ride back home. There were 19 scheduled performances and at 7:00 pm each day, I presented a 45 minute biblical storytelling program followed by discussion. These are gospel stories I translated or paraphrased from the greek, using inclusive language to unpack meaning. The use of capital letters is a reminder of how these texts were often written in ancient times. The drawings are my own and serve more like medieval illuminations rather than illustrations. Jesus @ 2000 was the basic design for my entry into a national art contest. The top 50 were published – mine must’ve been 51st…

‘Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate’ – but what happened in between? As the Nicene Creed tried to come up with a definition about God that early Christians could all agree to, this also meant coming to terms with who was – and is, Christ Jesus. There were three parts to my original repertoire – The first being The Prologue about the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry, a harmonization with stories from each of the Gospels. I have included the Sermon on the Mount here as a separate text which continues from the Beatitudes of the Gospel of Matthew. These teachings are the heart of what Jesus equipped his apostles with,