Athena Rose
Spur Ottawa Writer

In ancient times, there was a well-employed method of storytelling, called midrash. Midrash is the telling of an old story in a new way, bringing the listener’s attention to new parts of the story. The Ottawa Chapter of the Word Guild (a national Christian writers’ fellowship) brought midrash to life in a free online workshop called Flesh on Barebones.

“Midrash is a part of Jewish storytelling I have long loved,” says Bobbie Ann Cole, facilitator of Flesh on Barebones. “There is so much good to be gained by putting ourselves there, where Jesus or other Bible characters walked. They met God, and we can meet Him too, as we immerse ourselves in their worlds.”

Midrash, as a way of studying the Bible, goes back millennia. The sages would use it to simplify the complexities in scripture, or to fill in gaps in understanding. The method aims to reignite the listener’s interest in the story and to present the lesson of the story in a new and effective way.

Sometimes, the storyteller will invite the audience to look at the story from a new character’s perspective, or even put the story into a new setting. “I did this in my novel Being Lena Levi,” Cole explains, “which is set in 1950 England and Israel, but was inspired by the story of Solomon, who had to judge between two mothers, claiming the same baby.”

“Stories create pictures and involve our emotions. We engage and the message reaches our heart.”

In the November 22 workshop, Cole invited her guests to join her at the wedding at Cana, looking at the story with a new set of eyes. Through midrash, the storyteller (the workshop participants) got to tell the story anew, using the perspective of anyone from Jesus, to servers, to one of the disciples.

Yet, the workshop was not just for Bible study. It also offered Christian writers an opportunity to connect together to encourage and bless each other.

“I enjoy nurturing community,” explains Nicole Wegscheider, who leads the Ottawa chapter of the Word Guild and hosted Flesh on Barebones. “The workshop was a wonderful community-building opportunity, connecting a highly talented, skilled, and gifted person, Bobbie Ann Cole sharing a fascinating topic, Flesh on Barebones, with our extensive writing community.”

Cole adds that even though this workshop was meant to inspire writers, the storytelling method of midrash is very open, and does not impose rules on writers. There is no required level of experience or skill. It’s not even a genre or a style. The sole purpose of midrash is to aid us in our search for deeper meaning in old texts, she explains.

“Stories make it easier to see a point. Stories create pictures and involve our emotions. We engage. The message reaches our heart. We are more likely to remember it and take it on board because we can ‘see’ the story. All this adds up to a widening of our understanding and a deepening of our faith, something that is truly a treasure.”