‘Parablesong’ W


Reimagining the Bible, with art


hen he was in college, Benjamin McKelahan noticed that church culture was “completely alien” to his friends. During seminary he saw that


his friends “could appreciate the depth, nuance and free- dom of Lutheran theology … but not by walking into a Lutheran church.”


Pondering where they did find meaning and ritual, he realized: “All my friends are in theater. We told sto- ries and brought them to life.” An innovative motif began to


emerge in his mind: “Let’s reimag- ine the Bible through the lens of our lives. Let’s retell it so it’s interesting, tangible and fun.” Today, McKelahan is a 28-year- old pastor in Williamsburg, a young,


Wu, a Web content writer and editor, is a member of St. Jacobus Lutheran Church, Woodside, Queens, N.Y.


artistic community in northern Brooklyn, N.Y. As a Metropolitan New York Synod mission developer (since December 2011), he weaves the Bible into art projects based on Christian stories, symbols and themes.


“In Greek, ‘parables’ means ‘to throw alongside,’ ” he said. “So we throw our own stories alongside Scripture to find how our life stories connect to God’s story.”


Bringing people into a church building isn’t the primary goal of


32 The Lutheran • www.thelutheran.org Making connections


At church McKelahan leads a “Par- able of the Bell Tower” liturgy twice a month for writers, visual artists and others who take Bible stories and make them their own. In a 12-by- 12-foot candlelit space, under a bil- lowing ceiling adorned with stars and moons, everyone shares a current “place of desolation” (despair, fear, sadness or lifelessness) and a “place


JENISE N. MORGAN


By Lily R. Wu


the Parables ministry (see www. parablesnyc.org). Nor do they have to be artists, Gen Yers or Chris- tians to join in. Still, there’s a defi- nite word and sacrament connection. St. Paul Lutheran, a Spanish- speaking congregation in Williams- burg, is home base for the ministry. McKelahan began there full-time in September.


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