In Circle this week we encountered the prophecy from Isaiah 9:2-7. Nine women attended, but one had to leave early for a court appearance. So her friend requested an extra story paper to take for her. Then during our time of responding to the story with artwork she illustrated it so that her friend would have “some color in this place.”

Such expressions of thoughtfulness and care for one another are not uncommon in our Circle of the Word sessions. One of our Connections to the story reflected on sources of light in our darkness. Those of us from the outside can clearly see how some women in Circle function as sources of light for others there in the jail, and as bearers of God’s peace in the world.