The story for Circle last week was Mark 1:9-11 about Jesus’ baptism.

Responses, as written, to “Something I wonder about today’s story” included:

• If I am worthy of God’s love, the way he loves Jesus
• How the spirit was like a Dove
• How great is god’s love
• I’m blessed
• How old was Jesus?
• Why it was John who Baptised Jesus

Responses, as written, to “Something I find meaningful about today’s story” included:

• The Heavens torn apart
• That Jesus was told by GOD he was loved and God was pleased
• Jesus sought out god too
• God loves the world
• That we are all God’s children and He loves us all as we are and that means a lot and I have true faith in God to still be here
• Love is a very powerful thing.
• Jesus getting baptized by John. Also God saying he loved him.

Sunday morning Pope Francis grounded his words of hope and transformation to inmates on the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet. It wasn’t just the inmates he called to transformation, it was also any system of incarceration that forgets the worth of every individual, no matter what they have done.

Another fill-in-the-blank item on the Circle feedback survey is “Something I wonder about today’s story.” Two wrote “nothing” and some left the item blank; here are other, as-written responses (the story was Mark 1:1-8 about John the Baptizer):

• Not sure how the story was told??
• What happens next
• More about John the Baptizer and how he baptized Jesus.
• What the camel hair represent?
• How John felt about his purpose and the turn out of his people.
• Why did John the baptist feel that he was not worthy enough to tie his shoes.
• How locust taste

The fish at the top of this storyboard was the ICTHUS symbol for “Jesus Christ Son of God Savior” which I suggested we use to convey verse 1, the title, of Mark. Then while they listened with their eyes closed, I mistakenly skipped part one of the story (the “Isaiah” quote) and told part two—about John appearing in the wilderness, preaching repentance and baptizing everybody. While they were drawing I recognized my omission so I alerted them. Then I told part one and suggested they number their boxes accordingly. That’s why this storyboard starts with 2. I figure I had them totally confused, but they didn’t complain at all; they just went with the flow.

Note the bee’s nest in part three for John’s diet of wild honey. She explained that the yellow design above part four symbolizes how the one coming after John would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Many of the women commented about the Holy Spirit during our Circle.

The Circle feedback survey has a fill-in-the-blank item for sharing “Something I find meaningful about today’s story.” Below are responses women in last week’s Circle gave to the story of John the Baptizer  from Mark 1:1-8 (edited for spelling only).

These responses reflect what the women got from the story, not something I told them they should get from it. I did not teach any theological concepts or doctrines. I just told and taught the story, until they could tell it to each other.

The Circle format gives the women space and time to engage the story on their terms. I did encourage them to listen for what God might have to say to them that particular day through the story.

• Being Blessed with the holy Spirit
• That the people all came to the Jordan River
• The Holy Spirit is so special
• That the people showed up to the Baptism of Repentance
• How no matter your surroundings you always feel the Holy Spirit
• That everyone came to be baptized
• Surviving the wilderness and showing up
• I’m not worthy, yet he will baptize me in the Holy Spirit
• We are not worthy
• The willingness of the people to listen, believe, and show up for baptism
• To show that everyone’s worthy in God’s eyes
• Is that your sins can be forgiven by asking forgiveness and baptism
• That all the people of the city came.

I’m the Director of a non-for-profit ministry called GoTell Communications whose mission is to help people learn and tell biblical stories by heart as a spiritual discipline for embodying Jesus’ way of peace in the world. The GoTell Board had its quarterly meeting last week. It was a fruitful meeting that included a great idea I will implement on this blog.

One GoTell board member, Mary Hallinan, is a leader of restorative justice work in Dayton and coordinates the Women’s Circle at our county jail. She provides training in Circlekeeping and has been an on-going mentor for my work in developing Circle of the Word. She gets credit for the “great idea” which I’ll now reveal.

The Circle I lead at the county jail downtown is called “Sacred Stories” instead of “Circle of the Word” so as not to be confused with the Women’s Circle. At the Board meeting, Mary suggested I anonymously post feedback from participants in Sacred Stories, with their permission, and invite them to look for their posts when they get out.

Mary reminded me that the women like to be part of something bigger than themselves, especially if it will be helpful to others. That had been my experience both with women at the jail and with men at the state prison when I was doing research for my Doctor of Ministry project.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a brilliant, win-win-win idea. Motivating and affirming for the women, inspirational and informational for readers, and a blessing for me to have on-going worthwhile material to post.

Not only that, but easy to implement. I re-purposed a survey I had already developed for Circle feedback. I offered it as an optional activity at the end of class Wednesday. I explained that its purpose was research on biblical storytelling and posting online. I told them women that their responses would add much value to a blog dedicated to restorative justice and to a Facebook page on biblical storytelling. I invited them to look for their responses on this blog and on the GoTell Communications Facebook page when they get out.

The first item on the survey asked whether or not permission was granted to share responses. All fourteen women in class agreed. One woman didn’t know how to read. I told her she was probably a great oral learner and I read her the survey so she could give her responses.

I also asked if anyone would be willing to share her storyboard online. I took photos of several storyboards from volunteers. One is included in Wednesday’s post (9/16/15). I’ll include the others in future posts, along with survey feedback from the women.

Many thanks, Mary, for a great idea. We’ll see if it works out as well as I anticipate.

You can download the PDF of the survey here or from the Activities section of this site. 

We started a new series of stories today, the stories from Mark 1, starting with Mark 1:1-8. The series theme is “Good News” from the title Mark gave his Gospel. Connections with the story were made early on. During our check-in time two women said they had just received good news and another that she had received bad news.

It was a great group, larger than usual. I ask for no more than twelve, but today we had fourteen because all but one woman on Chaplain’s list came, which doesn’t usually happen. And fortunately there were three Circlekeepers. So our Circle filled the entire room.

Everybody participated very well in the various storylearning and storytelling activities. In a round where each woman had an opportunity to tell about her favorite part of the story and show her storyboard, the creator of the storyboard above explained that the sun represented God and the water represented baptism. The fish symbol represented the title: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the Son of God” and was there because I had suggested it.

We had discussed the various meanings and English translations for euaggeliou and Christou. I had also shown them the fish symbol early Christians used and explained about ICTHUS and about Mark being written in Greek since no one spoke English two thousand years ago. Someone asked what the bumper sticker with “DARWIN” inside a walking fish symbol meant. Great question that led to some interesting discussion.

When it came to the storyboard activity, I suggested drawing the fish symbol at the top to illustrate the title, before we went through the four parts of the story about John the Baptizer. That’s the first time I’ve ever made a suggestion about what to draw in a storyboard exercise. But it was okay—they were all very interested in the fish symbol. It was easier than dividing the paper into five parts to accommodate one verse, and saved time, which was an issue today.

Storyboards are created to help learn, tell, and connect with the story. I took photos of several of the storyboards from volunteers in Circle today who were willing to have them shared online. I’ll share the others in future posts, along with feedback from the women on the story. For info on Storyboard Partner Telling and Name an Episode see Instructions for Learning Core Activities, part 2 on the Activities section of this site.

After a six-week break, we start up at the jail this Wednesday with a nine-week series on Mark 1. The theme is “The Good News” from the first verse, which is really a title: The Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I’ve gone back and forth about whether to use “gospel,” “good news,” or “story” to translate tou euaggeliou. Another translation issue is regarding christou. Sometimes I opt for the literal meaning, “anointed one” and sometimes “Messiah” from the Hebrew rendering.

Then there’s the question of whether or not to include “Son of God” as part of the title. Contemporary biblical scholarship argues persuasively that it is not original to Mark, but was added by scribes at a relatively early stage of textual development.

This time I decided to follow the NRSV on each of these translation decisions for the written story map. But when I tell it, one or the other may prevail. In any case, the “About the Story” page will include brief discussion of these translation issues.

However the title gets translated, the first story is about John the Baptizer. Our talking pieces will be a shell, symbolic of baptism, and a key chain of a sandal that my daughter brought back as a souvenir from her visit to Assisi, Italy this summer. 

Following the heart-wrenching story of Lefty, Fr. Greg Boyle (known in the barrio as “G”) writes:

…part of the spirit dies a little each time it’s asked to carry more than its weight in terror, violence, and betrayal. “By the tender mercy of God,” Scripture has it, “the dawn from on high will break upon us to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet in the way of peace.” How do those who “sit in darkness” find the light?

This question is soon followed by another worth contemplating:

How does one hang in there with folks, patiently taking from the wreck of a lifetime of internalized shame, a sense that God finds them (us) wholly acceptable?

I’m convinced that internalizing certain stories from the Bible in a creative, safe atmosphere is one approach to answering these questions.

[The above quotes are from Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle (NY: Free Press, 2010).]