In our Circle at the jail, we usually have a theme for a series of related stories that we cover over a number of weeks, one story at a time. In this past November and December we surveyed the women to see which story themes would be preferred. They were asked to indicate their favorite four out of twelve. Taking advantage of a write-in option, one woman responded that she would like to learn stories about understanding God more, and another wanted to learn stories about Jesus. The rest chose as follows:

Loving Your Enemy (12)

Healing Stories (11)

Women in Luke (9)

The Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus (8)

Psalms and Other Biblical Prayers (8)

Women in Exodus (8)

Stories of Mary Magdalene (6)

Heroic Prostitutes of the Bible (5)

Esther, the Queen (5)

Seed Parables of Jesus (3)

Exorcism Stories (3)

Ruth, the Moabite (3)

Jesus told the crowds all these things in stories; without a story he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth to speak in stories; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 5:38

Many years ago, when I was Coordinator for the Network of Biblical Storytellers, I used a phrase from Psalm 78:2 as part of the organization’s logo: “I will open my mouth in a story.” Only now did I discover Matthew’s appropriation of Psalm 78:2 in his story of Jesus. Matthew used the Greek word parabolā which we translate “parables” or “stories.”

The parables to which the psalmist and Matthew refer are special stories from a holy source, meant for our spiritual growth. They are sacred stories, which is why we named our Circle of the Word with women in the jail “Sacred Stories.”