We engaged the story of Jesus’ arrest this week. We used a talking piece for each of the four parts of the story.

The gong for the singing bowl (aka chime) did double duty as a club, representing part one (a crowd came to arrest him with swords and clubs), though it could also have represented part three (Jesus says, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as if I were an insurrectionist?”).

We used a wooden Jesus figure for part two, where Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss and they then lay hands on him and arrest him.

Jesus’ verbal response to those who arrest him ends with a fulfillment-of-scripture statement, unique in the Gospel of Mark. So the scroll represents part three.

And then there’s that young man following Jesus who also gets arrested. But he slips out of the linen cloth he was wearing and runs away naked. So the long-legged undressed doll represents part four.

Here’s the story in parts…Mk14_43-52_Arrest_script

“Preparations for Passover” by Cortney Haley

Yesterday was the third week of our February-March Circle of the Word at the county jail. The theme for this series of stories is “Journey to Resurrection.” The stories are from Mark 14-16, starting with The Anointing.

The next story was supposed to be “Preparations for the Passover,” but nobody brought women for our class. Myrna (my co-Circlekeeper that day) and I stood waiting in the hallway for 20 minutes or so. We can’t get in because the door is locked.

We have learned to be patient at the jail, and we were, but when an officer came out of a staff bathroom down the hall, I hailed him for help. He obliged, going off to check with someone.

The jail is short on staff, we are told, and those there often have to work double shifts. The local news reports big issues with the jail. So I wasn’t surprised at our little one.

Eventually we learned that the all-important list of women who were supposed to be brought for class never made it from the chaplain, who puts together the list (and who was absent that day) to the powers that make “transportation” happen.

So, we missed the Circle on “Preparations for Passover.” Missed opportunities go with the territory of prison ministry. But there are always new opportunities comin’ down the pike.