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.