I visited a woman in jail who had been on trial for a serious crime. She had just accepted a plea bargain. She’d been in jail since last summer and attending my biblical storytelling “Circle of the Word” since December, including seven weeks of stories from Jesus’ passion and death. She had missed class when we engaged the resurrection story because of being on trial.

I knew she needed that resurrection story and asked her if she wanted to hear it. She said, “Oh yes” as her eyes filled with tears. So I told it to her. She listened with head bowed, eyes closed, like the words were washing over her. Then I talked through the story, adding some information about it as I had done in Circle with the “About the Story” handout.

This is a woman who grew up in the church and knows the stories well. But she needed a reminder of what God has done for her so she would know she was loved no matter what. Hearing the words of the story “live” from another person helped her to experience that love. For me it was also an experience of the power of the Gospel (“good story”) of Jesus to convey divine presence and love.

Evangelism happens whenever we tell another person about grace—God’s unconditional love for them. Sometimes a person has never heard about God’s unconditional love. Sometimes a person never heard that message, even if they have attended church. And all of us need regular reminders.

They Saw a Young Man Dressed in a White Robe

In the language of computer-speak, RAM stands for Random Access Memory. In Circle of the Word, that meaning is relevant because RAM has to do with memory, but the initials stand for the oldest pedagogical method known to man (and woman): Repeat-After-Me. In Circle of the Word, RAM is a step to getting the story into short-term memory.

I usually include the Repeat-After-Me activity somewhere up front when teaching a biblical story. But not with the stories of Jesus’ passion and death. It just doesn’t seem appropriate, I suppose because the exaggerated gestures and vocalizations often are a little on the silly side which almost always leads to laughter. The stories of Jesus’ passion and death are just too somber for that.

But this week we made it to the resurrection story (Mark 16:1-8) so after we did the Word I Heard activity I instructed everyone to stand up and put all their things down on their chairs. Next I told them what we were about to do–to go through the story again, this time with them repeating my words and my gestures.

Usually a few of the women will join me in telling the story, one line at a time, and follow my gestures, but this time almost all of them did. I could see out of the corner of my eye, the short woman on my left opting out of repeating my words, much less my motions. She watched somewhat in amazement I think, feeling perhaps a bit like the women in the story when they saw the young man in the tomb.

Because the others were energetically telling the story, following my lead with increasing gusto. We became one body, immersed in the story until we all sadly, but sympathetically proclaimed, “for they were afraid.” Smiles all around. “That was fun,” one woman exclaimed. Indeed it was. It was a joyful bonding experience, as communal participation in the resurrection ought to be. I would venture to say it was downright sacramental.

Last Wednesday we engaged the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and death, with the focus on his death. Each story is harder than the last. This storyboard captured the darkness along with key details in each episode.

Good questions were asked. One woman remembered that Jesus told one of those crucified with him that he would be in paradise with him. I explained how the four Gospels had four tellings of the story, each somewhat different. She asked, “Which one is true?” I said they all were. How would you answer?

There were fourteen of us today in our “Sacred Stories” Circle of the Word. Twelve of the participants were women residing in the jail. Susan Bennett and I were the Circlekeepers. We pretty much filled the room.

The story for the day was Jesus before Pilate. Sometimes I call it “The Trial Before Pilate,” sometimes just “The Sentencing.” I begin by paraphrasing all the stories we have done in the “Journey to Resurrection” series, starting with “The Anointing” from Mark 14. I put graphics along the edge of our Circle to highlight the sequence of episodes.

When I came to last week’s story about Peter’s denial, I kept mixing up Jesus and Peter. For example, after the council condemns Jesus, I said that Jesus was down in the courtyard (Peter was there, not Jesus). Thankfully, Susan corrected me so I wouldn’t have everyone totally confused.

Then, when I said the slave-girl three times identified Peter as one of Jesus’ supporters, one of the women corrected me. She pointed out that the slave-girl identified Peter twice, but the bystanders did it the third time. I was very impressed at how thoroughly she had learned “Peter’s Denial” last week.

In today’s story, the crowd shouts vehemently, “Crucify him!” It’s hard to tell and painful to hear. Nevertheless, everyone listened. It was an unusually attentive group. Maybe that’s because these stories connect with the women’s own experience of betrayal, arrest, interrogation, trial, sentencing, and imprisonment. They could no doubt relate to how Jesus was handed over from one authority to the next.

Susan led the Word I Heard activity. The words and phrases we offered after hearing the story a second time pretty much covered all its episodes. After Susan read these off at the end of the activity and commented on how much of the story we had covered the woman next to her said, “We listened well.”

This observation and affirmation of the group effort was both accurate and heart-warming. More than that, the comment emphasized the value of the gift of good listening. The women listen well to each other, to the storyteller, and to the Word of God. In prayer, they trust that God will listen well to them. That is one way of practicing faith.

In Circle of the Word at the jail (“Sacred Stories”), we are moving through the passion of Jesus according to Mark. Today’s story was “Peter’s Denial.” Eleven women came and most had some familiarity with this story. It’s a good story for Ash Wednesday.

When we started the Check-In round, I said I was feeling “reflective” because it is the first day of Lent. The “honor-the talking-piece” guideline for Circle was immediately forgotten by the question, “What is Lent?”

I should have known and said something about the significance of the day beforehand. As it was I said I’d tell about Lent after we were done with the round. Which I did.

There was a surprising amount of interest in Lent and Ash Wednesday. If I ever lead a Circle on Ash Wednesday again in jail I’ll plan some time to talk about it, maybe do an imposition of ashes. And connect it more pointedly to the story of Peter’s Denial.

The Word I Heard exercise brought out a variety of words and phrases, some from the story, some inspired by the story. One woman offered a commentary that was especially poignant: ““He forgot who he was walking with.”

Peter wasn’t the only one who ever suffered that kind of amnesia. Most of us do much of the time. Ash Wednesday is an opportunity to acknowledge our forgetfulness, repent of it, and commit to remembering that the spirit of Jesus accompanies our journey through life.

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.

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)