prison...finding hope on the horizon of desperation

 

( image courtesy of Pamela Suran www.jerusalempropheticart.com )

To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:  opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons. ( Isaiah 42:7 Eugene Peterson's The Message )

Although we've only been doing the prison ministry thing for awhile now, a few things are becoming more clear, or should I say less clear. It is in a sense, the blind leading the blind. Some might say that that is the perfect scenario for a disaster. Yes, it could be...if someone wasn't leading the blind.

I think often in the church we have a preconception of where the Kingdom is. It's usually when we have preconceptions of where it is, and predict and point and say it's here or there, we end up getting it wrong. Sort of like the shell game. We point, " there it is!" Nope. We point again, " Well, there it is! Nope. Well where is it then? The only preconception we need is that the Kingdom is where Jesus is. And the gospel makes it fairly clear where Jesus is.

So we went to the Ferndale and Mission Institutions with nothing more than this, the words of Jesus...

I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me. ( Matthew 25:36 ; The Amplified Bible )

If Jesus is in prison, we knew the Kingdom had to be near and close at hand. Now, I'm not saying once we cleared security we could point and say there it is, and look there it is over there too. I'm saying, I was pretty much blind. It is in this darkness that we navigate by the Spirit's prompting, gentle nudge this way or that way.

It was interesting this time playing in prison, in that in both Ferndale and Mission we played in the Chapel. There was sense that this was a sacred foothold in this place. But more profound for me was the sense, that Christianity and church should be more like prisons. Here, I didn't have to convince anyone that there life was not manageable. There was a sense of desperation. Everyone knew they were a sinner.

And in this place, and with these people I could say things that I never have before. Even in " church " people have known snippets of my life, even my friends in the band know some, but not all. Living in abuse growing up; drugs; running away; living on the streets in Toronto and London for short periods; shoplifting as a survival skill; dropped out of school in grade 9; my Dad enlisting me in the army on my 17th birthday for more discipline than he could dish out. A young man with anger issues and a thirst to self medicate...in the army where alcohol is cheaper than water. Got married, life was more controlled, but drugs were still an issue to the point where my wife gave me an ultimatum...the marriage or drugs. I found Jesus in a little shed beside the house, when I finally said I can't do this on my own anymore. Maybe desperation is the horizon, the lowest point in life in which hope can rise like the dawn of a new day.

I can't mention names, and we couldn't take any pictures, but, I talked to one man who had been in prison for 32 years.

Another man had just been convicted 10 months ago for shooting his estranged wife and killing her while his daughter was in the back seat. This was a guy with no previous convictions, in his late 40's, that just snapped. I asked him when he might get out. He told me, he's not he has no chance of parole.

Another young man in his late twenties, biker, been shot, stabbed; he walked in and caught his girl friend and partner in bed; he killed them both with an axe.

I had the opportunity to pray for all these guys, and again, I'm totally blind and the inmates are blind. I'm blind in that I don't really have any idea what to pray for, I've got no script, no prayer book. And the inmates are blind, they've lost there identity, they've lost sight of any horizon in which they might see hope rise, and they are blind to the reality of freedom. Can freedom be found in prison?I pray that the Spirit will move, giving me the words of Jesus, and the inmates to hear. The words come.

They need to see themselves in the drama of the story of the prodigal son. They have done some awful stuff, the broken relationships, the hurt, the pain, the suffering, the drugs and alcohol addictions. They need to own the truth of that, and seek forgiveness. The also need to know that that is not what identifies them. They need to know who they really are, " children of God." They need to know that life might seem hopeless, but that you can't out spend life. There is a Father that stands at the end of the driveway, that sees the horizon of your desperation, but makes hope arise at the dawn of a new day. Joyously, he dances, he sings, he kisses and hugs you, welcoming you home again. You might be behind bars, but real freedom is found living in that truth.

Grace, the Kingdom, and the gospel are the outrageous scandalous unending love of Jesus. So I went to the prison blind, and I return seeing all these things more clear. The Kingdom is where Jesus is, and Jesus calls us to follow...

inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

Comments

[don]

thx Ron.

[Al]

At the same time you were posting this, another blogging friend posted this: http://toothface.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-i-know-about-faith.html
(I am crossposting this comment in both blogs.)
Both of you have very recently had the opportunity to see first hand what happens when you are Jesus in a difficult situation.
You both entered that situation hoping/knowing that you were supposed to be there, but didn't necessarily know what you would face, or how you would deal with it.
Both of you were Jesus. His hands, his heart, his love, his peace.
Both of you saw what happens when the presence of Jesus meets someone in need.
That's what will truly change our worlds, as we bridge the gap between people and the divine. I am proud to know each of you and call you 'friend'.

[shallowfrozenwater]

i'm finding hope and some encouragement here. i've always been scared of doing anything like this because i feel so ... not up to the task. when you talked about your blindness then i realized the obvious; i don't have to be afraid about what i'm to be doing because that's completely a given. i'm going to be blind when i do something like this, and i should do it anyway.
thanks for the "nudge". now i have to figure out what and how to do more of this sort of stuff.