I recently had the privilege to go to jail and minister to incarcerated men and women. Isn’t it funny how our perspective in life changes? When I was a younger man, if you ever told me I would consider it a privilege to go to jail I would have said, “You’ve lost your mind!” It truly was though.
My life verse, however, is from Isaiah 6:8! Remember the Prophet Isaiah? He said, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
The Lord was asking who He should send and Isaiah said “Send me!” In the same way, I can relate. There are lots of people he could have sent into that jail, but he chose to send me and the other 37 or so men who went along side me into our local jail. We were able to tell them about a savior who loves them, and who died on the cross for them and provide them some tools on how they can avoid spending time in that place.
It was an honor that God allowed me and the others to be part of the weekend. As I write this, I also get to be part of another weekend just like it where we get to tell of the same redemptive love story to the women who are incarcerated. I hear we could have has many as 28 women taking part in the REC, but that’s always up in the air depending on a few different factors. If you’re curious, there were 51 men.
What I feel like God wants me to share with you in this note is the good work New Hope UMC did in the past. As I ministered to those 51 men, there were at least four who told me of their past at New Hope United Methodist. I heard on more than one occasion, “That’s the church I grew up in!”
It would be easy to feel like you must not have did good work if they ended up in jail, but that’s just silly talk. That would be like saying the builder of a house did a bad job because a tornado came and knocked it down! I don’t make excuses for these men. They have broken the law and there is a price to pay when you do that, but most are in that jail because of addiction and crimes committed to help feed that addiction. Some of them are really good houses who have just been hit by a storm of drugs and addiction and they just don’t know how or haven’t had the chance to rebuild yet.
You see, the jail ministry in a nutshell, in most of these men’s lives is basically the story of the prodigal son. Lots of them grew up in church. I told you about four of them with a history here at New Hope. Just like the son Jesus talks about in Luke 15, Verse 13 says, “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.”
A lot of these men grew up in church and then thought they could do it on their own and set out in the world. Then, much like the son Jesus tells us about in this parable, they run into trouble like the Prodigal did. Verse 14 says, “After he had spent everything there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”
In most cases, these men and women, who are in jail, spend everything they have, all their money, all their favors, all their friends and all their families, and they have nothing left and they find themselves alone, at rock bottom – in need.
Thankfully, that’s not where the story ends.
Verse 17 says, “When the son came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.”
That’s where New Hope and the other churches these men and women were part of when they were younger come in. Home is easier to find when you’ve been there. If they have truly grown tired of living life where they have been living it and want to return home to the father, they know the way home because they’ve been there! Many churches, including New Hope, get credit for planting some seeds when these men and women were younger.
You know the rest of the parable, the son returned home and the father ran to him and met him and threw a party, because this son of his was lost, but now is found, was dead and is alive.
I’d like to tell you that there were some lost sons found during the two weekends me and some others from New Hope spent in jail. I think there were many men and women who were truly tired of doing it their way, were tired of eating the pods the pigs were eating. Some said they wanted to get saved and some rededicated their lives, but we all know when they get out of jail and begin to travel back toward the father’s house, there is a tempter, the devil who is going to have some different food for them to sample.
So here’s is how you can help those who truly want to journey back to the father’s house. Join me in praying for them, especially those who grew up or have a connection to this church. Pray that we can somehow help them find their way back to the father’s house. Let’s pray together for the jail staff who work these men and women daily, that they would see the benefit of programs like the REC and they would see true change taking place in the jail after we leave.
It’s always hard for me to be away from church and my church family on a Sunday morning, I missed you, but I am thankful that God allows me to be part of His work in the jails in the community where I live and serve. I can’t say, “Here I am Lord, send me!” and then not go!
Blessings and much love,
Pastor George
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