Meeting Jesus In Jail
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This Sunday's passage from Acts 16:16-34 offers up a striking contrast between outward appearances and inner reality -- despite the fact that Paul and Silas have been severely beaten and are imprisoned with shackles on their feet, they act like free people (which with divine intervention becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy). Their experience provides us with an important object lesson for our own lives -- for whether or not we're enclosed by four walls, we have a freedom of the spirit that comes from being in relation to God. Yet the prison imagery suggests another aspect to this story with contemporary overtones: a troubling propensity to believe that the solution to many of our social problems is locking people up. Indeed, the United States -- "the land of the free" -- has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Stephen McCutchan discusses the relationship between prisons and faith. God's people have often found themselves at odds with legal authorities, and McCutchan reminds us that prison ministry is an important part of Christian witness. Team member Carlos Wilton focuses on another element of the Acts text -- the slave girl with "a spirit of divination," whose healing by Paul and Silas triggers their imprisonment. Carlos notes that she is a victim of human trafficking, a scourge which remains all too common in many corners of our modern world.
Meeting Jesus in Jail
by Stephen P. McCutchan
Acts 16:16-34
THE WORLD
Prisons have played a central role in our life as citizens of the United States. The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world -- of the estimated 9 million human beings that are imprisoned around the world, 2 million are in the United States. Russia and China, in contrast, have about 1 million in prison. When this is broken down in population terms, the U.S. has about 738 persons for every 100,000, while Canada has about 102 per 100,000 and Britain has 124 per 100,000. This is happening at a time when both violent and property crimes in the United States have dramatically decreased since 1990. Drugs and the laws related to their use have significantly affected the prison population in our country.
Prisons -- and the costs related to their construction, use, maintenance, and supervision -- have had a huge impact upon our state and federal budgets. This might be considered just a necessary cost of maintaining a secure society, but the fact is that prisons have not proven to be very effective either in curbing crime or in reforming criminals. The statistics regarding recidivism are daunting. Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 states in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% were resentenced to prison for a new crime.
Has it ever occurred to you how frequently jails and prisons play a role in the community of faith? From Joseph in prison in Egypt, to John the Baptist inquiring of Jesus from the prison cell, to Martin Luther King Jr. writing his letters from the Birmingham jail, the church has repeatedly been shaped by those who are in prison. The seventh Sunday of Easter offers us a text describing one of Paul's several experiences of exercising ministry from a prison cell, providing us with an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between faith and prisons. Is it possible that churches may be diluting their experience of the power of the Gospel when they distance themselves from the prisons in their midst?
THE WORD
Acts 16:16-34 presents us an interesting picture of the frequent clash between economics and faith. It was when Paul brought the healing power of God to bear on the afflictions of a young slave girl that the community began to experience the cost of discipleship. With the recent high-profile cases of corruption among CEOs, politicians, and other famous people, we have living examples of times when wealth and power took precedence over righteous living. This is a very real issue for many of our congregants as they live out that tension in a more ordinary way.
In our lesson, when the gospel interfered with the economics of the marketplace, not only were her owners disturbed but so was the crowd as well. If truth can be used for profit, people are pleased. But sometimes even truth can exploit people in the process. Truth must be blended with compassion if its message is to be healthy. Paul's healing of the girl cost her owners a profit and the crowd a good show. The result was that Paul was not only flogged but also thrown into prison.
While the economic clash could provide material for a helpful sermon, I want to focus on the issue brought up by the prison scene that follows that clash. Sometimes we forget how frequently the biblical witness takes place as Christians find themselves in conflict with the legal authorities of the country within which they are living. It is easy for many Americans to be lulled into thinking that there is little distinction between being a Christian and being a good law-abiding citizen. It sometimes comes as a shock to recall that the central truth of our faith is found in Jesus having been arrested by the legal authorities and found guilty of a crime that according to the laws of the land merited capital punishment.
A little reflection will remind us that clashes with the legal authorities and imprisonment are frequent occurrences in the biblical journey of the people of God. Consider a few examples. It is in prison that Joseph begins his rise to power in Egypt and is able to save the people of Israel from starvation. The prophet Isaiah identifies the task of God's saving work as including "liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners," and Jesus picks up on this very image to declare the purpose of his ministry in Luke 4:18-19. Later, it will be from prison that John the Baptist sends his disciples to discover if Jesus is clearly the messiah (Matthew 11:2ff). Peter was thrown into prison in Acts 5 and 12. Paul frequently uses the image of being a prisoner for Christ and often writes his letters from prison.
For us as contemporary Christians, we cannot forget Jesus' parable that suggests that one of the central places to meet Jesus is in prison (Matthew 25:31-46). It should raise a challenge for any church that is experiencing a diminishing of the power of the spirit among them. It may well be that exploring the possibility of some form of prison ministry might bring about a renewal within a church.
In our particular passage, following the healing of the slave girl which not only caused economic pain but resulted in a riot in the marketplace, the police moved in. The accusation was clear: "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe" (Acts 16:20b-21). You may well hear an echo of the accusations during the heat of the civil rights movement that often resulted in imprisonment for the marchers. The clergy to whom Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his now-famous letter from the Birmingham jail were saying very similar things in their castigation of the actions that he and his followers were pursuing.
It is instructive to note what happens next in our reading. First, the jailer was instructed to treat Paul and Silas as very dangerous criminals: "Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks" (v. 24). It could easily have been a time of despair for Paul and Silas. After all, how can they carry out their world-changing ministry if they are locked away in the Roman version of solitary confinement? Paul became a living example of what he would write in Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Rather than despair, Paul and Silas witnessed to the God who was leading them by praying and singing aloud of their faith: "and the prisoners [we are told] were listening to them" (v. 25b).
Then we are told of one of those unexpected events that the non-believer could attribute to coincidence but believers see as a reflection of God's providence: "Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened" (v. 26). If you think that the jailer was overreacting to what might happen to him if the prisoners escaped, read Acts 12:19, where a similar natural phenomenon resulted in Peter being released from prison. In that instance the guards were put to death.
Continuing with this week's passage, we see that getting out of prison was not the main objective in Paul's life. The main objective was to testify by his life to the saving power of Christ. Here is one more example of the powerful witness made when a person does not think first of his own advantage but rather acts on behalf of other people. To paraphrase the now-famous phrase of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, there is a cost to discipleship. When Paul exhibited his willingness to pay that cost, the jailer, and through him his whole family, was saved.
As it turned out, the next day the magistrate ordered the prisoners released. If Paul had taken advantage of the opportunity to escape, he would have then been an escaped prisoner. As it was, he became a free person to continue exercising his ministry.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In the '70s there was a poster that read: "If Christianity was suddenly outlawed, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" That might make a nice opening line for your sermon. But then, rather than pursue the guilt trip of how we are not living our Christian faith, after a significant pause for the line to sink in, why not use some of the examples mentioned above to remind people how frequently prisons have played a role in the lives of the people of God?
The next move might be to remind people of the cost and ineffectiveness of our current prison system. Again you can use some of the statistics above. You can also get more information from the following web site: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#recidivism.
It would be good to check within your community to see what ministry is going on in your local jail or prison and be prepared to provide that information in case your congregation became interested in getting involved. The October 3, 2006 issue of The Christian Century (www.christiancentury.org/) had a series of articles on prison ministry, including a rather striking story about the effect of one ministry in a rather notorious Ohio prison that radically reduced the recidivism rate.
The above reflections on our passage can also provide some thoughts on how our witness can be effective in any circumstance in which we find ourselves. After being specific about the challenge of meeting Jesus in jail, as suggested in Matthew 25:31-46, one might want to broaden the challenge to include the other ways suggested in serving Jesus by responding to others in need. While it is perfectly legitimate to spiritualize the metaphor and speak of the various prisons that we all find ourselves in, we need to be careful not to escape the grittiness of the gospel and the fact that the Bible speaks of the faith in real prisons where people are experiencing real punishment. The spiritual health of our congregations may depend on us experiencing Christ by becoming involved in real ministry to people involved in very concrete situations.
An effective closure might be found by recalling that it was not only when Paul was being punished as a criminal but also when Jesus was being executed that God used their witness to save another. Remember that Luke (23:39-43) tells the story of the criminal being saved on the cross.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Carlos Wilton
I have nothing to add to the admirable job Steve has done in highlighting the fact that Christians belong in prison -- either ministering to others in Jesus' name, or as prisoners themselves in those times when the demands of discipleship and the strictures of the state come into conflict.
I'd like to focus instead on a slightly different aspect of the story: the girl with "a spirit of divination" who is healed by Paul and Silas. Through the clouded confusion of her mind, this slave girl -- who evidently suffers from some form of mental disorder -- manages to string together words that make sense, words that sound to some like fortune-telling. For the past few days she has been walking ahead of Paul and the others, shouting: "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."
A madwoman's recommendation is not exactly the best form of advertising. Feeling compassion for the girl, Paul turns to her and says to the evil spirit within her, "Come out!" And, Luke tells us, the spirit "came out that very hour." The slave girl is in her right mind.
It's clear this girl is being exploited by her owners. Verse 19 says, "But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities." This girl is, in short, a victim of human trafficking.
This year we have been celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the British Parliament's decision -- spurred on by William Wilberforce and other Christian activists -- to abolish the slave trade. Yet even as we celebrate this historical milestone, many of us are becoming increasingly aware that slavery is still among us: not in a blatant, officially-sanctioned way, but in a shadow economy that is tolerated by many law-enforcement officials.
In North America and in Europe, slavery is most visibly present in the sex trade. Young women are often forced into a life of prostitution against their will, and held there by either the threat of physical violence or through debt servitude ("owing one's soul to the company store"). Here's a link to a Religion and Ethics Newsweekly TV program that focused on this issue:
David Batstone has written of this problem in an article in the March 2007 issue of Sojourners magazine ("Cry Freedom!"):
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has said, "Human trafficking is the big emerging human rights issue for the 21st century." In an April 22, 2007 op-ed piece in the Times ("The 21st-Century Slave Trade"), Kristof tells the story of an Indian woman named Meena Khatun:
Meena was kidnapped from her village in north India by a trafficker and eventually locked up in a 13-girl brothel in the town of Katihar. When she was perhaps 11 or 12 -- she remembers only that it was well before she had begun to menstruate -- the slaver locked her in a room with a white-haired customer who had bought her virginity. She cried and fought, so the mother and two sons who owned the brothel taught Meena a lesson.
"They beat me mercilessly, with a belt, sticks, and iron rods," Meena recalled. Still, Meena resisted customers, despite fresh beatings and threats to cut her in pieces.
Finally, the brothel owners forced her to drink alcohol until she was drunk. When she passed out, they gave her to a customer.
When she woke up, Meena finally accepted her fate as a prostitute. "I thought, 'Now I am ruined,' " she remembered, "so I gave in."
Meena thus joined the ranks of some 10 million children prostituted around the world -- more are in India than in any other country. The brothels of India are the slave plantations of the 21st century.
Eventually, Kristof relates, Meena escaped from the brothel, but she had to leave her two children, a son and a daughter, behind. She tried to get the police to free her children, but -- bribed by the brothel-owner -- they turned a deaf ear to her pleas. Her former owners tried several times to kill her, and still the police did nothing. Finally -- alarmed at the prospect that his sister would soon be sold into prostitution -- Meena's son, Vivek, escaped from the brothel and found his mother. Together, they found their way to an anti-trafficking organization called Apne Aap (http://www.apneaap.org/) that exerted enough pressure to get her daughter freed.
Is this an isolated incident, from a land far, far away? Hardly -- for a great many "sex workers" the world over (yes, even here in the United States) are forced into that miserable life, and kept there, by the threat of violence. People of faith who speak up about this problem may encounter a reaction from the owners of these women that's just as hostile as those who arranged for Paul and Silas to be thrown into prison. Yet our voice does need to be heard.
Acts 16:16-34 is very much a story about freedom. It is interesting to ask, after hearing this story: "Whose freedom? Which characters are free, and which enslaved?" Quite simply, everyone in this story is imprisoned, in one way or another, except the ones who are physically in prison: the apostles. It is only they who are truly free.
Consider the situations of each of the other characters:
* The mad slave girl is imprisoned by the frightening symptoms of her illness.
* The slave girl's owners are imprisoned by their fraudulent ways of earning a living, and by their lust for profits.
* The crowd is in bondage to their mob spirit, which leads them to the brink of riot.
* The magistrates are imprisoned by a legal code that compels them to pronounce a harsh sentence: even for people like these, who are preaching of love and kindness.
* Finally, there is the tragic figure of the jailer. Though he wears at his waist a ring of keys that open any door in the prison, the jailer is just as confined as the prisoners. He's imprisoned by his fear: by a terror so great he would rather fall on his sword than face the wrath of his superior officers.
If these are all in bondage, then the only ones who are truly free are the prisoners: Paul and his companions. They are free because of the Spirit of Christ that dwells within them -- the Spirit which gives them courage to sing and to pray, even with their legs bound in the stocks.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There is a group of people who go into prisons to conduct weekend retreats for inmates and to try to share the love of God with them. The program is called "KAIROS," which is a Greek word that means "God's special time." During a retreat KAIROS team members try to build a relationship with a small group of inmates with whom they meet around a table -- to hear talks, to discuss their meaning, to talk about things the inmates want to talk about, and to share life-shaping relationships. KAIROS workers make a point of never asking the inmates with whom they are working what they did that got them sent to prison or how long their sentence is or anything else that they do not want to share. The workers begin by simply accepting the inmates as they are. Sometimes it takes the inmates quite a long time to accept being accepted.
The team members do a number of things during a retreat to demonstrate to the inmates that there are people in the outside world who care about them. That is a step toward helping the inmates believe that there is a God who cares about them. They show the inmates lists of people who have been praying for them. The workers bring bags of cookies baked for the inmates by church people -- thousands of cookies, cookies to eat and cookies to share. They also bring in "home cooked" meals that are much better than the prison food, which have been prepared by "angels" on the outside. (The food gives some inmates a reason and some an excuse for attending a religious retreat.)
One prison ministry team does something that turns out to be special. At an evening meal about halfway through the retreat, each participating inmate is given a birthday cake with his name written on it in cake icing. They have a birthday party for everyone. The reaction to that is often very surprising. Many tough inmates have been so moved by that act of affirmation that they have broken down and cried. Some say that no one had ever baked a birthday cake for them.
Of course, it is best not to oversimplify things. Some people wind up in prison even though they did grow up in loving homes. Acceptance and affirmation are only part of what is needed to make a difference in an inmate's life, and it is probably more important for some than for others. But this is an important part of the approach of KAIROS prison ministries.
Some people object to that approach. They believe that wrong behavior should be punished and that only the fear of punishment can prevent bad behavior. They believe that acts of kindness done for people who have broken laws may encourage law-breaking. But the threat of punishment obviously did not prevent the bad behavior of the people who are in prison. In fact, the KAIROS approach has proven to be effective. The rate of recidivism (inmates returning to prison after being released) is much lower among people who have been through a KAIROS program. And prison administrators are often supportive of the KAIROS program because they see that it makes a positive difference in the quality of life in the prison. God starts with acceptance and affirmation, and so should we. We might wonder how much suffering could have been avoided if someone had baked a birthday cake for those people who wound up committing violent crimes.
***
On one ordinary Sunday in a small church on the edge of a big city, something remarkable happened. At the end of the service, when people are invited to come forward to join the church, a young man came forward whom the pastor had never seen before. That hardly ever happens. The pastor was surprised. The young man seemed very serious about what he was doing, so the pastor received him into the fellowship of the church. Then, during the following week, the pastor went for a visit to get acquainted. The visit started slowly, tentatively, but eventually the two men got down to the essence of what was happening. The young man was waiting for trial for a violent crime which he had committed while he was high on drugs. The young man joined the church as a way of taking the first step toward getting his life together. The pastor spent time with the young man and helped him to get started on the way. But then the trial came and the young man went to prison. The pastor urged him to get involved in the prison chapel and continue his pilgrimage. In the first letter from prison, the young man wrote, "I don't know about this prison chapel. They don't do things like we do in our church." The pastor responded, "It's the only game in town. Go with it." He did. A few months later he wrote to the pastor again. This time he said he had grown in his faith, so the chaplain had invited him to give his personal witness in chapel. He included a copy of the talk he intended to give. In the talk, he said that God had worked in his life to defeat the compulsions and the motives that had been ruling his life. He said he was free. It must have been remarkable to hear a young prisoner telling a chapel full of people in white that he was free. But he was. Years later, the pastor met the young man again on the outside. He asked how he was doing. The young man said, "I am one of those for whom it worked. I have been out for several years now. I have a small business of my own. I have a wife and a little girl. And we are in church every Sunday." God had indeed set him free.
***
Some people think that there can be no new possibilities in life because of things that they have done or things that have happened to them. It is not hard for some people in prison to believe that life has no more good possibilities for them. They have done some things that resulted in their being confined to prison. Some of them know full well that they will never get out. They feel that there are no possibilities left for them.
The same regret can overtake us in other ways. In John Grisham's novel The Testament, there is a story about a man who had destroyed his marriage because of his alcoholism. At one point he visits his former wife, now married to another man, and his two fine children, and he realizes how much he has lost -- and the loss is irreversible.
Some people feel that their possibilities are limited by things that have happened to them. Some men and women who have served in the military during wartime come back feeling that they have lost something they cannot recover. They did something that they believed was right and did it at great cost to themselves and their families, but they think that things can never be the same for them.
Lots of things can change the circumstances of our futures and make us think we have lost the possibilities that we had hoped we could have.
But God has a way of working in our lives that can make fullness of life possible under any circumstances, even circumstances that have limited one's possibilities. Some of the people incarcerated in prison discover that God can work in their lives and help them find fullness of life even under the difficult circumstances of being in prison. They have become spiritual pilgrims. As you drive down the highway past a prison, you must sometimes wonder what life is like behind those barriers of chain-link fence and razor wire. Well, it is very different and very complex. But one thing you may not suspect is that inside those walls there may be congregation of men who are growing in the Christian faith and being led by in into the fullness of life that God offers, even under the difficult circumstances of prison life.
Are there circumstances in your life that have led you to believe that the best possibilities are gone? Here is good news. For those who will undertake the adventure of letting life be shaped by an ongoing interaction with the living God, fullness of life is possible under any circumstances.
***
In this week's passage from the book of Revelation, Jesus says that he is coming back and that he'll be bringing a reward for us, that he'll be repaying us according to the work we've done for God's kingdom.
We usually focus on Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. We do this to remind ourselves that our salvation is a gift from God, not something that we can earn, that our good works won't get us into heaven, but that our faith in Jesus Christ will.
But we need to not stop at this point; we need to move on to the next verse, verse 10, which says: For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. [repeat]
We are not to focus our whole attention on our salvation and stop there. Our Lord calls us to reach out, and he will reward us for doing the work of the kingdom with him.
***
One of the good works you and I are called to do is to visit those who are in prison. If we can't go there in person, we can send letters to prisoners, and also provide resources for those who are working with those who are incarcerated.
One group in Illinois, Companions Journeying Together, runs a project they call Aunt Mary's Storybook. Aunt Mary's Storybook takes children's books to women's prisons, makes a recording of each mother reading a book for her children, then delivers the book and the recording to her children at their home. Her children can then look at the book and hear her reading it to them whenever they want, helping families stay connected until the mother gets back home again. (More information is available at www.cjtinc.org/Aunt/Mary.htm)
***
When we turn on the TV news today, we see shootings, stabbings, and bank robberies -- human greed and selfishness and cruelty running rampant -- and we remember that Jesus did speak of Satan as the ruler of this present-day world.
As newscasts tell of yet more murders and corruption in high places, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. It's good then to remember the words of today's Psalm: The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice. It's good to remember that at the center of our universe is One who is good and loving, who is righteous and just, One who is allowing each of us to make choices, to choose how we'll live, and therefore things can get messy -- and much more than just messy.
But good finally will prevail, because the Lord is king, and therefore what is right will be the final word. The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice!
***
Interestingly enough, it is in Letters and Papers from Prison that Dietrich Bonhoeffer seemed most convincingly to be free. Even knowing that his life was likely to be over soon, he found within himself a remarkable power to know the love of God. A sparrow or a ray of sunshine or the gift of time to write was all it took to make a prisoner for Christ resonate with profound joy. But above all, he found freedom in the solidarity he discovered in prison to be with the outcast: "There remains an experience of incomparable value... to see the great events of world history from below; from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled -- in short, from the perspective of those who suffer... to look with new eyes on matters great and small."
***
Another man of peace who used prison for the purpose of freedom was Nelson Mandela. From 1962 until 1990 he remained behind iron bars, but his spirit was unbowed and unbroken. In the wake of his release he articulated a dream of freedom for all citizens of South Africa. He became a witness for a historic emancipation for both captor and captive alike. In his own words: "We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity -- a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world."
***
One of the greatest practitioners of love and compassion in our time is the Dalai Lama. The suffering of the people of Tibet has been and continues to be one of the greatest stains in the sorry catalogue of human cruelty. Still, words like the following are possible from this remarkable human spirit who is a guide to freedom for those imprisoned by fear or suffering:
"Ultimately, the reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another. However capable and skillful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent one may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when one is sick or very young or very old, one must depend on the support of others.
"Independence, of course, is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without any religion, law or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.
"It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: We come to this place of prayer,
People: for here we can bring our hopes and dreams,
our hidden fears, and the doubts we wear on our sleeves.
Leader: We come to this place of grace,
People: for here we learn compassion and joy,
and discover how deeply we are loved.
Leader: We come with these people called the church,
People: to be blessed by the variety of gifts,
to live as one for our God.
Prayer of the Day
In your presence, Creator of the Universe,
mountains melt into muddy puddles
and stars whisper your name to us.
Faithfulness and justice are the scuffed shoes you put on each morning,
clouds are your prayer shawl in the evening.
When you could have kept God's glory in your pocket, Servant of the poor,
you took it out and spent it on us.
Confident in that love which was yours before the world began spinning,
you came to walk the dusty path of death.
Spirit of Blessing, like a crossing guard
you keep your eyes on us as we cross the busy streets of life,
ready to pull us out of the way of oncoming sin.
You take us by the hand to lead us to the shade of the tree of life.
God in Community, Holy in One,
make us one Body from many individuals,
as we pray as Jesus teaches us, saying,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
Plastic cards, shiny cars, brick and glass homes --
what idols we fashion with our hands,
how much energy and time serving them occupy our hearts!
Let us confess how we have misplaced our priorities,
and seek the One who asks us to be first in our lives.
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
Enslaved to sin, we cannot see the lives we lead, God of Glory.
Each day, and every day, there are those times
when we ignore you and your dreams for us.
Each week, and every week, we find the time to ridicule others,
when we could have affirmed them.
Each moment, and every moment, though we do not want to admit it,
we seek our own way rather than skipping down your path of joy and obedience.
We come asking forgiveness for our foolish lives, Eternal Blessing.
Deliver us, and break the chains of sin and death which hold us captive.
Open us to that grace you offer, and give us the gift of the Spirit
so we may live as people of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: In the beginning was God, and at the end will be God,
and in every moment in between, there is God:
creating, redeeming, sustaining us.
People: And through Christ, gracious love is poured into our empty souls;
through the Spirit, peace becomes the gift we can share with those around us.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Teaching Trust
Acts 16:28
Did you ever hope that someone would trust you no matter what happened? (let them answer) I think that this is the best kind of friendship. When people trust each other they are the best kind of people. There is a great story about trust in the Bible concerning Paul and some of his friends.
It all started when a woman who was a slave to some evil men followed Paul around a town called Philippi, making fun of Paul's preaching. As you might guess, Paul was very serious about teaching others to love and follow Jesus. Having this woman, who was a fortune-teller, laugh about it did not make Paul happy. Paul knew that there must be something evil in her to make fun of Jesus, so one day when he had just about enough, he commanded the evil spirit to come out of her and go away. It happened so fast that no one knew it. One minute she was making fun of Paul, and the next minute she was not.
Her masters who owned her were furious. They had made a lot of money with this woman telling fortunes to travelers and strangers, and now she would never do it again.
These men who hated good men like Paul grabbed him and took him to the center of town where they asked the judges to find him guilty of teaching people to act against the Roman law. But that was just a game. They did not want a court trial. They wanted Paul killed. They got some rough men together and told the judges to have Paul beaten. Again and again Paul was beaten with sticks and poles until his back was covered with blood. But Paul would not die, and when the crowd grew tired of whipping him, the judges ordered him thrown into prison. As they were carrying Paul down the steps into the dungeon, the judges told the jailer that he had better not let Paul escape or he would be put to death in place of Paul. That kind of a threat is enough to scare anyone.
During the night, the Philippian jailer heard some strange sounds coming from behind the doors of Paul's cell. Instead of crying or asking for help, he heard Paul praying and singing songs of love to God. Not only was he listening, but he could tell that all of the other prisoners were listening as well.
And then it happened. Without any warning, there was a loud crash and the whole prison trembled. It was an earthquake, and everything seemed to be falling and jumping and shaking at the same time. All of the doors to the prison opened and all of the chains that held the prisoners came loose. The Philippian jailer took one look, and he thought everyone had escaped. That meant that Paul had left and that the jailer would have to die for allowing their escape. It was no use to live a moment longer. Just as he was ready to push his own sword into his body and kill himself, he heard a voice that said, "Don't do it! We are all here!"
The jailer could hardly believe his eyes and ears. The prisoners were there. Even though they could have escaped and run away, they did not. Paul did not want anyone to die for him except the Lord Jesus. He wanted people to trust him for what he taught and preached. That is why he stayed and asked the others to stay as well. The jailer was so happy that he could hardly believe it. All he wanted to know was what he could do to be like Paul. Paul told him to believe in Jesus Christ -- he would be saved and so would all of his family. The Philippian jailer loved Paul and all of his friends. He invited them to his house, where he washed Paul's wounds and fed him from his table.
Paul was right. The jailer did feel like a new man, and so did all of his family. It was wonderful to have someone like Paul trust you and someone for you to trust.
Paul didn't teach trust with words. He taught trust with his actions. He could have run away and saved his skin for a day or so, but then what would happen? It would only mean being arrested by somebody else. Paul knew if he stayed, he would show at least the jailer that he could be trusted. Trust was too important to Paul. He knew that if he could get people to trust him, then they would also trust his God. That is why Paul did it. He loved his God and trusted his God, and he wanted other people to trust God as he did.
That is something that all of us have to learn. If we want people to believe in God as we do, then we must show them that we can be trusted as their friends. We must be ready to help them when they are in trouble, just the way we do when everything is going well. Trust is something that we learn, and it is something that we can teach to others.
(From The Giant Book of Children's Sermons, by Wesley T. Runk, CSS Publishing Co., 2003)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 20, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Meeting Jesus in Jail
by Stephen P. McCutchan
Acts 16:16-34
THE WORLD
Prisons have played a central role in our life as citizens of the United States. The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world -- of the estimated 9 million human beings that are imprisoned around the world, 2 million are in the United States. Russia and China, in contrast, have about 1 million in prison. When this is broken down in population terms, the U.S. has about 738 persons for every 100,000, while Canada has about 102 per 100,000 and Britain has 124 per 100,000. This is happening at a time when both violent and property crimes in the United States have dramatically decreased since 1990. Drugs and the laws related to their use have significantly affected the prison population in our country.
Prisons -- and the costs related to their construction, use, maintenance, and supervision -- have had a huge impact upon our state and federal budgets. This might be considered just a necessary cost of maintaining a secure society, but the fact is that prisons have not proven to be very effective either in curbing crime or in reforming criminals. The statistics regarding recidivism are daunting. Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 states in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% were resentenced to prison for a new crime.
Has it ever occurred to you how frequently jails and prisons play a role in the community of faith? From Joseph in prison in Egypt, to John the Baptist inquiring of Jesus from the prison cell, to Martin Luther King Jr. writing his letters from the Birmingham jail, the church has repeatedly been shaped by those who are in prison. The seventh Sunday of Easter offers us a text describing one of Paul's several experiences of exercising ministry from a prison cell, providing us with an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between faith and prisons. Is it possible that churches may be diluting their experience of the power of the Gospel when they distance themselves from the prisons in their midst?
THE WORD
Acts 16:16-34 presents us an interesting picture of the frequent clash between economics and faith. It was when Paul brought the healing power of God to bear on the afflictions of a young slave girl that the community began to experience the cost of discipleship. With the recent high-profile cases of corruption among CEOs, politicians, and other famous people, we have living examples of times when wealth and power took precedence over righteous living. This is a very real issue for many of our congregants as they live out that tension in a more ordinary way.
In our lesson, when the gospel interfered with the economics of the marketplace, not only were her owners disturbed but so was the crowd as well. If truth can be used for profit, people are pleased. But sometimes even truth can exploit people in the process. Truth must be blended with compassion if its message is to be healthy. Paul's healing of the girl cost her owners a profit and the crowd a good show. The result was that Paul was not only flogged but also thrown into prison.
While the economic clash could provide material for a helpful sermon, I want to focus on the issue brought up by the prison scene that follows that clash. Sometimes we forget how frequently the biblical witness takes place as Christians find themselves in conflict with the legal authorities of the country within which they are living. It is easy for many Americans to be lulled into thinking that there is little distinction between being a Christian and being a good law-abiding citizen. It sometimes comes as a shock to recall that the central truth of our faith is found in Jesus having been arrested by the legal authorities and found guilty of a crime that according to the laws of the land merited capital punishment.
A little reflection will remind us that clashes with the legal authorities and imprisonment are frequent occurrences in the biblical journey of the people of God. Consider a few examples. It is in prison that Joseph begins his rise to power in Egypt and is able to save the people of Israel from starvation. The prophet Isaiah identifies the task of God's saving work as including "liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners," and Jesus picks up on this very image to declare the purpose of his ministry in Luke 4:18-19. Later, it will be from prison that John the Baptist sends his disciples to discover if Jesus is clearly the messiah (Matthew 11:2ff). Peter was thrown into prison in Acts 5 and 12. Paul frequently uses the image of being a prisoner for Christ and often writes his letters from prison.
For us as contemporary Christians, we cannot forget Jesus' parable that suggests that one of the central places to meet Jesus is in prison (Matthew 25:31-46). It should raise a challenge for any church that is experiencing a diminishing of the power of the spirit among them. It may well be that exploring the possibility of some form of prison ministry might bring about a renewal within a church.
In our particular passage, following the healing of the slave girl which not only caused economic pain but resulted in a riot in the marketplace, the police moved in. The accusation was clear: "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe" (Acts 16:20b-21). You may well hear an echo of the accusations during the heat of the civil rights movement that often resulted in imprisonment for the marchers. The clergy to whom Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his now-famous letter from the Birmingham jail were saying very similar things in their castigation of the actions that he and his followers were pursuing.
It is instructive to note what happens next in our reading. First, the jailer was instructed to treat Paul and Silas as very dangerous criminals: "Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks" (v. 24). It could easily have been a time of despair for Paul and Silas. After all, how can they carry out their world-changing ministry if they are locked away in the Roman version of solitary confinement? Paul became a living example of what he would write in Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Rather than despair, Paul and Silas witnessed to the God who was leading them by praying and singing aloud of their faith: "and the prisoners [we are told] were listening to them" (v. 25b).
Then we are told of one of those unexpected events that the non-believer could attribute to coincidence but believers see as a reflection of God's providence: "Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened" (v. 26). If you think that the jailer was overreacting to what might happen to him if the prisoners escaped, read Acts 12:19, where a similar natural phenomenon resulted in Peter being released from prison. In that instance the guards were put to death.
Continuing with this week's passage, we see that getting out of prison was not the main objective in Paul's life. The main objective was to testify by his life to the saving power of Christ. Here is one more example of the powerful witness made when a person does not think first of his own advantage but rather acts on behalf of other people. To paraphrase the now-famous phrase of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, there is a cost to discipleship. When Paul exhibited his willingness to pay that cost, the jailer, and through him his whole family, was saved.
As it turned out, the next day the magistrate ordered the prisoners released. If Paul had taken advantage of the opportunity to escape, he would have then been an escaped prisoner. As it was, he became a free person to continue exercising his ministry.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In the '70s there was a poster that read: "If Christianity was suddenly outlawed, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" That might make a nice opening line for your sermon. But then, rather than pursue the guilt trip of how we are not living our Christian faith, after a significant pause for the line to sink in, why not use some of the examples mentioned above to remind people how frequently prisons have played a role in the lives of the people of God?
The next move might be to remind people of the cost and ineffectiveness of our current prison system. Again you can use some of the statistics above. You can also get more information from the following web site: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#recidivism.
It would be good to check within your community to see what ministry is going on in your local jail or prison and be prepared to provide that information in case your congregation became interested in getting involved. The October 3, 2006 issue of The Christian Century (www.christiancentury.org/) had a series of articles on prison ministry, including a rather striking story about the effect of one ministry in a rather notorious Ohio prison that radically reduced the recidivism rate.
The above reflections on our passage can also provide some thoughts on how our witness can be effective in any circumstance in which we find ourselves. After being specific about the challenge of meeting Jesus in jail, as suggested in Matthew 25:31-46, one might want to broaden the challenge to include the other ways suggested in serving Jesus by responding to others in need. While it is perfectly legitimate to spiritualize the metaphor and speak of the various prisons that we all find ourselves in, we need to be careful not to escape the grittiness of the gospel and the fact that the Bible speaks of the faith in real prisons where people are experiencing real punishment. The spiritual health of our congregations may depend on us experiencing Christ by becoming involved in real ministry to people involved in very concrete situations.
An effective closure might be found by recalling that it was not only when Paul was being punished as a criminal but also when Jesus was being executed that God used their witness to save another. Remember that Luke (23:39-43) tells the story of the criminal being saved on the cross.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Carlos Wilton
I have nothing to add to the admirable job Steve has done in highlighting the fact that Christians belong in prison -- either ministering to others in Jesus' name, or as prisoners themselves in those times when the demands of discipleship and the strictures of the state come into conflict.
I'd like to focus instead on a slightly different aspect of the story: the girl with "a spirit of divination" who is healed by Paul and Silas. Through the clouded confusion of her mind, this slave girl -- who evidently suffers from some form of mental disorder -- manages to string together words that make sense, words that sound to some like fortune-telling. For the past few days she has been walking ahead of Paul and the others, shouting: "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."
A madwoman's recommendation is not exactly the best form of advertising. Feeling compassion for the girl, Paul turns to her and says to the evil spirit within her, "Come out!" And, Luke tells us, the spirit "came out that very hour." The slave girl is in her right mind.
It's clear this girl is being exploited by her owners. Verse 19 says, "But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities." This girl is, in short, a victim of human trafficking.
This year we have been celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the British Parliament's decision -- spurred on by William Wilberforce and other Christian activists -- to abolish the slave trade. Yet even as we celebrate this historical milestone, many of us are becoming increasingly aware that slavery is still among us: not in a blatant, officially-sanctioned way, but in a shadow economy that is tolerated by many law-enforcement officials.
In North America and in Europe, slavery is most visibly present in the sex trade. Young women are often forced into a life of prostitution against their will, and held there by either the threat of physical violence or through debt servitude ("owing one's soul to the company store"). Here's a link to a Religion and Ethics Newsweekly TV program that focused on this issue:
David Batstone has written of this problem in an article in the March 2007 issue of Sojourners magazine ("Cry Freedom!"):
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has said, "Human trafficking is the big emerging human rights issue for the 21st century." In an April 22, 2007 op-ed piece in the Times ("The 21st-Century Slave Trade"), Kristof tells the story of an Indian woman named Meena Khatun:
Meena was kidnapped from her village in north India by a trafficker and eventually locked up in a 13-girl brothel in the town of Katihar. When she was perhaps 11 or 12 -- she remembers only that it was well before she had begun to menstruate -- the slaver locked her in a room with a white-haired customer who had bought her virginity. She cried and fought, so the mother and two sons who owned the brothel taught Meena a lesson.
"They beat me mercilessly, with a belt, sticks, and iron rods," Meena recalled. Still, Meena resisted customers, despite fresh beatings and threats to cut her in pieces.
Finally, the brothel owners forced her to drink alcohol until she was drunk. When she passed out, they gave her to a customer.
When she woke up, Meena finally accepted her fate as a prostitute. "I thought, 'Now I am ruined,' " she remembered, "so I gave in."
Meena thus joined the ranks of some 10 million children prostituted around the world -- more are in India than in any other country. The brothels of India are the slave plantations of the 21st century.
Eventually, Kristof relates, Meena escaped from the brothel, but she had to leave her two children, a son and a daughter, behind. She tried to get the police to free her children, but -- bribed by the brothel-owner -- they turned a deaf ear to her pleas. Her former owners tried several times to kill her, and still the police did nothing. Finally -- alarmed at the prospect that his sister would soon be sold into prostitution -- Meena's son, Vivek, escaped from the brothel and found his mother. Together, they found their way to an anti-trafficking organization called Apne Aap (http://www.apneaap.org/) that exerted enough pressure to get her daughter freed.
Is this an isolated incident, from a land far, far away? Hardly -- for a great many "sex workers" the world over (yes, even here in the United States) are forced into that miserable life, and kept there, by the threat of violence. People of faith who speak up about this problem may encounter a reaction from the owners of these women that's just as hostile as those who arranged for Paul and Silas to be thrown into prison. Yet our voice does need to be heard.
Acts 16:16-34 is very much a story about freedom. It is interesting to ask, after hearing this story: "Whose freedom? Which characters are free, and which enslaved?" Quite simply, everyone in this story is imprisoned, in one way or another, except the ones who are physically in prison: the apostles. It is only they who are truly free.
Consider the situations of each of the other characters:
* The mad slave girl is imprisoned by the frightening symptoms of her illness.
* The slave girl's owners are imprisoned by their fraudulent ways of earning a living, and by their lust for profits.
* The crowd is in bondage to their mob spirit, which leads them to the brink of riot.
* The magistrates are imprisoned by a legal code that compels them to pronounce a harsh sentence: even for people like these, who are preaching of love and kindness.
* Finally, there is the tragic figure of the jailer. Though he wears at his waist a ring of keys that open any door in the prison, the jailer is just as confined as the prisoners. He's imprisoned by his fear: by a terror so great he would rather fall on his sword than face the wrath of his superior officers.
If these are all in bondage, then the only ones who are truly free are the prisoners: Paul and his companions. They are free because of the Spirit of Christ that dwells within them -- the Spirit which gives them courage to sing and to pray, even with their legs bound in the stocks.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There is a group of people who go into prisons to conduct weekend retreats for inmates and to try to share the love of God with them. The program is called "KAIROS," which is a Greek word that means "God's special time." During a retreat KAIROS team members try to build a relationship with a small group of inmates with whom they meet around a table -- to hear talks, to discuss their meaning, to talk about things the inmates want to talk about, and to share life-shaping relationships. KAIROS workers make a point of never asking the inmates with whom they are working what they did that got them sent to prison or how long their sentence is or anything else that they do not want to share. The workers begin by simply accepting the inmates as they are. Sometimes it takes the inmates quite a long time to accept being accepted.
The team members do a number of things during a retreat to demonstrate to the inmates that there are people in the outside world who care about them. That is a step toward helping the inmates believe that there is a God who cares about them. They show the inmates lists of people who have been praying for them. The workers bring bags of cookies baked for the inmates by church people -- thousands of cookies, cookies to eat and cookies to share. They also bring in "home cooked" meals that are much better than the prison food, which have been prepared by "angels" on the outside. (The food gives some inmates a reason and some an excuse for attending a religious retreat.)
One prison ministry team does something that turns out to be special. At an evening meal about halfway through the retreat, each participating inmate is given a birthday cake with his name written on it in cake icing. They have a birthday party for everyone. The reaction to that is often very surprising. Many tough inmates have been so moved by that act of affirmation that they have broken down and cried. Some say that no one had ever baked a birthday cake for them.
Of course, it is best not to oversimplify things. Some people wind up in prison even though they did grow up in loving homes. Acceptance and affirmation are only part of what is needed to make a difference in an inmate's life, and it is probably more important for some than for others. But this is an important part of the approach of KAIROS prison ministries.
Some people object to that approach. They believe that wrong behavior should be punished and that only the fear of punishment can prevent bad behavior. They believe that acts of kindness done for people who have broken laws may encourage law-breaking. But the threat of punishment obviously did not prevent the bad behavior of the people who are in prison. In fact, the KAIROS approach has proven to be effective. The rate of recidivism (inmates returning to prison after being released) is much lower among people who have been through a KAIROS program. And prison administrators are often supportive of the KAIROS program because they see that it makes a positive difference in the quality of life in the prison. God starts with acceptance and affirmation, and so should we. We might wonder how much suffering could have been avoided if someone had baked a birthday cake for those people who wound up committing violent crimes.
***
On one ordinary Sunday in a small church on the edge of a big city, something remarkable happened. At the end of the service, when people are invited to come forward to join the church, a young man came forward whom the pastor had never seen before. That hardly ever happens. The pastor was surprised. The young man seemed very serious about what he was doing, so the pastor received him into the fellowship of the church. Then, during the following week, the pastor went for a visit to get acquainted. The visit started slowly, tentatively, but eventually the two men got down to the essence of what was happening. The young man was waiting for trial for a violent crime which he had committed while he was high on drugs. The young man joined the church as a way of taking the first step toward getting his life together. The pastor spent time with the young man and helped him to get started on the way. But then the trial came and the young man went to prison. The pastor urged him to get involved in the prison chapel and continue his pilgrimage. In the first letter from prison, the young man wrote, "I don't know about this prison chapel. They don't do things like we do in our church." The pastor responded, "It's the only game in town. Go with it." He did. A few months later he wrote to the pastor again. This time he said he had grown in his faith, so the chaplain had invited him to give his personal witness in chapel. He included a copy of the talk he intended to give. In the talk, he said that God had worked in his life to defeat the compulsions and the motives that had been ruling his life. He said he was free. It must have been remarkable to hear a young prisoner telling a chapel full of people in white that he was free. But he was. Years later, the pastor met the young man again on the outside. He asked how he was doing. The young man said, "I am one of those for whom it worked. I have been out for several years now. I have a small business of my own. I have a wife and a little girl. And we are in church every Sunday." God had indeed set him free.
***
Some people think that there can be no new possibilities in life because of things that they have done or things that have happened to them. It is not hard for some people in prison to believe that life has no more good possibilities for them. They have done some things that resulted in their being confined to prison. Some of them know full well that they will never get out. They feel that there are no possibilities left for them.
The same regret can overtake us in other ways. In John Grisham's novel The Testament, there is a story about a man who had destroyed his marriage because of his alcoholism. At one point he visits his former wife, now married to another man, and his two fine children, and he realizes how much he has lost -- and the loss is irreversible.
Some people feel that their possibilities are limited by things that have happened to them. Some men and women who have served in the military during wartime come back feeling that they have lost something they cannot recover. They did something that they believed was right and did it at great cost to themselves and their families, but they think that things can never be the same for them.
Lots of things can change the circumstances of our futures and make us think we have lost the possibilities that we had hoped we could have.
But God has a way of working in our lives that can make fullness of life possible under any circumstances, even circumstances that have limited one's possibilities. Some of the people incarcerated in prison discover that God can work in their lives and help them find fullness of life even under the difficult circumstances of being in prison. They have become spiritual pilgrims. As you drive down the highway past a prison, you must sometimes wonder what life is like behind those barriers of chain-link fence and razor wire. Well, it is very different and very complex. But one thing you may not suspect is that inside those walls there may be congregation of men who are growing in the Christian faith and being led by in into the fullness of life that God offers, even under the difficult circumstances of prison life.
Are there circumstances in your life that have led you to believe that the best possibilities are gone? Here is good news. For those who will undertake the adventure of letting life be shaped by an ongoing interaction with the living God, fullness of life is possible under any circumstances.
***
In this week's passage from the book of Revelation, Jesus says that he is coming back and that he'll be bringing a reward for us, that he'll be repaying us according to the work we've done for God's kingdom.
We usually focus on Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. We do this to remind ourselves that our salvation is a gift from God, not something that we can earn, that our good works won't get us into heaven, but that our faith in Jesus Christ will.
But we need to not stop at this point; we need to move on to the next verse, verse 10, which says: For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. [repeat]
We are not to focus our whole attention on our salvation and stop there. Our Lord calls us to reach out, and he will reward us for doing the work of the kingdom with him.
***
One of the good works you and I are called to do is to visit those who are in prison. If we can't go there in person, we can send letters to prisoners, and also provide resources for those who are working with those who are incarcerated.
One group in Illinois, Companions Journeying Together, runs a project they call Aunt Mary's Storybook. Aunt Mary's Storybook takes children's books to women's prisons, makes a recording of each mother reading a book for her children, then delivers the book and the recording to her children at their home. Her children can then look at the book and hear her reading it to them whenever they want, helping families stay connected until the mother gets back home again. (More information is available at www.cjtinc.org/Aunt/Mary.htm)
***
When we turn on the TV news today, we see shootings, stabbings, and bank robberies -- human greed and selfishness and cruelty running rampant -- and we remember that Jesus did speak of Satan as the ruler of this present-day world.
As newscasts tell of yet more murders and corruption in high places, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. It's good then to remember the words of today's Psalm: The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice. It's good to remember that at the center of our universe is One who is good and loving, who is righteous and just, One who is allowing each of us to make choices, to choose how we'll live, and therefore things can get messy -- and much more than just messy.
But good finally will prevail, because the Lord is king, and therefore what is right will be the final word. The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice!
***
Interestingly enough, it is in Letters and Papers from Prison that Dietrich Bonhoeffer seemed most convincingly to be free. Even knowing that his life was likely to be over soon, he found within himself a remarkable power to know the love of God. A sparrow or a ray of sunshine or the gift of time to write was all it took to make a prisoner for Christ resonate with profound joy. But above all, he found freedom in the solidarity he discovered in prison to be with the outcast: "There remains an experience of incomparable value... to see the great events of world history from below; from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled -- in short, from the perspective of those who suffer... to look with new eyes on matters great and small."
***
Another man of peace who used prison for the purpose of freedom was Nelson Mandela. From 1962 until 1990 he remained behind iron bars, but his spirit was unbowed and unbroken. In the wake of his release he articulated a dream of freedom for all citizens of South Africa. He became a witness for a historic emancipation for both captor and captive alike. In his own words: "We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity -- a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world."
***
One of the greatest practitioners of love and compassion in our time is the Dalai Lama. The suffering of the people of Tibet has been and continues to be one of the greatest stains in the sorry catalogue of human cruelty. Still, words like the following are possible from this remarkable human spirit who is a guide to freedom for those imprisoned by fear or suffering:
"Ultimately, the reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another. However capable and skillful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent one may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when one is sick or very young or very old, one must depend on the support of others.
"Independence, of course, is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without any religion, law or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.
"It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: We come to this place of prayer,
People: for here we can bring our hopes and dreams,
our hidden fears, and the doubts we wear on our sleeves.
Leader: We come to this place of grace,
People: for here we learn compassion and joy,
and discover how deeply we are loved.
Leader: We come with these people called the church,
People: to be blessed by the variety of gifts,
to live as one for our God.
Prayer of the Day
In your presence, Creator of the Universe,
mountains melt into muddy puddles
and stars whisper your name to us.
Faithfulness and justice are the scuffed shoes you put on each morning,
clouds are your prayer shawl in the evening.
When you could have kept God's glory in your pocket, Servant of the poor,
you took it out and spent it on us.
Confident in that love which was yours before the world began spinning,
you came to walk the dusty path of death.
Spirit of Blessing, like a crossing guard
you keep your eyes on us as we cross the busy streets of life,
ready to pull us out of the way of oncoming sin.
You take us by the hand to lead us to the shade of the tree of life.
God in Community, Holy in One,
make us one Body from many individuals,
as we pray as Jesus teaches us, saying,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
Plastic cards, shiny cars, brick and glass homes --
what idols we fashion with our hands,
how much energy and time serving them occupy our hearts!
Let us confess how we have misplaced our priorities,
and seek the One who asks us to be first in our lives.
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
Enslaved to sin, we cannot see the lives we lead, God of Glory.
Each day, and every day, there are those times
when we ignore you and your dreams for us.
Each week, and every week, we find the time to ridicule others,
when we could have affirmed them.
Each moment, and every moment, though we do not want to admit it,
we seek our own way rather than skipping down your path of joy and obedience.
We come asking forgiveness for our foolish lives, Eternal Blessing.
Deliver us, and break the chains of sin and death which hold us captive.
Open us to that grace you offer, and give us the gift of the Spirit
so we may live as people of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: In the beginning was God, and at the end will be God,
and in every moment in between, there is God:
creating, redeeming, sustaining us.
People: And through Christ, gracious love is poured into our empty souls;
through the Spirit, peace becomes the gift we can share with those around us.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Teaching Trust
Acts 16:28
Did you ever hope that someone would trust you no matter what happened? (let them answer) I think that this is the best kind of friendship. When people trust each other they are the best kind of people. There is a great story about trust in the Bible concerning Paul and some of his friends.
It all started when a woman who was a slave to some evil men followed Paul around a town called Philippi, making fun of Paul's preaching. As you might guess, Paul was very serious about teaching others to love and follow Jesus. Having this woman, who was a fortune-teller, laugh about it did not make Paul happy. Paul knew that there must be something evil in her to make fun of Jesus, so one day when he had just about enough, he commanded the evil spirit to come out of her and go away. It happened so fast that no one knew it. One minute she was making fun of Paul, and the next minute she was not.
Her masters who owned her were furious. They had made a lot of money with this woman telling fortunes to travelers and strangers, and now she would never do it again.
These men who hated good men like Paul grabbed him and took him to the center of town where they asked the judges to find him guilty of teaching people to act against the Roman law. But that was just a game. They did not want a court trial. They wanted Paul killed. They got some rough men together and told the judges to have Paul beaten. Again and again Paul was beaten with sticks and poles until his back was covered with blood. But Paul would not die, and when the crowd grew tired of whipping him, the judges ordered him thrown into prison. As they were carrying Paul down the steps into the dungeon, the judges told the jailer that he had better not let Paul escape or he would be put to death in place of Paul. That kind of a threat is enough to scare anyone.
During the night, the Philippian jailer heard some strange sounds coming from behind the doors of Paul's cell. Instead of crying or asking for help, he heard Paul praying and singing songs of love to God. Not only was he listening, but he could tell that all of the other prisoners were listening as well.
And then it happened. Without any warning, there was a loud crash and the whole prison trembled. It was an earthquake, and everything seemed to be falling and jumping and shaking at the same time. All of the doors to the prison opened and all of the chains that held the prisoners came loose. The Philippian jailer took one look, and he thought everyone had escaped. That meant that Paul had left and that the jailer would have to die for allowing their escape. It was no use to live a moment longer. Just as he was ready to push his own sword into his body and kill himself, he heard a voice that said, "Don't do it! We are all here!"
The jailer could hardly believe his eyes and ears. The prisoners were there. Even though they could have escaped and run away, they did not. Paul did not want anyone to die for him except the Lord Jesus. He wanted people to trust him for what he taught and preached. That is why he stayed and asked the others to stay as well. The jailer was so happy that he could hardly believe it. All he wanted to know was what he could do to be like Paul. Paul told him to believe in Jesus Christ -- he would be saved and so would all of his family. The Philippian jailer loved Paul and all of his friends. He invited them to his house, where he washed Paul's wounds and fed him from his table.
Paul was right. The jailer did feel like a new man, and so did all of his family. It was wonderful to have someone like Paul trust you and someone for you to trust.
Paul didn't teach trust with words. He taught trust with his actions. He could have run away and saved his skin for a day or so, but then what would happen? It would only mean being arrested by somebody else. Paul knew if he stayed, he would show at least the jailer that he could be trusted. Trust was too important to Paul. He knew that if he could get people to trust him, then they would also trust his God. That is why Paul did it. He loved his God and trusted his God, and he wanted other people to trust God as he did.
That is something that all of us have to learn. If we want people to believe in God as we do, then we must show them that we can be trusted as their friends. We must be ready to help them when they are in trouble, just the way we do when everything is going well. Trust is something that we learn, and it is something that we can teach to others.
(From The Giant Book of Children's Sermons, by Wesley T. Runk, CSS Publishing Co., 2003)
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The Immediate Word, May 20, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
