Greetings from Prison
How many people do you know or love who are in prison?
How often do you visit them? How often do you hear from them?
Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions-if he comes to you, welcome him. 11 And Jesus who is called Justus greets you. - Colossians 4:10-11
In today's reading, Paul is in prison.
It is funny, but when we read about Paul in prison we get a different feeling than when we are told by a friend of her son arrested and put in prison.
Both did something wrong in the eyes of the law, yet we see them differently.
Do you think Paul's family and friends were ashamed of him? Or were they proud of him?
And what about his fellow prisoners?
Yesterday we attended the closing ceremony of another Kairos Outside NYC weekend. It is a weekend of sharing God's love for women impacted by incarceration, women just like the ones who would have received and listened to the letter Paul wrote.
This was our eleventh weekend and the community of Kairos continues to grow rapidly in New York, with new members and churches supporting it every day. Why do they do this?
It is that crossing of the bridge from shame to forgiveness, from isolation to acceptance, from despair to joy that they experience on a weekend of pure unconditional love.
As one woman said yesterday, the women on the weekend are women like her, who walk in the same shoes and understand the same issues and feelings.
If we look back at the time of Paul, we would probably find that the people who had loved ones in prison under Roman rule were probably just as outcast in society as these women are today, if not more so.
So, to receive a letter from him was both joyous and dangerous.
How would you feel?
Would you call up all your friends and say, "My son, my husband, my daughter, my wife is in prison, would you come with me to visit?"
How would they react?
Wherever you live, there is a ministry to support families of the incarcerated, families who try to hold themselves together without revealing to the world that they have a loved one who is locked away.
Someone you know may be one of these people.
In today's letter, Paul is introducing his loving community to a fellow inmate, someone he wants them to know and pray for.
I am asking the same.
Pray for the sons, daughters, husbands, wives, nieces, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and grandchildren of the women I have come to know and love, and pray also that the millions more find their way to a welcoming community like Kairos.
Better yet, start a movement to make your church or religious community a welcoming and supporting one for all who suffer from isolation, shame, guilt and despair.
There are plenty of broken hearts to go around, and all it takes is a little glue in the form of love to heal them.
More to come...