Sitting with Inmates

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Sitting with Inmates

In the hot, linoleum fluorescent dining hall, around
a round steel table, bolted down: doors locked
we read the chosen verses together.
Tonight, we talk of freedom:

Freedom—true liberation—that of a real
and beautiful Ghost, passing through
the walls of sin and all its harsh sentences,
transcending the Law, its iron bars,
hired guards, coils of razor wire
waiting to cut blood, the long howls
of Bloodhounds in the blue-flashing darkness
pursuing us—they’ve smelled our dirty clothes,
they know our fearful human scent.
We can not escape.

Week after week, listening to these men,
their broken stories, knowing the caged anger
the lust and craving for revenge—all hiding
in the cells of my own heart, I wonder:

Who am I?  to lead these prisoners
even one faltering step
up the stumbling stony road toward Freedom
leading to the Cross—the very source,
the Fountainhead—this wild pure River
of healing love, waves of cleansing grace
raging down the dark halls,
all our private hells.

I tell them each ‘Good Night’, and walk outside
beyond the iron bars and the guarded wall
into pale radiance, the cool and silent stars.

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“I was in prison, and you visited Me.”
“Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the Kingdom of God”

–Jesus

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August 29, 2012 | Categories: Meditations | Tags: bearing one another's burdens, Craggy prison, forgiveness, freedom, penitence, prison, rehabilitation, Yokefellows | Leave a comment