Hope

First Week of Advent
Tuesday December 3, 2013

 Read: Hebrews 11:32-40

 But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.—Hebrews 11:32-34

The author of the book of Hebrews gives us an insight on the early Christians. Many were imprisoned for their faith.  Apparently, they took their experience to heart and gained compassion for their fellow prisoners. 

Russ was 17 when his father suddenly, unexpectedly died. He was a good looking affable teen who really loved cars and was a budding mechanic. He also had a hot temper at times. Russ was 18 when he was convicted for his first DUI.  Twenty when he got his third which at that time in Oklahoma resulted in a mandatory prison sentence. One wonders if he had gotten some treatment for alcohol abuse the first or second time, whether there would have been a third conviction. He, however, was one of the lucky Oklahoma State Prison inmates.  I guess you could say he won the lottery. Drug and alcohol treatment in the Oklahoma State Prison system is rationed.  There is not enough to go around so they select participants through a drawing. Russ was picked soon after he arrived. From all reports it made a difference. I did not know him then. I met him after he was married, had a couple of kids, and was working as a mechanic. 

Russ, like his father, died too soon. He was diagnosed with end stage terminal cancer and lived only a short time after the diagnosis. His last wish was that his whole family, including the teenagers in it, learned about the love of God and the difference it could make in a person’s life. He was living proof of that. 

We still have a lot to learn from our ancestors in the faith. Their first person experience with prisoners gave them compassion and they gave those prisoners hope. As a state with more prisoners than most states, we who call ourselves Christians have a vast array of prisoners who need our love and the gift of our hope. That includes such things as helping to sculpt a criminal justice system that is restorative rather than punitive to reaching out to the individuals sitting behind the bars showing them that God loves them. 

Prayer: Holy One, open our eyes that we might see ways that we can be conduits of your love to those in prison or released from prison with no hope and no future except perhaps returning to criminal behavior. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.