Advent 2009
Dear Friends,
I write to you this year from prison. Not because I have been incarcerated but because I’ve begun
serving one day a week as a chaplain at the Federal Prison in
Cowansville. The
inmates who live here are inside for all the reasons you read about
in the newspaper every day – drug charges, robbery, drinking and
driving, violent crimes. If you’ve never been in a prison, you may well
assume that these are all ‘bad’ people who deserve to be locked up
and punished for what they did.
And it might be easy to talk about being ‘tough on crime’
when those inside remain faceless and nameless to you.
But when you are asked to become a chaplain, you are being
invited into their lives and to receive them as you would receive
Christ. That can be a
real challenge. When I meet with them here in the chapel or in
their cell block, I try to meet them first as a human being like
myself – and not simply as a criminal who is defined by their
conviction. I imagine
that they want to be listened to, understood, and cared for just
like you and me. Though
they have been tried and found guilty, many of them truly do seek
forgiveness and a new life for themselves. One of our baptismal vows remains a challenge to
me. “Will you seek and
serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself?” I try to see Christ in each one of them.
And the Christ that I see so often is the wounded Christ.
Many of these guys who have inflicted violence upon others,
have themselves been abused, neglected and violated in their lives.
This recognition does not excuse their crime, but it reminds
me that so often we act out of our wounds and end up wounding others
in turn. Jesus was tried and convicted as a criminal,
whipped and hung on cross under the Roman imperial system of
justice. Jesus was
innocent – my guys don’t pretend to be innocent.
But Jesus quite literally hung with criminals as he stretched
out his arms upon the cross.
Today, he is still hanging with those whom we have pronounced
‘guilty’ and imprisoned for years on end. Though the penitentiary system doesn’t often
produce real penitence (but instead anger and rage, or resignation
and despair) the men who do come to the chapel to seek out the
chaplains really do exhibit a desire to ‘repent and believe in the
good news’. Having made a mess of their lives (and those of
others), how might the light of Christ and the support of real
Christian community make a difference in my life, they ask?
Can I be forgiven?
Can I forgive myself?
Is there hope for me, or am I considered a lost cause to be
forever scorned by society? The current federal government is passing various
pieces of legislation to ‘get tough on crime’ even while the rates
of violent crime have been on the decline for years.
Incarcerating more people with longer sentences has led some
critics to complain about the ‘Americanization of the Canadian
justice system’. Many
judges and criminal justice experts have told the government that
their proposals are not based on any solid evidence. Real justice is not served by putting even more
people into jail for even longer periods of time.
Real justice is served when both victims and offenders are
given ways to acknowledge the wrong and find more constructive ways
for the offender to make amends in his life and in the community.
Restorative Justice (what prison chaplains like to talk
about) is about restoring people to community, not forever excluding
them and condemning them to death. At Christmas time let us ask ourselves the reason
why Christ came into this world.
The Gospel of John would answer, “God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be
saved through him.”
(John 3:17) How can we
in the church help to offer pardon and peace to all those our
society has condemned?
How might we offer to one another, this Christmas gift?
Since our last newsletter
Our thanks to all
those who continue to make generous
financial contributions
to the mission and ministry of Grace Church even during these
difficult economic times.
Your support is appreciated.
Please join us for
worship during this Christmas
season.
Sunday, December
20th at 10:30 am.
Family Service.
Advent readings and carols.
Sunday, December
20th at 3 pm. Chantons
Noel. Ecumenical sing-a-long in the Parish Hall
Thursday, December
24th, at 7:30 pm.
Christmas Eve Service at Grace Church
Friday, December 25th, at 10:30 am .
Christmas Day Service at Grace Church
Grace Anglican Church,
52 Principale sud,
Sutton, Quebec.
JOE-2K0.
450-538-8108
Thanksgiving 2009
Easter 2009
Advent 2008
Thanksgiving 2008
Easter 2008
Advent 2007