Prisons, physical and emotional

Albert Bogle November 22, 2017 0 0

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Psalm 90: 13-17

13 Turn, O Lord! How long?
    Have compassion on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be manifest to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and prosper for us the work of our hands—
    O prosper the work of our hands!

This week is known in many circles as Prisoners’ Week. Despite all the horrific stories of overcrowding and gang culture which seems to dominate those who find themselves in prison. In many of our jails today hundreds of prisoners are finding a new way to live. Like the psalmist in today’s reading they find hope in the belief that God will not abandon them. Many still carry the guilt of their actions and cry to God from deep within them for hope and forgiveness and above all for peace of mind.

While we think of those who work and live out a sentence in a physical prison. We should not forget those who find themselves in prisons not of their own making. People trapped in refugee camps, others trapped in the prison of their thoughts and fears. People afraid to step over the doorway of their homes, others trapped on the streets without a home, or even afraid to move into a home. 

Our reading suggests that when the vulnerable and weak feel powerless, their only source of true power is to call on God. Psalm 90 hints that the writer knows full well that God has and will continue to work with humanity to bring about a new creation.

O God,

Grant us a moment of your peace

Even when we deserve to be abandoned

When we are in the midst of living out the consequences of our actions

In the loneliest of places

Among the most alien of companions

struggling to keep hope alive

We struggle on 

We refuse to give up 

Because you have placed eternity in our genes

We have a memory of home 

Telling us, all will be well

You have given us patience to believe

So we wait in our prisons

Longing for freedom

Comforted by the fact we know 

What freedom looks and smells like

So we wait 

Encouraged, frustrated,

Living through hope 

Believing all will be well.