Proverbs 17:17
‘A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.’
When we look at Jesus, we see love as we’ve never known it before – perfect, unconditional and sacrificing. Experiencing God’s love fills us with deep gratitude and humility. We know that we do not deserve a love like this, yet it finds us, surrounds us and fills us. God always loves us, even when we are at our worst.
We also know that this love does not discriminate or ‘pick and choose’. Jesus’ instructions are clear: it’s not enough to love those who love us. That would be way too easy! We are called to love everyone, even our enemies, as Matthew 5:44 confirms.
There are over 80,000 prisoners in the United Kingdom. It could be tempting to look at these people as our enemies. After all, they are in prison for breaking the law; they have often led dysfunctional, violent lifestyles, hurting the lives of others.
Christ, however, did not give up on us, despite all our sin, so that is not an option for us either. In our walk with Jesus, we want to be more like him every day, letting his love pour out of our hearts to those we encounter – especially people who need it the most. In the words of General John Gowans:
‘I believe in transformation, God can change the hearts of men,
And refine the evil nature till it glows with grace again.
Others may reject the weakling, I believe he can be strong,
To the family of Jesus all God’s children may belong.’
SASB 34
The Salvation Army was called to prison ministry by William Booth. ‘While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight!’ he is reported to have said. The Salvation Army’s prison chaplains work in over 20 prisons across England and Wales. Our chaplains are a ‘friend at a time of adversity’. They can tell you that there is much more to a person than their crime: a person with a complex story, often one with brokenness. Prisons are filled with people with serious mental health issues, addictions and tragic levels of self-harm. Prisoners desperately need God’s love and healing.
Chaplains are able promote the true meaning of love and fellowship – bringing men and women into a living relationship with the God who loves them despite their sin, faults and failings, and who can change them from the inside out.
To illustrate this, here are some quotes from our chaplains.
‘One resident who recently experienced a spell of serious ill health came to ask how he might put himself right with God and his family, as his close brush with death had given him cause to reflect on his eternal destination. He made a decision to accept Jesus as his Saviour and took a Bible away with him to read more about nurturing his newfound relationship with God.’
‘A man came over to spend some time in chapel as it was the one year anniversary of his 18-month-old daughter’s death. We were able to talk around issues of forgiveness, anger and his grieving. He took away daily reading books and a leaflet about living with loss.’
‘I had a long conversation with a man who is serving a life sentence for murder. He shared his testimony how he had been invited to attend a prison chapel service but tried to decline on the basis that “there's no hope for me, I’m beyond redemption”. He was encouraged to try anyway, and he finally found salvation. As he was telling me his story he was glowing with hope, which had a profound impact on me, given that he is unlikely to ever get released.’
PRAYER LEAFLET
Give each member a print-out of the Prisons Week leaflet to take home.
ONLINE GROUPS
Email the web-link to the leaflet.
