God Is Present In the Most Unexpected Places

As I was about to start the first of two Communion Services in the prison chapel this past Sunday, and going through the routine of asking for volunteers to help with the two readings and Psalm, I sensed an underlying friction between a few inmates who were sitting at opposite sides of the room; even Sister sensed it as she made a comment in trying to diffuse the tension as she was headed out.

After the service was over and the men were leaving to go back to their cells I stopped one the men who I sensed was still upset and engaged him in conversation. He told me how angry he felt about some of the people there. The more he tried to do the right thing the more he was being ostracized by the others. What happened in the chapel was only a little snippet of what goes on daily he told me. He was so angry that he did not feel worthy to receive Communion and chose to use that time to stay seated and ask for God's forgiveness. He knew it was wrong to be angry but did his best to control it. It appeared from my vantage point of that short 5 - 10 minute conversation that he was doing all he could and there was little I could add other than listen. After our conversation I could feel a sense of release or relief and he thanked me for listening - he knew that he needed to vent and get that out of his system before he returned to the rest of the prison population.

Later that day I read a story written by Philip Yancey in Finding God in Unexpected Places, about a young woman who after having worked for change in apartheid in So. Africa, decided to tackle the most violent prison, one where Nelson Mandela had spent several years.

Tattoo-covered gang members controlled the prison while the authorities looked the other way letting them beat and kill each other. Each day she would go into the bowels of the prison bringing the simple message of forgiveness and reconciliation. She eventually earned their trust and got them to open up about the details of their horrific childhoods. The year before she began her visits, the prison had recorded 279 acts of violence; the next year there were two.

When asked by a journalist for the specifics on what had happened to transform that prison she said, "God was already present in the prison. She just had to make him visible."

What a beautiful statement. As I thought about what I would like to achieve in prison ministry all I can strive for in the short time I spend there is as this young woman said, "Just to make God visible as He is already there."