God loves them all?

75 years ago, when I was a tiny tot in Sunday School, we sang this little song:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight.

Then, when we grew up, we sang the adult version in our worship services:

In Christ there is no East or West,
No North or South;
Only one great love
Inside and out.

Those old songs are in my mind today, as the HFP team does its best to help those behind bars who struggle because of race, color, belief, nature of their crime, sexual orientation, gender issues. 

-An inmate tries to find some Wiccan connections on the outside.
-A young man writes: “my family are extremely religious and have always hated me for being gay."
-An African American claims discrimination is rampant, but cannot get a rights group to even respond to his complaints.
-An admitted sex offender prays for healing and a second chance.
-An Asian prisoner battles a serious illness alone because of a language barrier.
-A prisoner struggling with transgender issues faces unimaginable problems.
-Two Muslim women endure shameful treatment during Ramadan.

We’re not able to speak on behalf of other agencies and other ministries…I can only speak on our behalf.  We’re here for them all: red, yellow, black and white; Asian or American; gay or transgender; Wiccan or Muslim and yes, even the sex offender.  And while doing so, I can honestly admit how much we continue to learn by doing this.  AND, we continue to discover beautiful similarities among people whose differences seemed so dramatic and unsettling! 

May God give us open minds, so that we can keep our doors open.

As I understand it, God loves them all.

We’re trying to reflect that.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w...
Read more

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that ...
Read more

What's in the brown paper bag?

I’d like to share a beautiful story...a story not written by me.   I feel certain that Luis Ramirez would be honored to have us pass along what he has written, but I can't ask him.   He's dead.   This message came to me from Texas Death Row in the early days of HFP. I was so touched by the experience that I vowed to keep the story alive. We generally re-publish it during the holiday season. May it remind us, again, that the names on death row represent real people. And, that the death penalty is dead wrong! Anyway, here’s my gift to you today...a story from the late Luiz Ramirez: (In all caps, just the way he sent it)   I CAME HERE IN MAY OF 1999...A TSUNAMI OF EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS WERE GOING THROUGH MY MIND.   I REMEMBER THE ONLY THINGS IN THE CELL WERE A MATTRESS, PILLOW, A COUPLE SHEETS, A PILLOW CASE, A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER AND A BLANKET.   I REMEMBER SITTING THERE, UTTERLY LOST.   THE FIRST PERSON I MET THERE WAS NAPOLEON BEASLEY.   ...
Read more