Who prays for prisoners?

OK, fellow church goers. A quick question for you. When’s the last time you heard either the topic of incarceration, or more specifically the incarcerated mentioned in your church prayer list? 

Some of the most beautiful prayers in the history of the church, in my opinion, are found in the Book of Common Prayer. Granted, we seldom use this type of English in our prayers anymore, but take a moment to read this: 

O GOD, who sparest when we deserve punishment, and in thy wrath rememberest mercy; We humbly beseech thee, of thy goodness to comfort and succour all those who are under reproach and misery in the house of bondage; correct them not in thine anger, neither chasten them in thy sore displeasure. Give them a right understanding of themselves, and of thy threats and promises; that they may neither cast away their confidence in thee, nor place it any where but in thee. Relieve the distressed, protect the innocent, and awaken the guilty: and forasmuch as thou alone bringest light out of darkness, and good out of evil, grant that the pains and punishments which these thy servants endure, through their bodily confinement, may tend to setting free their souls from the chains of sin; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

 From the 1892 Book of Common Prayer, in response to the reading of Psalm 51 

(Hide your face from my sins

    and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.) 

I’m not in the habit of promoting my own stuff, but I’m hoping that a new book, just released, will result in a stronger focus on prisoners and prisons in our churches. The title is UNCHAINABLE LIGHT, and the book features a series of commentaries from a spiritual dimension regarding prisons, prisoners, incarceration and injustice. 

In a short foreword, well-known West Michigan Author David Myers, Hope College Professor of Psychology, said my book “enables us to empathize with prisoners, to envision redemption, and to embrace grace.” He called it “An inspiring memoir that speaks for ‘the least of these,’ reminding us of their, and our, humanity.” 

My hope is to get copies into church libraries, with a goal of getting the plight of the incarcerated and the topic of mass incarceration as a more significant part of our prayer life. 

Justice Anthony Kennedy said that there’s something we must know about these people: “Prisoners are shut away—out of sight, out of mind, while their conditions of confinement are too easily ignored.” Justice Denied followed that quote by saying: “Terrible conditions of confinement in America’s prisons and jails continue to persist…” 

Here's the link to place a copy of the book in your church library:

http://www.dpztechnology.com/store.html#!/Unchainable-Light/p/689040038/category=119679005

Then, please keep these people and these issues in your prayers. May that help us to remember those behind bars “as if we were together with them in prison.”

 

 

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