Last evening following our worship service in the prison, an inmate caught me by the hand. I could tell that he had something to say. He's been with us for the past few months and was baptized just a few weeks ago. He's typically so quiet and reserved it's been really difficult to get to know him. But I can tell God is doing something great in his life. When he spoke I had to lean in to hear him.
He said he's really been wanting to live this life in Christ his whole life. But he's never felt worthy. He was always made to feel that he just couldn't measure up. Church and family kept him at bay. Too many rules. Too much "stuff" in his own life that didn't look like christian stuff should look.
Now, in prison at forty eight years old, he feels like he's finally getting it. He's been set free. The message he's been hearing is simple enough: Grace. Grace apart from rules. Grace without expectations. Just the all-sufficient grace of God.
With tears welling-up in his eyes, he said he finally felt like he could have the life he's always desired. Life in Christ. He finally feels like there's a place for him in the kingdom. He thanked me.
I'm humbled when I hear things like that. But it makes me wonder, too. What have we done to the message of the gospel to make people feel as if they can't have Christ? What kind of fences have we constructed? We scorn the Pharisees of Jesus day, but are we any different?
We sing the words to the old hymn, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, ..." Do we ever think about the words we sing?
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1 comment:
Thanks for that. Your posts so often relate to stuff that I'm thinking about too, but you put it so well. I was horrified recently to hear someone say that they thought prisoners might sometimes be reluctant to go to the chaplain because they are ashamed and think they will be judged. As Christians we are like beggars telling others where we found food. Grace is central to all we stand for, but folk don't always know that. And I guess the Church certainly seems to come across as judgemental which is so sad I could cry! Would that "your" prisoners and "mine" would see at once that it's a message of amazing grace that we have for them...
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