Maybe...

In light of our class discussions on torture and definitions of what it means to be human I wanted to share a way my congregation took a step to humanize those who are collectively dehumanized, prisoners.

I have been very interested in the prison ministry Companions Journeying Together and saw an opportunity for my congregation to get involved by writing Christmas cards to incarcerated men and women. It is difficult at times to distinguish between giving charity versus giving justice and I pray that today we gave a little bit of justice with our words of love and hope.

Those who participated, many who were the youth of our church, thought long and hard about what to write in the cards. At every opportunity members of the Mission Committee spoke with the children and adults who struggled with what to write to strangers we are often taught through media to view as having little to no human value and dignity. We asked them to imagine being away from their families for the Holidays and how if would feel if one's sibling or parent were incarcerated. We stressed they are ordinary people just like us who might have made some bad choices, might be innocent, might have just been trying to survive. We are all just trying to survive.

Sounded mostly like charity to me but then I read some of messages in the cards and our children said things about God's love, joy and peace in the world, new beginnings and hope. They all wrote about Hope. There is the justice. I don't think we share our hope with strangers we think are less human than us. Maybe. We all need Hope. That is why we have God. Maybe, just maybe, a prisoner became a person to one of these children or to their parent. Then, maybe they will be a little less tolerant of torture, a corrupt criminal justice system, and the dehumanisation that occurs when a man, a woman or a child drops their identity into a cardboard box and walks into a place where fear and complacency reign. Maybe one card reaching one person might change her life by reminding her of her humanity.

Amen.