Is there any hope on the horizon for someone who has broken the laws of the land and is now serving time in prison? Are these individuals to be considered society's refuse? Do we turn away from them?
For many who have worked in the prison system (as chaplains or volunteers), the answers to these questions glow with promise. Indeed there is always hope of release from the enslaving beliefs that have brought someone to the point of incarceration. As a volunteer working with inmates in a correctional institution, I have been interested to see just how spiritually curious many of these people are. It would seem that the very circumstance of their imprisonment has gotten their undivided attention so that they recognize that things in their experience need drastic change.
For someone serving time in prison,
imagine hearing for the first time: "You are a child of God."
