12% of the population came to church

This morning I took the service in Gartree Prison together with three friends from Theddingworth Congregational Church.  All of us feel that this is an important part of the ministry God has given us.  We work as a team.  We try to make the service interesting, in some senses enjoyable, but always wanting to be sensitive to what God might be wanting to say.

Like the apostle Paul, we drew on cultural issues to illustrate spiritual truth - this time the World Cup.  We reflected on being chosen for the team, and the contrast between the criteria the England manager uses and that which God uses, we thought about spiritual fitness, our individual roles within the team, enduring to the final whistle, and finally the bliss of winning the trophy - especially that which lasts for ever.

The four of us love to sing and sing in four part harmony, which adds a dynamic to the meeting.  The lads sing well anyway.  Today there must have been around 12% of the prison population at the service.  All of these are serving life sentences.  Of course punishments for crimes such as murder need to be appropriate but the wastefulness of life in prison never fails to move me.  In Christian terms the challenge is to work out how God can redeem this situation they are in, and how they can live fulfilled Christian lives including ministry as members of the body of Christ within the prison community.

So please pray for the lads who came today.  And please remember me in my weekly visits there on a Tuesday afternoon.

One man I know quite well has just been found to have a brain tumour and now has to see a specialist.

Another man I got to know well and who is no longer in this prison has recently had his sentence quashed after many years in prison but will face a retrial presumably for manslaughter.  He is still quite young and he will need appropriate counselling and support beyond that which would be normal within the system.

Pray for the work of the choir, which goes well beyond singing.  It is really therapeutic.  We could do with at least six new members as some of the lads have been transferred to other prisons.

Pray for the Chaplaincy team - full time, part time, and a host of voluntary workers, visitors etc.  Of course, in addition to the Christians there are chaplains of other faiths with whom there has to be a harmonious relationship.

Spend a moment to think how you might feel living in a room 8' x 6' which has to serve as your dining room, bedroom, and toilet.  How might you feel knowing that you cannot support your family and have left your wife to cope with bringing up the children and coping as a single parent.  Such a situation could easily last 12 or more years,  Imagine that what put you inside was a moment of stupidity, an argument that went too far, perhaps under the influence of drink.  For some of the men - indeed some that I work with - that would be typical, though there are others with a history of violence.  Justice needs to be done but the cost to others than the guilty person is high.  So pray for those that work with the families - and also remember that for each man inside there is also very probably the grieving family of the victim outside.