An Easter reflection...from prison

I do not think I understood what Easter meant until I started working in prison. I was a nineteen-year-old kid when I began volunteering with the chaplain of a medium security prison in Massachusetts. As a naïve white teenager from a middle-class family, I was thrust into a world that I did not understand. I will always remember the day I was responsible for counseling sessions while the chaplain was away.

The prisoner who walked into the office invoked all of my Hollywood stereotypes. A huge black man with shaved head stood glaring at me. He was facing a long sentence and a restraining order that would keep him away from his children even after release. What could this puny white kid in a cheap tie know about his life and problems? It turns out the man was Muslim, so I did not even share the same faith. I shared literally nothing in common with this man, and yet he was looking to me for help. I needed the hope of Easter.

The absurdity of my cross-cultural ministry in prisons has made one thing clear: I think we need Easter because we do not really understand Christmas. The message of the holiday seems simple enough: God is born into our world. There are even songs that proclaim Emmanuel—God with us. However, we just do not want to believe it. How can the Lord of the Universe really understand what we are going through? Our lives are messy. If we are honest, we do not even want Him to get close. Rather keep Jesus far away in our post-card conception of Bethlehem. We confine the Savior of the World to a manger, and tie him down with “swaddling clothes” (Whatever those are!). “Emmanuel” may adorn our Christmas cards in fancy letters, but we have forgotten what it means in our lives.

We have not accepted Christmas, so in His mercy God presents Easter to drive the message home a second time. The message is the same—a loving God trying to convince us that He truly has been born into our broken lives. However, the sacrifice on the cross can no longer be confined to a manger. Crucifixion is hardly the stuff of holiday postcards! A loving God has chosen extreme suffering to prove that He really can relate to human brokenness.

Strangely enough, this Easter suffering is the source of our hope and the answer to the bitter, discouraged prisoner sitting in front of me. I had to admit that I had nothing in common with him. Indeed, it would be arrogance for me to even speak encouragement into his life. However, we share a Jesus who understands. Whether it is betrayal by friends, the prejudice of a community, the punishment of a father or even violent trauma—Jesus has served the sentence. This prisoner may come from a different life and a different faith, but because of Easter we could have a conversation.

Ten years later in the prisons of South Africa, the conversation remains the same. For whatever reason, the Lord has called me to be the Director of a prison ministry. We serve nine different Correctional Centres in the Western Cape, and I am continually thrust into cross-cultural ministry that confounds my experience and capability. Good thing Jesus is already there.

Happy Easter!

Re-entry

Our bodies may not know which continent they are on, but we are at least physically located in the States!

We always wonder whether the “culture shock” of reentry will surprise us, but for the moment we are just enjoying all things American. Golden Grahams… Cranberry Sauce from the can… oh, AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

We can’t believe how much we have missed all you guys! Working in the bizarre world of South Africa’s prisons makes us forget just how much we love being home. As you can see, Andrew is reunited with his first love (the old Jeep Cherokee!), so we are willing to drive just about anywhere to see you guys!

Our email addresses remain the same, but we have a US cell number: 781-656-2081. Give us a call to set up coffee, or just say hi! We will be in the Boston area until just after New Year's.

SPECIAL NOTE TO ALL VERMONT FRIENDS! We are driving to Vermont late today (Monday the 29^th) and staying until next Monday. Get ready for us to invite ourselves over! hehehe

Andrew comes to terms with 'emotional energy'

Being separated from friends and family by an ocean has taught me a few things about communication!

When we left the States we really were not expecting to be here very long… I had a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, and aside from a free master’s degree and some volunteer work the plan was just to enjoy South Africa for a year, then go home. It was only going to be a short trip, so I never made a deliberate plan on how I was going to stay in touch. Since now I am well into my third year in South Africa, this hurt my communication with many dear friends and family.

My communication was doubly hurt, because I did not realize the emotional energy that is required for a real connection (insert joke here about being a stereotypical male!). After an intense day in prison—which is probably the most cross-cultural experience imaginable!—the last thing I had energy for was more communication!

Within the past six months I have come to terms with the fact that prison ministry is a spiritual battlefield, and it would be arrogant for me to step into a prison without your prayers for my protection. Our commitment is to keep updating you regularly, but we will probably be apologizing to you again! Blogs are a flawed medium, and sometimes we are in the middle of something too raw to be processed in such an open manner. Our stories are tied up with other people, but we can only share our own. At the end of the day, maybe this blog is just about holding me accountable! If I am going to challenge gangsters to speak openly about their lives—even when it is messy—I owe it to them to hold myself to the same standard.

(P.S. from Anne: over the next few weeks we will be highlighting some of the ways you can be involved in our ministry, including joining a team that will commit to praying for us regularly. For a sneak preview, click here.)

"Strange Company"

What could a man from the Congo, an Afrikaaner, a couple from Australia, a Xhosa, a German, a couple from America and a man from Switzerland all have in common?

Just another Thursday afternoon in prison ministry!

The Andrew Murray Centre is called to be a bridge between the churches and the prisons, and that mission brings a strange crew of people together in a single purpose. We are a non-denominational Christian ministry with a leadership team that draws from the full spectrum of South Africa’s racial diversity. Despite coming from radically different backgrounds, we are united in our mission:

“Raising up a new generation of Christian leaders from South Africa’s prisons—a discipleship journey that will return the churches to those they have forgotten and rejoin the prisoners with those they have harmed.

It is strange, but prison ministry is remarkably similar across social and racial barriers. On the surface a Latino gangster from Southern California would have literally nothing in common with a Xhosa ganster from Mbekweni. Unfortunately prison acts like a sociological meat-grinder! No matter where these men come from they are subjected to a similar range of isolation, bitterness, prejudice, racism and violent trauma. It is impossible to predict all the factors that will bring someone to prison, but it is easy to predict the challenges they will face as they try to make it out of the system. It’s bittersweet, but this is one of the reasons I have been successful in ministry here—even as a foreigner. My work in South Africa is very similar to prison ministry that I began doing in the States back in 2001.

The challenges we face in prison ministry cut across cultural lines, and our ministry team also defies cultural expectations. However, there is something even more important that ties everything together. The God we serve has the same loving character -- whether it is a "C-Max" in Johannesburg or death row in Texas.

We're Back!

(This is a long one, but hey… it’s been two years!)

This blog has purpose now! When Anne and I came to South Africa, we were excited for a break. We were leaving stressful jobs to pursue interesting graduate studies on a Rotary scholarship, explore South Africa and do prison rehabilitation work on the side for fun (maybe that makes us strange… heh). This blog began with a string of hiking vacations and interesting cultural anecdotes. There was never a sense of urgency other than my mother demanding new pictures!

We couldn’t help ourselves! There is too much potential in South Africa to go through as a tourist or even just as a student. Without always making a conscious decision, we gravitated more and more into our volunteer work. Maybe it’s the confessions of an adrenalin junkie—prison ministry is even more exciting than surfing! I like to think we found our purpose.

As our days shifted from Table Mountain to Pollsmoor prison, this blog stopped working. How do you turn the intensity of a counseling session in a maximum-security prison into a clever anecdote? Especially with no pictures! (it seems the gold standard of a blog is pictures… if it’s not pretty, who wants to read it!). It was challenging enough to work in this context, let alone write about it.

Basically we did the missionary thing backwards! I always thought missions involved raising support, building a team and then staging a big farewell sendoff… whoops! Suddenly we found ourselves volunteering in intense cross-cultural ministry and development work, but with very little support.

Now blogging has a purpose again! We cannot do what we are doing—what God has called us to do—without your support. This isn’t “christian-ese” for “give us your money!” If we think about our lives here in South Africa, we have been able to participate in some incredible, life-changing events. We have experienced more success than two random Americans dropped into the middle of the South African prison system could ever hope for.

If I reflect honestly on what we have accomplished, everything could just have easily ended in disaster. We have experience, advanced degrees and a team of volunteers behind us. Not to be melodramatic, but that doesn’t mean much against a homemade knife! South Africa continually receives bad press for its crime problems, and yet we have always had perfect safety even in the midst of some pretty scary places. Prayer works! There has been a small team of people from around the country who have continually been praying for us, even when they had no idea where we were. It would be arrogant for us to continue in our work here without building on this foundation of prayer. This rejuvenated blog will form the backbone of our prayer network, and we would be honored if you would join us.

A Guitar

The boys I meet in B5 take pleasure in simple things.

I'm not talking about life coach philosophy here. They are not “downsizing” their lives – rather, the things I would consider “simple” and beneath my enjoyment are often luxuries for them.

Consider this example. One of the most surprising things about working in B5 has been watching the boys color. Yes, color, as in using crayons or markers to fill in picture sheets with Bible verses on them. The kind of activity you would normally use with kids no older than 7. Don't get me wrong and think that this is a reflection on their mental capabilities. These boys are smart despite the fact that many have had little or no formal education. The key word here is opportunities. Coloring sheets might not seem like much of a creative outlet to most people, but in an environment so devoid of creativity in every area we take for granted (décor, clothing, food, hobbies, even time management), any opportunity is a good one.

This tendency plays out in another area of my involvement in B5: music. When I was making plans to come to Cape Town, I realized right away that I could not bring any of my instruments without paying a small fortune in either extra baggage fees or shipping, and another small fortune in insurance against potential damages for either of those two options! I decided to wait until I arrived and see if I could borrow or rent an instrument instead. I have managed to get a violin so far that should serve me well, and just today a fellow prison volunteer brought in a guitar I can use.

I don't think this guitar will “serve me well”. For starters, it's missing a string! That can be remedied, of course, but what can't change is that it's a classical guitar -- very different from what I normally play (wider and thicker neck, nylon strings, etc.). It's something for now, but I'm definitely going to look for something else.

The boys love it, though. To them, it just makes music – something they don't experience very often. I can also let them hold it and play it without worrying about damage! Having someone care enough to bring an instrument into prison and play for them means so much, whether it has the proper number of strings or not. If I find a better guitar in the coming weeks, will they even notice the difference?

Anniversary Part One

Today we celebrated one year of marriage!

But wait, some of you will say.  Haven't you been married three years?  Right you are.  But after some discussion of how to mark the day, we decided to have a little more fun than usual.  Instead of just doing one special event, why not have one activity or gift for each year we're celebrating?  This could get increasingly difficult and expensive as the years progress, so some gifts will be very small, but we like the idea of continuing the celebration beyond the actual anniversary day.

Today's event was a small one – walking to a nearby restaurant for breakfast.  We saw some beautiful flowers along the way (can you believe these grow wild here?), and a less beautiful but equally compelling pile of discarded, melted rubber tubes (Andrew loves taking pictures of strange textures). 

The meal was good.  The “Shrek Juice” (vegetable smoothie) was not, but it had to be attempted.