Devotion from New Clergy Serving on Kairos #48 at Limestone Prison

A friend of mine who worked Kairos #48 at Limestone Correctional Facility this past weekend passed along this email devotion that one of the rookie clergy sent out to the team. I wasn't able to work this one,but I'm told it was POWERFUL! I have been asked and am planning on service for #49 in June and hopefully #50 in November. I understand that Randy (who wrote everything below) is a pastor of a Methodist church near Florence. Needless to say, this ministry has a tremendous impact on your perspective. It blessed my socks off this morning and thought I'd pass it along to you as well.

Blessings, Eddie

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve with you and the entire Teamof Kairos 48. God has used it in a powerful way in my life and will never be the same because of it. This is a copy of my weekly devotion for the New Covenant Community. I know some of the Team are not on NewCovenant's email list. I wanted to share this with you, and if you feel so led by the Spirit, feel free to share this with the rest of the team.I just wanted you to know how thankful I am for this God-Moment in my own journey.

Peace and grace to you.

Randy

OH LORD, IT'S MONDAY MORNING!

For my days are consumed like smoke,and my bones are burned like a hearth.My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat mybread. Because of the sound of my groaningmy bones cling to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness;I am like an owl of the desert.I lie awake, and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop. Psalm 102:3-7 (New King James Version)

Sounds! Do you hear them? I mean, do you really hear the sounds? Are your ears in tune to the sounds? Do the sounds sink deep into your mind, your heart and your soul? Do the sounds reverberate and resonatein you? Do the sounds stir up something deep inside you? Do the sounds trouble you and make you restless? Have you lost any sleep from thesounds? Or have you simply blocked them out, blocked them out with the ear plugs of being busy, or insulated yourself in some sound proof sanctuary where you feel safe?

If you haven't guessed, today's thoughts are around the sounds. Allow me to explain where I am coming from. This morning I am trying to assimilate part of my experiences this past weekend. I am unable to deal with it all at once, so I'm carefully dissecting this awesome experience into blocks of data that this old, outdated computer canhandle. I have just spent my first night in my own bed since Wednesday night. I have been on a journey, a journey called Kairos 48 that happened this weekend at Limestone Correctional Facility. (A place that is right in most of our backyards.) Yes, your Community Spiritual Director has been to prison, and trust me when I say this: he is not the same person.

The eight team meetings could not have prepared me for what I heard. Heck, even 800 team meetings would not have been enough to fully prepare me. As I sit in front of this blessed computer screen, the first sound that stirs in my deepest parts and I cannot shake, was the sound of that heavy steel door that closed behind me as I left the secured visitors entrance and actually stepped into the prison. Even though I knew Iwould be able hear that sound again from the other side, something began to stir and even rumble in my heart. No, it wasn't fear.

And this morning I think I am beginning to understand that uneasy feeling a little better. I was hearing the sounds. I did not hear the sounds with my physical ears. I heard the sounds with my heart. It was the sounds of hopelessness. The sounds were echoing off the walls and filling the air. It hung heavy like a deep fog rolling in from the sea. It was like a smothering blanket that could take the breath away from you. Everywhere I turned, the sounds were present. And I knew why Bob and Phil and Tim and Dan and Jack and Megan and so many others hounded me about Kairos. (Guys and gals, Thank you, Thank You, Thank You for your persistence!)

But when I entered that chapel, I also heard another sound: it was TheWord! It was, is and always The Word of Hope, Love, Peace and Joy. Even though "The Sounds" tried to get louder and drown out THE SOUND, it could not. Over the next three days, I was humbled and privileged and blessed beyond words to see God at work. By Friday night's teammeeting, I had to confess and repent that I was surprised to see God's awesome work. I should not have been surprised! Limestone Correctional Facility had been covered by the prayers of the saints! We had been asking God to move and work. I should have had confidence in God. I do not know why I was amazed, because God's best work is always done in the dark places that most of us, my self included, would not rather think about.

But those dark places are always where God is at work. Jesus said things like: "I am the light of the world." "I have come to seek and save the lost!" "I am the bread of life." "I am willing to heal you!""I am with you always!" And as the weekend progressed, I heard, I mean I HEARD, the sound of praise and peace and joy and hope coming from HOLYGROUND! I heard it from the men (who happen to wear white clothes all the time) who felt like they were forgotten, or even worse, that they were condemned by the world to always be "convicts." But THE SOUND ofThe Word let us all know that we become brand new persons in and because of Jesus Christ. How about that? John was right when he wrote, "The light shined in the darkness but the darkness could not overcome it!"

And what about YOU? The Sounds are not limited to places like Limestone Correctional Facility. Truth is, they are all around us. The sounds of hopelessness are coming from the single parent, the recently divorced,the homeless, foster children, the homeless, those who have lost jobs,those who's lives are buried in a bottle, smothered by a pill, pipe or needle, those who are abused and neglected, and those who feel like they've wasted their lives and there is no way God loves them.
Open your ears and listen! Step out of your sound-proof sanctuarybecause The Sounds are out here. But also listen for THE SOUND, The Sound of THE WORD! Listen to where HE is calling you to bring The Sound of Hope, Love, Joy and Peace! And don't tell me, "Well, preacher, I'm just not comfortable with those kinds of people. I'll pray for them,but that's all I feel comfortable doing." If this is you, then I am telling you, "It's time to become uncomfortable."

Jesus has not saved us to feel comfortable. He has saved us to make us uncomfortable and restless. He calls us to go into the human condition with the ONLY Sound that changes human hearts and lives. And now community, I MUST make a confession and repent. I have told churches that they must get out among the least, the last and the lost. But I have not really been there myself, until this past weekend. So, I ask for your forgiveness, grace and mercy. The sound of that steel door has made me different, and I am so thankful for that door.

I leave you with these words and I pray with all that is in me, that you become restless until the sounds of hopelessness are silenced in EVERY human heart:

'I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, Iwas homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave meclothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked orignored, that was me, you did it to me.' (Matthew 25:35-40)

When we are uncomfortable with the sounds of hopelessness, and long to be an instrument for The Voice of hope, love, peace and joy, then every Monday morning we can say, "Good, Lord! It's Monday! What shall we do together this week?"

Let us pray: I forgive me for being deaf. Open my ears that I may hear the sounds of hopelessness that are all around me. Help me trust You to use me to bring the Sound of love, hope, peace and joy. Jesus, I really want to see you and do something for You, even if it means going to prison. Amen and Amen!

Randy (one who sees Jesus more clearly than ever before! Thanks, Jesus, for sending me to prison!