Christianity

Dignity And Healing For All: A Service, A Celebration

Some Reflections

I am writing these reflections not only for you, but also for me, because I need to hear the Word of God again and again. I cannot speak about the dignity of all human persons, including my inherent goodness as a Child of God, without at the same time acknowledging that the image of God has been disfigured/distorted through my failure to reflect God in my thoughts, attitudes and actions. My individual failures and choices, including apathy and non-action, have helped bring creation to this place in time where "all of creation groans" and social pain and suffering glare at me/us demanding a response.

Do I really believe that all are my brothers and sisters no matter what? Do I care (Love your neighbour as you love yourself) that so many persons are denied their basic human rights, that fear and despair are rampant (note the rise in the sale of locks and security systems and the incidence of suicide among our youth)? Do I care that intolerance and racism continue to exist (in Canada we still incarcerate a disproportionate number of the First Nations people), that the plight of the poor is worsening (e.g. some families are now forced to live in shelters) and that things seem to be getting worse not better? Even the justice system which is meant to safeguard and protect and make things right is called by many the injustice system. How do I respond?

Do I recognize God in the tortured lives of families whose loved ones have been wrenched from them through horrendous crimes? And how do I reach out? Do I see God behind bars and ever question how I as a Christian can continue to sanction revenge and punishment, both violent responses, as our over-riding response in the face of evil, and not seek more healing, constructive ways?

All have been created in God's image and likeness. ALL, including murderers, thieves, pedophiles and parents who harm, even kill their children, yes, all need to be treated with respect. It is in such a response rooted in love and faith that our hope for healing and a more wholesome tomorrow for us all lies. When one is diminished all are diminished. Your Reign come. No matter what their/our behaviour, all persons are important, of infinite worth, and to be honoured and reverenced as Temples of God. Each one of us is responsible for, and will be held accountable for how we have been true to who we are, Bearers of God. Will I allow my response to be determined by other's behaviour?

Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and, during a time of famine, the weeping figure of Jeremiah, the Prophet, becomes indistinguishable from God. Surely, as a culture we are starving for renewed life in our cities, towns and villages. God cries out: "My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick" (8:18). "For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me" (8:21). God is not distant from the people's anguish in these exclamations. God identifies with us. Our pain is God's pain. God weeps and laments: "O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people" (9:1).

I pray that Jeremiah's weeping and lamentation may help each of us to connect in a deep way with our own unnamed grief, a measure of our love for our broken community, for the terrible losses of victims, for the deep woundedness of the incarcerated... As a member of the human family, I am responsible with you, and accountable to you for the state/condition of the world and our country, cities, towns and villages. God knows that as a culture we have much to grieve as well as much in which to rejoice. May we together be of one heart as we place our common sufferings before our God, not a God who threatens and punishes, but a weeping God who takes up our pain and weeps with us. I believe that our tears will water the seeds of life and peace and restorative justice that await nurturing, and in our grieving and repenting we will be healed and heal. "How I have longed to draw you to myself as a hen covets her brood".

As a culture, we tend to run from pain and grief, our own and others. We anaesthetize ourselves. We feel empty of words and are embarrassed. We are often awkward in the face of pain and turn away missing an opportunity to embody God's compassion through our presence. All of us know loss, yet we often resist being with ourselves and knowing the depth of our own grief and humanness.

The men and women whose lives are most affected by the criminal justice system -the victims, those in prison and their respective families, together embody much pain. Our healing is bound up with theirs. It will cost us to help heal one another, our institutions, our systems so that our children may have a future full of hope. Can we afford not to pay the price? "I know the plans I have in mind for you -it is God who speaks -plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you. Then when you call to me, and come to plead with me, I will listen to you. When you seek me you shall find me, when you seek me with all your heart; I will let you find me" (Jer. 29:11-14).

Michelle Landry, Project Officer, Chaplaincy, Correctional Service of Canada

Opening Prayer

Scriptures: Jeremiah 29 11-14, Psalm 15 and Luke 19:41-42; 13:34

Intercessory Prayers

• We pray in thanksgiving for those men and women who are showing us a new way of doing justice based on accountability, healing, and reconciliation
• We pray for open hearts to receive and bless so that we may let go of our need for revenge and punishment and for strength and courage to choose the path of life in our thoughts, words and actions
• We pray for our First Nations people whose community-based ways of doing justice are a light in the darkness
• We pray for victims that their tears which are as plentiful as the drops of water in the ocean may be as healing rain
• We pray for men and women in prison that they may find new life through forgiveness, reconciliation and healing
• We pray that as Christians we may embody the compassion, mercy and tenderness of God for those who need it most

Ritualizing our Sorrow and Desire for a Change of Heart

Place bowls of salt water, symbolizing our tears, at the front of the assembly where they can be accessed. Give people the option of approaching the bowl and taking water into their hands and wetting their faces, of coming up in twos and washing each others cheeks, or of using a ladle, hands or a large shell to pour out some of the salt water. Jugs and basins could also be made available and water poured out as a symbol of what needs healing: Let my tears be poured out as an offering... Appropriate reflective music could be played in the background.

Closing Prayer

All:
Creator God
move me to feel this flow of life that surges within me
and bonds me to the entire family;

Join my sigh with that of all daughters and sons
so that together our groan may truly be
one great act of giving birth
to that new heaven and new earth
which your life-giving Spirit
moves us to create.

Thanks to Eleanor McNichol, SSJ, for the opening and closing prayers.