Christianity

A Service of Hope and Healing

"Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them." Hebrews 13:3

"I was in prison and you visited me..." Mt. 25:36

Organ Prelude

"Voluntary in A minor! - John James

Words of Welcome

Deep within our Christian heritage and planted in our hearts is Jesus' invitation to us to be with our incarcerated brothers and sisters with whom He identifies Himself. Despite the ugliness of many offenses, we are called to be in relationship with the offender in a way that witnesses to Christ's compassion, mercy and forgiveness. Most of us, however, don't think too much about prisoners, their families, those who work with them, or of our responsibility towards them. Perhaps it is because we ourselves or our loved ones have been hurt and are victims, and we are angry, and unforgiving. Yet, the call remains, and we are invited to receive healing as well as to be channels of healing and restoration: to find a place in our heart for the imprisoned. To look beyond the surface, to know and understand and accept these brothers and sisters as Christ. To be Christ-love for them in a way that frees them, gives them hope, dignity, and support on their life journey; that awakens desire in them to be all they can be and to choose life.

The chaplains and volunteers of the Correctional Service of Canada invite you and all men and women of good will to join them in praying for prisoners, their families, and for those who work with them. Let us accept the challenge to remember those in prison as though we were in prison with them.

Choral Introit #28, vs. 1

Let us with a gladsome mind
praise the Lord, for God is king:
for God's mercies endure,
ever faithful, ever sure.

Call to Worship

Hymn

The Prayer of Approach (In unison)

We come, Oh God, in need of a renewed vision
of Jesus, our brother and our friend,
who dared to share the loneliness and pain
of a fragmented world
where many persons are isolated and alone.
His life beckons us to follow him
into the great adventure of such living.

Forgive our tendency to accept the love
that has flowed so richly into our lives,
without being moved to risk ourselves
in reaching out to those around us.

Show us the creative dynamic to be found
in the sharing of others' pain and sorrow,
that we may be encouraged to risk
a living encounter with those
beyond the circle of our own experience.

Move within us, that we may see
both a world beyond our narrow horizons,
and the love that we possess,
that can bring to the world
wholeness,
and unity,
and peace.

AMEN!

Anthem

The Young People's Story & Prayer

Hymn

The Life and Work of the Church

God's Word for Us
The Old Testament lesson: Isaiah 42:1-8
The Responsive lesson: Psalm 146

Solo

The New Testament: Hebrews 13:1-3, 5-8
John 15:1-7

Hymn

Sermon

"Remember those who are in prison"

Restorative Justice Week: Community, Victims, Prisoners is a time when we choose to take an inward journey in order to discover from a Biblical perspective what we have in common with these persons who are excluded from our society. Incarcerated men and women are one of us; they are part of our social fabric; they are, like us, part of the living Body of Christ, and as such, part of us. Because of this, their woundedness is our woundedness; it is the woundedness of Christ lived out in them and in us. "I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, in prison and you came to visit me". Mt. 25: 35-36.

Let us go inward and take a look at who we are. Perhaps we will discover within ourselves some of the same traits that we so readily see in these imprisoned brothers and sisters. Aren't we all unfree and prisoners in some personal way? Who among us can pretend to be pure, just and without fault before the Christ?

By grace, Jesus took on all our personal/private prisons by Himself becoming a prisoner and accepting the capital punishment of His time, crucifixion. By His death and resurrection, He frees us from all that alienates/divides us to help us discover our unity, our integrity, our authenticity, our fullness of life and being. It is because of Him that we can be fully ourselves.

The only thing that remains is for us to look at ourselves with the eyes of God in order to discover within the beauty of who we are. At the same time, let us be in awe at God's utter amazement at the beauty of each person regardless of whether he or she is the holiest or the most depraved.

How many men and women in prison see nothing but their apparently obvious ugliness? Imagine what would happen if together, in love, we were able to discover the beauty and goodness hidden in each of us? If we were able to accept the love that is offered to us? If we were able to love ourselves and love one another? And if we were able to help those in prison to love themselves? And all of this, with the unconditional love that God has for us. Wouldn't this mean, without a shadow of a doubt, the beginning of healing and transformation for the whole person and perhaps even a milestone towards the abolition of all the different kinds of prisons?

Jean-André Patry
Chaplain at the Bordeaux Prison
Montreal

The Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God asks that we love one another, that we be just in our words and deeds. Let us pray that we might be one in spite of our personal differences:

Loving God, Your Spirit prays in us. Open us to experience the joy of true conversion as we seek to respond to your call in hope. We ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son, Amen.

The Presentation of Tithes and Offerings

Our Father
Who is not in Heaven...

I want to hold by the hand
the large family you have given me
day by day and over the years.
You are God-with-us: thank you.

Thank you for the people in anguish
who have been welcomed with open hearts.
Thank you for prisoners of all kinds
those behind steel bars, as well as
those who suffer deprivation or rejection
who have at one time or another been heard and loved.
Thank you for the sick, the dying,
all the disenfranchised of the earth,
of all ages,
who have been touched by your love
through a word, by a smile
and even by a silence filled with compassion.

And give us today
what we need
to never forget
to continue the journey of love
with you.
Amen.

by A.D., translated from the French

Hymn
Commissioning and Benediction

May the Christ who walks on wounded feet
walk with you to the end of the road.
May the Christ who serves with wounded hands
teach you to serve each other.
May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart
be your love forever.
When you go out, may you see the face of Jesus in everyone you meet...
And may everyone you meet see the face of Jesus in you. Amen

Choral Closing

"Lord, as we rise to leave this house of worship, called to the risk of unprotected living, willing to be at one with all your people, we ask for courage."

Organ Postlude

"Sinfonia in D minor" - Henry Purcell

Risen Christ, when you come in glory, remember not only men and women of goodwill, but those whose will is evil; holding in mind not their cruelties, their atrocities and their violence, but rather the fruits we have borne because of what they have done. Remember the patience of some, the courage of others, and the camaraderie, the greatness of soul, the loyalty, that they have drawn forth from us. And grant, Lord, that the fruits that we have borne may, one day, be their salvation.

Prayer of a Jew exterminated in a concentration camp. It was found by an American soldier on a piece of newspaper.