Sweet Hour of Prayer
We had a good group turn out tonight. Everyone introduced themselves, an inmate offered prayer and we sang several gospel songs. We read Psalm 136, where every other line is the same. Everyone said that line every time it came up. It's nice to do this sometimes. When we were done reading the Psalm together, I asked the group what they got out of the Psalm. Several guys laughed and said "His love endures forever. " which is the point of the exercise.
We talked about Prayer quite a bit. I noted that since I'd be so ill lately that my prayer life was better than it had been in a long time. Some days spending an hour in prayer. I asked if any of the guys that said they'd try to pray for an hour a day this past week had reached their goals. None had.
It's interesting to think that prison is actually a place where a lot of prayer can happen, simply because of the lack of time constraints on an inmate. If an inmate is assigned to a work detail, they may not have much free time. But some guys don't work, for various reasons, some having to do with scheduling, some health, some security. And they may have a lot of time to pray if they can discipline themselves to actually do it. I have the same trouble, thinking that I need to get such and such activities done before I can indulge in prayer. Lately, I've been rethinking this stand, and coming to see that prayer should precede other activities.
I encouraged the inmates to reconsider attempting an hour of prayer per day. I encouraged them to imagine meeting God somewhere, on a beach, in a room, across a table. And simply spending time in His presence.
I shared with the guys how sometimes when I sat on the floor and prayed, my dog came and laid down right beside me and put her head on my knee. As if she was saying, "I don't know what my lady is doing, but there is no place in the house that I would rather be."
We read Matthew 22 - the story of the King's wedding banquet for his Son, where the high society folks ignored the King's invitations and the street people got to attend the party, having cloaks given to them to make them presentable.
We discussed the story at length, who do the characters represent? Who do you seem to relate to most? Have you ever gotten an invitation and said you would go then did not? Why? How did you feel? How did you apologize? Did it leave scars in the relationship?
We talked about how God invites us to meet him in prayer and how we find other things we seem to "have" to do instead.
I do believe prayer changes things. It certainly changes me. Can you imagine the effect of 14 inmates praying an hour a day while in jail? Let it become a reality. Let us continue to encourage them to take time, while incarcerated, to reach out to God. Amen.
We talked about Prayer quite a bit. I noted that since I'd be so ill lately that my prayer life was better than it had been in a long time. Some days spending an hour in prayer. I asked if any of the guys that said they'd try to pray for an hour a day this past week had reached their goals. None had.
It's interesting to think that prison is actually a place where a lot of prayer can happen, simply because of the lack of time constraints on an inmate. If an inmate is assigned to a work detail, they may not have much free time. But some guys don't work, for various reasons, some having to do with scheduling, some health, some security. And they may have a lot of time to pray if they can discipline themselves to actually do it. I have the same trouble, thinking that I need to get such and such activities done before I can indulge in prayer. Lately, I've been rethinking this stand, and coming to see that prayer should precede other activities.
I encouraged the inmates to reconsider attempting an hour of prayer per day. I encouraged them to imagine meeting God somewhere, on a beach, in a room, across a table. And simply spending time in His presence.
I shared with the guys how sometimes when I sat on the floor and prayed, my dog came and laid down right beside me and put her head on my knee. As if she was saying, "I don't know what my lady is doing, but there is no place in the house that I would rather be."
We read Matthew 22 - the story of the King's wedding banquet for his Son, where the high society folks ignored the King's invitations and the street people got to attend the party, having cloaks given to them to make them presentable.
We discussed the story at length, who do the characters represent? Who do you seem to relate to most? Have you ever gotten an invitation and said you would go then did not? Why? How did you feel? How did you apologize? Did it leave scars in the relationship?
We talked about how God invites us to meet him in prayer and how we find other things we seem to "have" to do instead.
I do believe prayer changes things. It certainly changes me. Can you imagine the effect of 14 inmates praying an hour a day while in jail? Let it become a reality. Let us continue to encourage them to take time, while incarcerated, to reach out to God. Amen.
posted by Kathy Kolb | 4:58 PM
3 Comments:
Kathy,
Do you give them a personal prayer service outline, sample prayers, or maybe even assign psalms, etc, or just tell them to pray directly, without helps?
I don't know if the above would be helpful or not. I'm just wondering.
Good question. I did leave a half page lesson guide last week. I'd like to do it more often, but usually don't. It has the scripture reference and some Yokefellow info (a list of the Disciplines, a list of Yokefellow groups in the area including Aftercare for when they get out of jail).
I expect to address prayer again in this week's lesson, and will ask the inmates to pray during the community prayer service scheduled for Sunday evening at 6pm. Even though the inmates will not be physically at the service, they can join the community effort in prayer.
In this week's handout I have Luther's morning and evening prayer and some encouraging quotes about prayer:
"And satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees" - Wm Cowper.
It's worth noting that prisons often have really limiting rules (for good reasons) as to what we can take in and leave with the inmates. People are frequently moved from cell to cell, and they can't have a lot of personal stuff that needs moved. The hope with a half sheet is that it would see some use on the block during the week.
Last week we were missing a regular attendee (inmate). I hoped that someone would be able to use the lesson guide and cover the topic with him.
Your blogs are interesting to me, as I am in a slightly different situation. I have been through Prison Fellowship Ministries training, but have not yet had an opportunity to go into a prison on one of their seminars. I currently work with one prisoner, one on one mentoring and discipling each Monday night for 3 hours, but I'm working to get my status changed so I can see other prisoners also. I get a choice at that time - either continue working with people one on one, where I can see any prisoner at any prison within the state (state prisons only), but only one at a time, or I can work in group settings, either Bible study like you're doing or preaching. I feel more called continue with one on one, and will also keep working with them once they are released.
I also have an opportunity to go in sometimes with some other people to a county jail, where I would be helping them in a role more like yours, with group Bible studies, and splitting into smaller groups if necessary.
I understand exactly what you're saying about people being less inclined to participate or speak up in bigger groups, I tend to be that way also, and Greg Ogden in his books Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life in Christ and Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time has comments about optimal small group sizes to stimulate discussion and participation rather than having either some domination and some non participation, or everyone just looking to the leader.
I try to find that balance, though with one on one, I think it's naturally more likely to lean towards a teacher (me) student (prisoner) relationship, though I try to turn it into more of a let's learn together setting. A friend who is working through seminary part time told me what I'm aiming for is basically discovery teaching as opposed to expository teaching.
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