Newsletter 3/23/04

When Skagit County Jail Ministry board members invited me to serve as ¼ time chaplain to inmates in the jail 9 ½ years ago I could have never imagined what would spring up from behind the bars. Relationships with Latino immigrants attending my two weekly Spanish Bible studies led to endless ministry opportunities both inside and outside the jail. People's need for advocacy, legal support, clothing and a listening ear led to the opening of the Family Support Center. At the same time we offered a Spanish Bible study and prayer meeting that has grown into our Spanish church Camino de Emaus. We first met many of the people we now worship with in the jail Bible studies, migrant camps or at our Family Support Center. Now something new is being birthed, inspired in part by events in the jail that are bringing Latinos and Anglos together in beautiful ways.

Upon entering the jail's multipurpose room on a Thursday night over a month ago my eye immediately noticed Zack, a strapping, 31 year old, Anglo man who stands 6'7". His shaven head, mustache, mischievous face and heavily tattooed neck and forearms make him intimidating. About ten other Anglo guys sat around him to the right. A dozen Mexican men sat across from them to my left. After shaking hands with everyone I took a seat in the circle to begin the Bible study. This is now my tenth year discussing the Scriptures, praying with inmates, and doing one-on-one counseling in the jail. Still, I am still regularly surprised by exciting new insights, conversions and miraculous events that show that God is at work there in people's lives 24/7.

"Tonight, I don't want to impose my particular choice of a Bible study on you guys," I state in Spanish and English, looking around at each man around the circle. "Everyone is always imposing their agendas on you. I'd like to know if there's any particular question or Biblical story you want to look at." Immediately Zack speaks up.

"These Mexicans all think I'm a racist, and maybe they're right. I do get into my fair share of fights and can be hard to live with. I just want them to know that I respect a lot of things about them and their culture. The way they value family, their willingness to work hard. I guess I'd like to learn how to get along."

The Mexicans were looking a little uncomfortable as I translated Zack's words into Spanish. There had been some tensions with Zack so they seemed wary of his advances. I welcomed the question and then formally began the Bible study with a prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to be present as our guide and to bless each person. Thinking quickly of an appropriate text, I reached for Luke 15, about the judging attitude of the Pharisees towards Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners and his parable in response.

Together we read through the three stories that make up one parable: the story about the finding of lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. The men become noticeably more relaxed and even happy as they see Jesus comparing God or himself to a pastor who leaves the 99 compliant sheep who have their acts together to search for the one lost sheep who's in trouble-until he finds it! They seem moved when we read about the woman who after losing one of her precious coins turns the house upside down. Here, God is revealed not like the masked and heavily-armed drug task force officers who sour apartments searching for illegal drugs-but like a lover looking for something precious that symbolizes them! Their growing amazement turns to joy as we read about the son who after hitting bottom partying, staggers back in humiliation, willing to do time in servitude only to find the father running to embrace him before a confession even leaves his lips. As I wrap up our time together by inviting people to stand for a time of prayer, something surprising happens.

Zack jumps up from his seat and runs towards me, blurting out his conviction that he thinks God wants us to pray that Fabiano's liver be healed. Fabiano, a large, heavily-tattoed, Mexican man with a shaved head-the most likely man in the room to have a racial run-in with Zack looks shocked.

"Is it true that you have a problem with your liver?" I ask. He tells me that he's been experiencing sharp pains for a while and they're getting worse and worse. "Do you mind if we pray for you?" I ask. He politely agrees.

"Don't you have a liver problem too, Zack?" I ask, knowing from a previous encounter that his 17 years of heroin addiction has taken a heavy toll on his liver and kidneys. Zack's hands are swollen to twice their size.

"Yeah, but listen Bob. I'm always thinking about Zack, about me and my problems. I think God wants me to focus on others, like Fabiano here."

He agrees to let me pray for him, too, as we gather in a circle and hold hands. I place a hand on each man's shoulders and we pray: for God's Spirit to come to bring healing to Zack and Fabiano's livers. We pray too for people's legal problems, families and that we'd all experience a greater thirst for God, and that God would fill us with faith, hope and love. God's Spirit is all around us in the room. I feel it pulsing through my hands in our circuit of solidarity. There's a warmth of Presence that lingers as we finish praying and say our good-byes.

Fabiano and Zack don't show up for the next study, but a week or so later Fabiano takes his seat with a now mostly-Mexican group. I ask him how he's feeling and he tells me there's no more pain in his liver. I call Zack later that day, but he says he's still feeling bad. We pray over the phone for healing and a few weeks later he attends our study. "Everything seems to be better," he tells me. "The doctor's tests have even come out giving me a clean bill of health." Zack tells me he's been praying for lots of people and God's been answer prayer after prayer. Our Spanish Bible studies have been increasingly bilingual as more and more Anglo inmates are joining in with the Mexicans. "Where's your church?" many English-speaking inmates have been asking. I can now invite them to our English service.

Since November a group of us gather every Sunday from 4:30-6:00PM to worship in the English branch of our faith community, Road to Emmaus. While our new worshipping community did not spring directly from the jail, our desire is to be an ex-offender-friendly community that also welcomes English-speaking Latinos and anyone else interested in worshipping with us. Many of Tierra Nueva's Anglo staff and our own families gather together to sing, read Scripture, discuss and share Communion with a growing number of volunteers and community members.

We are about elevating the lost as precious, worthy of searching until found. We at Tierra Nueva are searching for the treasures that are hidden, not to arrest them and prosecute them, but to incorporate into a community of faith (sheep, coins) or into a royal family (father's house). We are about gathering people in order to strengthen them and send them out. Skagit County Jail Ministry is now officially one of Tierra Nueva's five ministries. Through The People's Seminary we seek to equip pastoral workers who are searchers of the lost. At Camino de Emaus/Road to Emmaus we celebrate with joy those found and brought back to the community. We invite you to worship with us at our English (4:30-6:00 or Spanish (6:00-7:30) service on Sundays. Our bank accounts are currently dangerously empty though our hearts are full. Please help us in this time through your prayers and financial support so this work can continue to flourish. Send your tax-deductible contributions to Tierra Nueva, P.O. Box 161 Burlington, WA 98233.