How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from
me? (Psalm 13:1)
Psalm 13 gives us words to talk to God in life’s
hard times. It is a lament, a way to
express frustration and anger within our relationship with God. If there is a population that has cause for
lament, it is returning citizens—men and women who have felonies on their
record but have completed their prison sentence. My church is involved with a number of ministries
both inside and outside of prisons. One
of them is a group called CONTACT for returning citizens to worship and
fellowship together.
Members of this group have been working on
creating a staged reading based on Psalm 13 and their experiences as
returning citizens. Sunday night, they
debuted it as part of our evening worship service. They told their stories of regret and guilt. They told their stories of meeting Jesus and
the new life they have found in him.
They told their stories of the struggles to find good housing, get good
jobs, reconnect with family, make friends, find a church, and look towards the
unknowns in the rest of their life.
One man told his story to us. He, like the others in his neighborhood,
started to use drugs and alcohol as a young teen. When he was 25, he was partying one night—he
described himself as totally wasted--and stabbed 2 people, one of whom was his
best friend. He spent over 20 years in
prison. While he was there, he heard
about Jesus from another inmate. He
became a follower of Jesus, and God delivered him from drugs and alcohol. God changed his life. Now that he is back on the outside, he is
working a steady job and found a church home.
But he is about 50 years old.
Most people his age are set with family and friendships, so it is hard
to make friends. Since he was
incarcerated for most of his working years, he wonders what retirement will be
like.
They concluded with the story of the Lost Son
from Luke 15, the story of the Father’s unconditional love and how they have
received this love from God. Like a
Biblical lament, they started with the struggles and questions and ended with
trust in God’s grace.
“But I trust in
your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s
praise, for he has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:5-6)
Photo by Giara, http://www.flickr.com/photos/giara/6351299142/, November 13, 2012.
Used by Creative Commons License.
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