I’m a Kansas City girl and definitely a fan of Patrick Mahone, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and a team full of talented young players who play like they are on a sand lot with no one watching. So I am hesitant to make this confession:  I am sated, over-full, even a bit queasy at the pre-Super Bowl LVII hype from silly to obnoxious: ubiquitous, unrelenting, and crushingly boring.

But in the case of Super Bowl coverage I awoke this morning with a heavy sense of the stories not told:

• The number of trafficked girls and boys who are bussed into every Super Bowl to meet the demand for fresh meat, thieves, drug dealers and con artists.
• The number of tourists who will learn yet again that what happens on the road does not stay on the road and “I didn’t mean for this to happen” does not mitigate the carnage.
• The number of families who will struggle to meet next month’s rent and utilities payments because a family member has bet far more than she or he could safely risk.
• The number of young would-be NFL stars who must rethink their lives because of injuries, poor seasons or addiction, with the added challenges of being publicly excoriated by sports broadcaster, columnist, blogger and “fan” chatter.

I’d love a win, but for me, my greatest prayers are for no ambulances on the field, no career ending injuries, no players or staff arrested in the aftermath of the game…and a 2023 with no headlines reminding us of the price young athletes never imagined paying for a chance at “having it all” only to end up with a hand full of magic beans.

It has been a while since I had a traffic ticket. Not that I don't still make mistakes when driiving, but no tickets. And three years after the last one, it was expunged from my record. It happened automatically (although the insurance company needed a nudge to adjust my premium).  Over the past five plus decades I have been driving, this has happened more than once.  I don't know who started this system, but I appreciate it a bunch. And I appreciated that job applications asked if I had ever been arrest for "other than minor driving offenses." But I did not think what the question meant for someone whose error was of the non-driving type. More than uncomfortable, more than embarassing, too often life limiting.

I realised that for people whose mistake was not of the driving variety, whether they got a citation for their dog getting off-lease or they did not cut their grass often enough to suit the HOA or maybe even bigger errors and omissions that are still being reported by the ubiquitous World Wide Web, it creates barriers.  No matter how repenant, how successful in not again becoming engaged in a legal mistake, how completely they qualify to have those mistakes legally forgiven, their access to jobs, decent housing and full citizenship is warped.  

And the really frustrating thing is that many (more than a half a million/500,000+) have the right to have those errors erased from their "permanent record" just like my traffic errors have been.  But it is NOT automatic! It has to be applied for and the process is so cumbersome and difficult that many lawyers do not accept this kind of work although the initial retainer I have heard quoted is in the range of $5,000 up front. There are filing fees which are not so big, but a private individual (assuming that their education was not interupted by learning disabilities, medical issues or family challenges) SO OFTEN finds the barriers so much more than they can manage; LESS THAN 1% of those who are believed to be qualified are seeking expungement annually. So these "less than full citizens" (who are nonetheless expected to pay all the taxes levied on their less than competative salaries) continue to earn less, struggle to find safe housing and are restricted in where and how they can volunteer. And their families suffer with them.

But this year, amid the hundreds of bills submitted in the Missouri House and Senate (many of them less than important in the larger picture and most of which will never see the inside of a committee, much less a hearing room) are two bills that appear to have the traction needed to get this remediated.  One bill in the House  HB 352, and one in the Senate SB 347 in support of MO Clean Slale need to be nudged along by the Representtives and Senators that WE, you and I, nudge along! This is has been affected by the passage of Amendment 3 legalizing recreational marijuana use, including production for personal use and possession in modest amounts by individuals over 21 because the language in that bill has required expedited expungement (including for actively incarcerated invidiuals whose charges stem from covered changes). There are a LOT of attorneys who are following this, helping clients sufficiently affluent to pay their fees or because of their personal ethics, who are helping these folks, WHO STILL MUST PETITION THE COURTS TO ENFORCE THE NEW LAW individually. That is estimated to be an additional 18,000 who are "free to seek expungment" through courts, with filings and fees, with the need to transverse challenging legal requirements while earning less, living in less safe housing and trying to make no more mistakes worthy of the attention of the legal system.

Will you lend your voice to this effort? It means the restoration of dignity and rights to people who have already earned the right to have this done. For people who do expunge their records, experience tells us that withn a year their earnings increase on average by 10 to 25%. Can you imagine how that would be welcomed by their families?

Call, email, message or text me if you need a little coaching in how to bring this matter to the attention of your Represenative and Senate. And you can learn more at https://www.mocleanslate.org/

April is 2nd Chance month.  Each year we set aside time to acknowledge the need and work toward more 2nd chances for people returning the free world. This is so important for the stunningly higher number of people who have been incarcerated (highest number per capita in the WORLD and 5 times higher than Canada). But it is even more important for the people who count on them: their neighbors, their parents, their children who desperately need them to be productive. Please consider asking businesses you want to hire: Do you practice 2nd Chance hiring? Too many employers use the excuse "Our customers would not like it," so fail to make wise and discerning opportunities for people who are longing to return to their families and communities as contributors, earners, workers. (Boy are these men and women good workers!) Please pray (according to Hebrews 13:3) that we might "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also."

Are you looking for a place to connect with kind people who understand the challenges of having family members whose choices have broken our trust?  ...the financial and emotional distress endured by those who have an incarcerated loved one? ...the challenges of welcoming home someone who has returned to the free world?  We have a Monday night Zoom meeting that honors privacy, listens without judgement and loves unconditionally. Use the contact button above and I will send you a link.  NOTE:  We practice listening and loving, but are not perfect, so if you have a "you should" experience, you are asked to call us on it.

Kairos Outside is an organization that supports women affected by the incarceration of a loved one or who has been incarcerated themselves. We invite guests to attend a weekend where they will find people who understand the issues and offer support and love.  The next weekend is October 7-9th at a Kansas City location.  (No charge to guests, but volunteer team members contribute to cover their own costs or raise that amount of support.) If you would like more information, use the contact button above.  (If you are too far from Kansas City, you can check out this link to find a program closer to you:  https://www.mykairos.org/directory5.html.  If you have trouble connecting, feel free to use the "contact button" above ... we are an organization that is 30,000 volunteers working with a paid staff of less than a dozen so be persistent, please. We are excited to welcome you to our community.

Are you someone who has a heart for justice and 2nd Chances looking for a place to lend a hand?  Use the contact button above and I'll be happy to see if I can help.  Jann (Editor)  

Pray for all who are wounded by crime ... folks, that is all of use!  AMEN

Reading from today's Lenten devotion:  

“If we really hate someone, the best way to oppress them is through legal avenues.  Because then we don’t have to admit hating anyone. We can hide behind systems. We can say, “Well, I wish it was different, but this is just the way things are.” From Nobody Left Out: Jesus & the Way of Sorrows: A Messy, Broken Journey Through the Stations of the Cross by Michael Murray
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It really does not matter if I think rightly, feel outrage at others less enlightened, loudly proclaim that something must be done, if I do not ACT in support of changed.  Sending a check is good, especially if you confirm that you are sending it somewhere where it will actually do more than pay salaries of people who want to do "good." Even better: show up in person and volunteer in support of change and compassion and meeting people face-to-face to travel along side during troubled days. Because no matter how much "better" our thinking is, only in connection, community and relationship can meaningful change occur and last.

Let us pray for one another: Lord, give us a hunger for finding ways to connect with hurting people, to listen and love, to advocate actively, to accept our own discomfort in support of others who face challenges we are grateful we don't experience -- even in our dreams.  AMEN

This week I received a request from Prison Fellowship, with whom I have served for several years, most recently as a Justice Ambassador. They asked that I answer the question "Why do you care about justice that restores?" Since I have been volunteering in various parts of the justice system for a number of years, I have found the reasons multiplying as I learn more about how very far we have veered from the hope of our Founding Fathers. 

But I believe two things: (1) as a nation and community we can and must do MUCH better than we have, for failing to do better will lead to the collapse of our civilization. (2) Even though we can never act or discern with perfect justice, we must EVER seek to do so.

My view of the justice system is very diverse.  I am the widow and wife of retired law enforcement professionals and the mother of a son and step-son who have been incarcerated. I find the current situation dangerous for everyone because when the majority of citizens lose faith in their government’s fairness and lose hope of successfully living with the rules, then chaos inevitably results. In the end, we must submit to the rule of law for civilization to exist, which only happens when we believe we can trust the rule of law.

Secondly, as a Christian I read in many passages of Scripture God’s clear and insistent directives to act justly with mercy while walking in humility. As a church and as a culture we are failing at this for all citizens. Because none of us is safe unless all of us are safe, we must work towards this for all our days on earth.

Let me be clear. Justice is a difficult goal -- challenging to the point of being impossible to achieve perfectly.  People are just too broken and healing too hard to expect folks to either weigh consequences or restrain selfish impulses on a persistent basis. And these problems affect ALL along the spectrum: from those who experience the pain of crime, to law enforcement, to medical personnel and social workers, to school personnel, to prosecutors, lawyers, judges and juries, to probation & parole and Department of Corrections staff who we expect to stand between us and those whose brokenness pose a danger to us, and including those convicted of crimes especially as they return to our communities and families AND includes the families, neighbors, coworkers and friends of all these folks. Folks, that is all of us! 

The more I work across the various silos affected by and affecting crime and the legal system, the more I see each crime and failure as a pebble (or boulder) plunging into our lives with ever widening ripples of damage that threatens to swamp all our boats. Join the fight today. Prison Fellowship has many portals to grow in understanding and connect with ways to work effectively for justice that restores.

Please chic here for information on a ZOOM group forming this week to encourage each other to engage in practical and effective ways to ACT justly in many ways:

www.woodschapelchurch.org/events/how-can-i-help

You can also connect using the "Contact" tab above.  Please share with the justice advocate at your church.  If they don't have one, join us and learn how to be that person for your church family.

Early 2020 I read of an early inmate death from COVID in federal prisons, a young women a few months into a 2-year sentence on drug charges who died while giving birth on a ventilator. If her family is like most I have come to love so dearly, they probably hoped that their daughter being held accountable for her poor choices would lead to turning her life around so she could be the mother she longed to be for her child. Instead, if they were lucky, they were allowed to bury her.

This has haunted me during these challenging months of COVID news wondering, listening, looking for information.
How is this playing out in places where despair is common, fear a part of day-to-day life for both the detainee and those we charge with doing the detaining, where poor nutrition, poor sanitation, poorer medical and mental health interventions, chronic overcrowding and understaffing create a smudge pot of despair, making it difficult to combat systemic corruption and making depression a kind of rational response to it all? This is infinitely worse in the days of COVID where positive tests among staff add to staffing problems, where COVID among the detained folks is not met with humane care, but is rather left to the best efforts of other ill and infection-exposed detainees with little PPE or even soap.

News is increasingly limited in the press. With volunteers almost completely banned from detention facilities, many programs closed or curtailed, and families prohibited from visiting, there are simply not enough hands or feet or eyes to respond in humane and ethical ways. But, despite pleas from courts, stakeholders, oversight groups and decent people across the country, efforts to identify people with records of responsible behavior during their incarceration and charged with non-violent offences who are a low risk to the public (because of age, health and a willing family to help them plus the availability of monitoring devices where frightened people demand it) lack of action results in continued overwhelming of resources in jails and prisons. Long lists of unprocessed requests for pardons and paroles, unprocessed notifications that a detained person may qualify for a change in status due to changes in the law, courts not meeting in person all leave the problems simmering.

Despair breeds desperate acts but incidents of unrest spilling into violence in prisons is not being widely reported. And the families of the detained live in terror of their loved one having an unofficial death sentence because of poor management in detention facilities.

The great irony is that, while we encourage our loved ones to be “model prisoners” and to do their best to keep a low profile (so they don’t draw the attention of the violently mentally ill folks who are a significant part of prison and jail populations), we become increasingly aware of how often laws, regulations and policies are not followed and basic decency is not a part of their treatment.

Here is a point where this is clear.  If EVERY detained person who reports a rape or sexual assault while detained were treated as the victim of crime that they are, I believe the culture in prisons and jails would change rapidly.  You see, the “he said/she said argument” does not apply because even if a detained person is “seduced” rather than beaten into submission it IS STILL RAPE because they CAN NOT CONSENT! If rape kits were routinely taken and the crimes investigated and prosecuted this would stop pretty darn quick because of DNA.  Now if you want to tell me that the “bad people” made the “good people” behave badly I am going to tell you bluntly.  There is plenty of temptation for EVERYONE who has to spend all or part of their day in that environment, but the systemic lack of enforcement of rules related to sexual behavior leads consistently to the use of sexual assault and sexual misconduct as a tool for bullies where there is no equity of power.  Women who WORK in detention facilities are at special risk of sexual assault and harassment FROM CO-WORKERS, because the culture discounts both women in general and sexual assault of both men and women.  

A Chaplain I am honored to call friend was horrified when transferred from a men’s to a women’s prison. The percentage of women who had been sexually assaulted, often as children by resident family members IS horrifying and these women, themselves victims of violent crime, are further legally assaulted because of the assumptions made by the legal system.

I was interested to read that early in 2020 the Sheriff of St. Petersburg, Florida was given a 3/4-million dollar grant to develop an app that makes reporting suspected human-trafficking easier.* I was impressed until I read that the same office had done a “sting” where they “found” two persons deemed “trafficked” because a social worker made that determination and the others who showed up were thrown in jail on prior warrants, soliciting charges (if you order sex on the web how is that NOT entrapment?) If you think it is surprising that women, girls and boys who have been sold for sex have trust issues with a strange social worker in the middle of a sting where people are being tossed in the clink, I can only pray you will read more, learn more and pray for these precious children of God.

I want to be clear, folks: if two willing people have sex, that is their business. But the minute money is involved it is no longer a private matter because money constitutes the purchasing of a human.  No matter how poor, depressed, drug-dependent, mentally ill, physically ill, intimidated by their “boss” or anything else that contributes to the vulnerability of the person being bought, THIS IS ALWAYS WRONG.
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*This is a good thing with the Super Bowl being played there this weekend because human trafficking is a long-standing super bowl issue. If you happen to be in the Tampa area, you can download the app at Goggle Play, search for “Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force”.

Details of date and time are still being worked out, but next month I will co-host a Zoom Meeting for people looking for a place to make a difference.  We will start with an overview of the issues that can make a difference in a legal system needing significant reform on every level. We will discuss things we all need to remember when wishing to "help" because sometimes the best intentions are stymied only because folks need a little more information to consider.

We are offering this because (1) when we believe we can be a part of the solution solely by not laughing at racist jokes or by being disdainful of racist comments, we are fooling ourselves, and because (2) it is not so easy to step into the world in ways that might truly move us all forward. Unless we run a mortgage loan business or have rental property that we have hesitated to offer to a family with a father returning to the free world or handle harassment complaints at our company, it may be a bit overwhelming to figure out how we might make a practical, respectful difference.

I am grateful for every person who prays for justice and for every family that goes without a treat in order to send a check to support organizations that are working for a more just world.  But there is great danger in relying on a check as long as we are able to do more.  There is even more danger if we think that refraining from “doing harm” is enough when there are huge numbers of wounded people all too many of which believe that because they are invisible to the church and professing Christians that they are hopeless!

People who are involved in the WORK of an organization are better able to identify ways to improve respectful, effective programing. Every prison and jail and juvenile detention facility is safer for detainees AND employees when volunteers are on site. Every program for at-risk individuals is more effective (and less susceptible to abuse) because of the relationships -- people-to-people, face-to-face relationships -- that allow people to walk together during difficult circumstance. I have been blessed by contact with a large number of people who are working to stop human trafficking, care for wounded women, children and men affected by the brokenness of the world and of our legal system, and teachers and volunteers modeling healthy relationships to at-risk kids at school and play. The best of them have plans to do more and yearn for volunteers with a wide range of specific skills. Others are less structured. But they all need people whose hearts have been broken by the needs of a world filled with people who have less, worse, people who have lost hope or never known any. These amazingly resilient folks work hard to build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities, so often with challenges most of us would find debilitating and all too often without the support of a healthy, caring community to listen to and love them.

So if you have been thinking that there might be something worthwhile you can do, use the "contact" link above. I will send you information on the class or even arrange to get the materials to you to start with self-study. I can suggest areas where your prayers would be a blessing, especially if you send a note of encouragement too. (If you have never Zoomed, we can help with that too.) If your church is struggling with this and you want to see what we are trying to do (we are a work in progress), you are welcome too. All are welcome.  

NOTE:  If you are dealing with a loved one and/or family member whose criminal behavior or legal issues are adding to your stress, feel free to contact us to arrange a private discussion. If there is enough interest we may be able to add a Zoom support group.

Here is the problem. Everyone thinks their candidate (insert any name here) will FIX THE PROBLEMS. The biggest problems are in those of us who elect them and then stand down expecting magic fingers in Washington or the state capital or county and city officials to FIX THE PROBLEMS while we go back to our "normal lives" which is what got us in this mess to begin with.

I have thought a lot about this as 2019's #metoo morphed to 2020's #BLM and on to an election year where justice issues were a no show. I have not frankly read any political party's "platform" since I got old enough to see no correlation between platforms and action, but other than a reported statement that the Democratic platform called for the restoration of all prisons to government management (away from corporate run prisons about which I have great ambivalence since I have personally have seen a well-run "corporate prison" in FL and plenty of scary things in Missouri where prison management has always been in-house) but I heard no real plan to make that happen and certainly very little common sense commitment to changes in how our country responses to the causes of wrongful arrest and conviction, excessive sentences, "plea bargaining" blackmail, societal encouragement of recidivism, victimization of crime victims AND

• prosecutorial misconduct,
• judicial misconduct,
• officers of the court misconduct,
• barriers to empowerment of the citizens in the most wounded communities,
• needed educational reforms in support of fewer children quitting that so important job of staying engaged in school long enough to be able to care for themselves and their families,
• better and earlier interdiction in the domestic violence and sexual assault epidemics that drive overwhelmed and under resourced foster care and all the other factors that make too many children highly vulnerable to being trafficked

just to name a FEW.

And guess what! No law, no law maker, no law enforcement professional, no prison employee, no social worker, no educational or medical professional can drive the changes needed. BUT maybe, just maybe, if we are LARGELY willing to walk with people we don't understand, give others a hand UP without using our limited understanding to "deem them worthy of help," and embrace the possibility that we don't really understand much about those we fear; then, maybe we can give mercy and offer grace by being PRESENT with people who, like us all, are struggling, sometimes lonely, sometimes fearful of being ENOUGH, sometimes wondering if anyone cares about us much less loves us ... then MAYBE we can start to make more effective use of tax dollars and private agency dollars rather than by trying to "help" with a check to a faceless need without a check in with the person we propose to help.

MAYBE we can stop thinking about THEM versus US and start remembering that WE are both the problem and, with God's help, the solution.

Today I have been researching a name to declare the purpose of a new group forming to explore how we ACT justly. (If this is of interest to you, check the note at the bottom of this post.) And in the course of the pondering I was drawn to Isaiah 1:17.

The prophet Isaiah has this to say about how we live in accord with God:  “learn to do good! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend orphans, plead for the widow.” How tenderly this speaks to my heart, wounded with the very affluent and yes, privileged, posture of media outlets and celebrities and government and most churches as we stare at the crushing challenges faced by the most vulnerable in our culture. 

Early in this “time of COVID” we heard about nursing homes where the elderly were prohibited from receiving comfort from their loved ones “for the greater good.” Updates are sparse.

We heard about native peoples whose reservations lacked the most basic medical care and the story has not been updated widely in a long time.

Vulnerable populations who staff meat packing plants were early affected by illness and deaths, but now they are having to make the case to be considered to receive early access to inoculations.

Federal, state and local detention, corrections and prison officials have been far from transparent, but it is clear that for too many those detained and those who work there are deemed throw-away people, including the estimated 500,000 who are charged and detained without having been adjudicated guilty of anything as the courts are largely closed.

Children who start out without the privileges of two-parent supervision, adequate income, adequate housing, adequate educations, supportive extended families and communities, safe neighborhoods, or reasonable health care (including mental health services) are not doing better in the current educational chaos. 

Murders and assaults (including domestic) are up as courts are curtailed.

Emergency and medical service staffs are fatigued.

Public safety folks, pastors and mental health providers are fatigued.

Teachers, parents and children are fatigued.

Foster families are fatigued. 

Yet it seems even the news services are careful to tell us more about the stresses in two-career families and less about the acute challenges facing increasing numbers of the new poor and the crushing challenges facing those who were already called the "working poor" or eking out barely subsistence food and shelter where news is cloaked in less uncomfortable terms so we hear “more need help than ever before” and “your contributions are needed” while stories tell us how volunteers are kept safe from the deeply lonely, afraid and isolated folks who are hungry (oh, food insecure), at risk in houses without heat or maybe even beds or coats for the children. Elderly people are isolated, hungry, vulnerable without family or neighbors checking on them with interaction and help as we head into the harsh weather of winter.

My prayer for churches as 2021 approaches is that we will return to “church” with a greater commitment to acting…

acting in love,

acting in support of justice, as Isaiah calls us to --

DOING good,

SEEKING justice,

RELIEVING the oppressed,

DEFENDING orphans and

PLEADING (interceding) for the widows.

My sisters and brothers, these are all action verbs rather than states of being. And if our churches are modeling their work on Jesus’ life and ministry, they must be ACTING more…and ACTING not for each other within the church or those with whom we are comfortable or (God forbid) those we find “worthy of being helped”. And to make matters even more dangerous, we are so often more comfortable letting an academic or politician tell us what will help rather than traveling with those who suffer so they might let us know what they need. In the best RELATIONSHIPS we can work together to develop ideas and ways of helping, always with respect for the PERSON we believe needs help and with healthy boundaries to protect ALL.

And we can’t do that from echurch or even from a pew…it takes interpersonal interaction all day long. If the church can’t help us learn effective ways to do that, it is no wonder more people are looking to secular voices to give hope and finding only despair.
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NOTE:  If you are interested in exploring new ways to ACT and learn about areas where help is urgently needed, please use the connect tab on this blog site or message through Families Sharing Hope’s Facebook page or email familiessharinghope@gmail.com.  The Zoom group(s) we are forming will begin by working through the OUTRAGEOUS JUSTICE book, videos and workbook from Prison Fellowship and there is no cost.

Let me just say this out loud. Whatever happens at the polls on Nov. 3rd, problems will not be solved. Matters not the outcome, because we ask too much of any president if expect any single individual or administration to fix the deep, troubling needs in our country. We may vote or abstain from voting in protest or even feel there is no point in voting ever.  After the results are posted we may say "Yeah" or opine "Heck no" only to sit back waiting 4 years to see miraculous changes or problems like Armageddon.

HOWEVER you vote (and I do believe informed people should vote) or don’t vote and HOWEVER you feel about the outcome, PLEASE make a commitment today to ACT in new ways to support the life you want for yourself, for your children and your grandchildren, for the most vulnerable in our communities.

The justice system is horribly broken and has not been mentioned by any candidate beyond a few painfully familiar "I'm in favor of law and order" platitudes. There is more than enough work for people with kind hearts and strong stomachs to give a hand up to people already wounded horribly.

Workers in the legal system from law enforcement to legal aid to correction officers are distressed, fearful and struggling to find hope. This pandemic is leaving our most vulnerable children further behind academically because parents who fell through cracks in school themselves have special challenges in helping their children with distance learning, and web access is far from universal. Small businesses are struggling to keep meeting payroll and providing services. Front line workers are exhausted. Rising suicides give a window on mental health needs. Domestic dysfunction and violence are underreported in rising crime statistics all planting seeds for on-going challenges....just to name a few.

None of this gets better because someone protests or thinks "That is so sad."

It gets better when we are each willing to walk beside the wounded, hold our churches and elected/public officials accountable, become better informed, serve in the trenches. How wonderful if after this election every social service organization complained they had too many volunteers, too many contributions of time, resources, and talents. How amazing if we learned to let go of at least a little of the fear that keeps us from lending a hand, an ear, a prayer, a dollar for someone who has a bit less than us, or maybe a lot less than us. Every day we need people with lots of experience and perspective and ideas as well as hands and feet and ears for service if we are going to make a difference.

And please understand, no president can make these urgent changes and often the more government tries to fix things the more dangerous life becomes (i.e. “Keep us safe legislation” from the 1980s whose egregious consequences become wounding every day). Our only hope is in our own hands. I would say, our only hope is in the authority given us by God to love justice, to act in ways consistent with the teachings of Christ. But no matter one's spiritual perspective, I assure you that more than 200 years of U S History have left very clear evidence that waiting for government to fix anything is a hollow hope.

But, if we can get concerned citizens seriously ACTING in big numbers, then maybe the government can be a lever for all of us to make things better. But WE have to pay attention, stay involved day-to-day, take time to listen to older people who have more wisdom than we might want to admit and who may have better quality of life if they are respected and welcomed to the table. WE need ideas from everyone including all political philosophies, economic backgrounds, employment backgrounds, cultural perspectives, health experiences, travel experiences, local experiences, family sizes and structures, et al. And all that works best if we seek to understand before we seek to be understood if I may paraphrase Steven Covey.

I deeply value a quote from JUST MERCY's Bryan Stevenson's TED Talk where he tells of the encouragement he got from a janitor at a courthouse where he was involved in a legal dispute.  The janitor longed to give Mr. Stevenson encouragement in a hostile environment and he spoke these words:  "Keep your eyes on the prize. Don't give up." Years later his encouragement speaks to all of us who long for a more just world, more opportunity for the poor, more kindness for our children, more hope for all our grandchildren.

We desperately need all hands on deck with all possible haste. We need lots of eyes, hands, feet and brains engaged in building a better world rather than distracted by the latest pumpkin flavor or building a buck list of self-focused dreams.

What will you be doing starting Wednesday to make a better world?

So, we think it was about three millennia ago (about 300 decades or 150 generations) that that book of the Bible called Proverbs was begun to be compiled.  A  lot of folks have been given valuable food for thought from these writings over a very long time. So we continue to deal with problems of brokenness and while there are plenty of good ideas for avoiding brokenness in Proverbs, we humans have a pretty poor track record of applying wisdom. So it is a good thing I think that we have the opportunity to review the abiding wisdom of Proverbs.

Proverbs 21:15:  Acting justly is a joy to the righteous, but dreaded by those who do evil.  (CEB)

I suppose most of us would prefer a system where those who do evil would immediately get a "go to jail, do not collect $200" kind of experience. But life is so much more complex than that. Any contact with the legal system provides instant enlightenment on the inequities between people with resources (money, jobs, education, families willing and able to help) and those with less or without. In short, we have hard data to show that being poor makes it harder to have positive outcomes when accused of criminal behavior. In my home county it was determined that people who were charged with DUI spent more days in jail than people charged with DUI manslaughter. There are many issues bleeding into those numbers, but based on study into research one of the most likely causes is that DUI manslaughter is scarier so families are more likely to pay for a lawyer faster, no matter the cost. Lack of access to justice is at least as problematic for victims of crime who have no personal representation in criminal courts. (The "victim" has morphed into the amorphous "we" of society being wronged, further distancing victims of crime from individual restoration of financial losses, or apologies, or more individual compensation--say, having the offending teen help do yard work for the person whose house was vandalized or having fines paid contribute to restore financial loss). 

This is an even more complex problem in these times of growing domestic abuse, sexual abuse (growing in step with increasing access to pornography's exploitation of minors and normalization of violence), elder abuse (as grown children so often live at a distance to parents which makes it difficult to evaluate changes in health and acuity), financial abuse (as financial, tax and investment options grow more complex and interconnected, and scammers proliferate targeting those with financial need awash in poor financial literacy). The more complex life and information grow the more room for evil, greed and fear to flourish.

So I especially appreciate my experience in acting justify. Proverbs says to act justly is to have joy. I try to avoid wicked behavior but this is more than not behaving badly; this is acting proactively in support of justice.  And that first part, that to act justly is to have joy, that is so, well JOYOUS!  It is not always comfortable or easy or popular, but oh the joy.

If you are considering how you might ACT justly, have I got people for you to talk to! As we ponder during this time of COVID and as we revisit what we want to be societal norms, how we wish to go forward, what we wish to commit and risk for the remaining days of our lives, I promise you that an investment in justice is indeed a thing of joy (also frustrating, heart breaking and all but overwhelming, of course) and wholly worth whatever time, money, energy, prayer, advising, and encouraging you wish to invest. 

No matter your situation or resources, there is plenty of opportunity be proactive, to ACT justly. ​Message me and let's talk.

Abba, Father, Pappa, I have sinned against your child.

I have been unwilling to look with a compassionate heart at the pain of my brothers and sisters. I have convinced myself that it is "not my business" when someone is harassed, abused, mistreated, or demeaned in my home, church, community, job, school, et al. I have balanced my own sense of safety with the wounding of others just like the pharisees, the crowd and Pilot crucifying Your Son.

Lord have mercy.

I have been unaware of the marginalizing behaviors around me and so have been guilty of them myself.

I have assumed that all people have the same resources I have to make changes in their lives--the same backing of family, access to education, supportive friends of faith and conscience, the earning capacity, the health, the knowledge, that all too uncommon "sense" to anticipate consequences and the ability to control impulses, the expectation of fairness in job, legal system, community, school.

Lord, give me eyes to see and ears to hear. 

Lord, I try to see you in each face, but my own brokenness too often leaves me offering "remedies" from my own limited experience that frequently cause more pain because they are rightly perceived as arrogant and lacking understanding.

Lord, break my heart that I might humbly offer to travel along side, and listen, listen, listen to the suffering (only making suggestions from my experience, hope and faith and only as God calls) that together we might  be effective vessels pouring God's healing over families and communities.

Stir churches to compassionate and wise action. Let church members and leaders be tender to those in their pews that are suffering but do not feel safe even asking for prayers. Pour out healing and courage to those whose experiences can inform ministry. Let those with wisdom be filled with Your Spirit that their faith, hope and experience might inform how churches respond to the need for legal reforms and new ways to live justly.

Inspire all employers (private, public, governmental or social service) to fearlessly offer education and mentoring to any persons who want to be all you created them to be without fear for what "I" might "lose".

Open doors for healing of all who are feeling bound in dangerous situations, whether in families or jobs or communities. Wrap them in Your Love that, feeling Your hope and beginning to see themselves as You see them -- precious, with purpose and a future -- they grow in courage to seek carefully the resources You provide, the doors that You are opening for them.

Bless those whose employment and volunteer work seek to alleviate suffering and give them courage and compassion to be wise and speak wisdom and justice when organizational or individual actions are unwise or even cruel, whether by design or ignorance.

Lord give me Your Words, so my own do not cause unnecessary pain. 

Everywhere I look, as my vision improves, I see people who desperately need to understand their own value, the value You place upon them, the worth Christ has proclaimed in his death. 

How wounding is worldly valuation, where we are judged by "success", wealth, education, friends, and countless other resources that are an accident of birth as much as personal endeavor!

AlI this is painful, Lord, and leaves me wanting to hide where my feelings are less disturbed, my awareness of the exceptional resources I have make me less uncomfortable.

Lord, give me Your love that I might be Your hands and feet.

Give me gentle wisdom to love, love, love (because help with judgement and disdain is demeaning and wounding), to help mostly by listening (and not mistaking even my "righteous indignation" for Your voice) and being willing to endure with, to walk with those who are fearful, lonely, in danger, making choices that seem unwise to me. Let me encourage but only gently -- as You guide. Protect others from my errors, fear and desperation, lest I cause more pain.

Protect my efforts to advocate for change that I be tender, offering love, listening especially to those that challenge my tolerance so that my voice might not discourage others from changing long-held positions that You might be calling them to reconsider in light of increasing understanding. 

Lord, thank You that, no matter how the World sees us, you see us in truth: each of us broken and beloved; capable of great evil, yet created for good; in need of healing, yet created for purpose; lost but found by you our God who never stops seeking us, working for our highest good even when we struggle against You in our willfulness. You are an awesome God. Thank you. AMEN

I'm always interested to read how different people have translated scripture because it reveals the interpretation that thousands of Bible scholars over the centuries have considered. I feel some have done a better job than others, but since I don't read Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin, I'm limited to looking at more recent translations. Footnotes are particularly interesting.

This morning I was looking at one of my favorite verses as I prepare for a small group discussion/study on how we care ACT in ways that promote justice (check back for tomorrow's blog on that topic) and one translation included a footnote indicating some scholars translate a portion of the verse to read "walk humbly with your God" and others might translate it "walk prudently with your God".
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I would so love to have a discussion with one of scholars who recommended this footnote because it sounds like an American politician (I'm not sufficiently familiar with other kinds to say "uniquely American") who wants to hedge against hard truths.  

Dictionary.com defines prudent as "acting with or showing care and thought for the future." You see, I do not believe God expects us to be prudent in this sense. Oh, God certainly calls us to not be foolish. But God also makes it clear that we are creatures of the moment because as we exist at this time in this place in eternity our time here is nearly infatestimal.  Even if the most modest ideas that we have been here for around 10,000 years is used our 70 or 80 or 90 years is a blink of an eternal eye and estimates the earth has been around between 4-5 billion years (according to National Geographic) and humans between 4 and 55 million years (various by source) make it even more striking that human life expectancy leaves us with a VERY narrow margin for making much of a difference in the larger picture. This means that what we DO with each moment has great weight.

This future orientation does not to me seem at all what God tells us to be.  God says we are here with God's intent, created with purpose and what we do and who we are matters. So I believe that what we do, for good or evil, matters, often in ways we can't begin to understand on our own.  Because of this I am personally as 'ALL IN" as I know how to be. I can't see the future and the older I get the more I understand the treacherous nature of acting as though I can. 

As one son graduated from college and announced he was going to teach in South America, I remember commenting that the fastest growing Spanish speaking population was one state over in Iowa. I could see all the problems with his delaying his "adult life of work and marriage and children" because he was indulging his fascination with travel.  It did not help that while I have enjoyed traveling when life took me in that direction I have never experienced a longing to travel. And the thought of him finding a wife and building a family on another continent was just depressing. But now, a couple of decades later, I can only say God had a much better plan than I did.  He still lives on another continent but God has such better plans for him that I could have ever conceived. His life blesses his family (Thank you God for the WhatsApp app) from afar and also blesses his amazing family (including his wife who he met while working in Asia and two amazing children born in South America) and his students and their families, colleagues and neighbors in South America. I am so grateful he humbly heeded God's call (in part revealed by his inborn need for travel) and ignored my limited human view of "prudent."

See, this is why I read lots of translations! It refines my thinking, opens my heart to new ideas from God and directs my thoughts to all with which I am abundantly blessed to the degree I am humble, remembering that God has plans that are infinitely better than my own.
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Followers of Christ have a resource called the Bible.  It has been translated into many languages and within languages many times by diverse people from many backgrounds.  To be frank, folks in churches often spend far too much time arguing and judging folks over what different passages mean and that is a wicked waste of time and always sets off my truth-o-meter because a very wise Pastor once reminded me that God is big enough to defend truth without my help.  Oh, I am not being disrespectful of people who humbly and prayerfully seek guidance in Scripture. But I am exceedingly frustrated by those who bonk someone over the head with Scripture to try and get their own way.

But a book does not endure the way the Bible has because it is shallow or meaningless. So I am always interested in what I can find by checking out the Bible.

Today, when I began to consider the issue of privilege I wondered what this thing we believe to be God's Word might offer to the discussion. I ran across this in the 22nd chapter of Jeremiah 22:  Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. And it seems to me that this informs the discussion in this way: All the people for whom God is advocating (resident aliens, the fatherless, widows and the innocent) are all people generally agreed to have less power, less "clout" than folks who are here call "oppressors".  

The sad truth is that oppressors come in lots of shapes and sizes, colors, genders, lands, et al and sometimes they become oppressors BECAUSE they have themselves been oppressed. They do not get a free ride because of their back story, of course. But having had my own teenage experience with a bully, it took me decades to realize that the behavior probably came (as does most bad stuff) from fear. And I was extraordinarily blessed to have had wise counsel and great love that encouraged me to take that experience to grow compassion and faith rather than rage. To understand that is truly humbling since as a person with very little personal power that grace was obviously a gift.  For folks whose oppression experiences are great and long term I can appreciate something of how hard it is to break out of the cycle of abuse and fear.

I suspect that we are all bullied at times because there is much evil and always someone bigger, with more money or political pull or who is more plausible. Our legal system is a hot mess, but no system run by human beings is ever anywhere near perfect. So why, oh why, are we so slow to see the vulnerability in others? Why do we buy the giant lie that fear provides protection? (Caution and moving gently with maximum wisdom is strongly recommended, but fear breads impetuousness, carelessness, ruthlessness, despair, rage and panic -- none of which bodes well for the actions they drive.) Yet, since we estimate the book of Jeremiah was written more than 2500 years ago, it is clear that this is not a new problem.

And for those of you who would say to me, oh but things are so much better, I would suggest some reading into the numbers of people including in our communities who are suffering as slaves, the number of people whose experiences in their own homes wound them deeply, often for a lifetime; the ravages of pornography and addiction and how it is affecting both slavery and domestic abuse, just to name a few ways bullying is rampant in our society.

So here is how I currently view privilege.  God calls on me to do what I can wherever He opens my eyes to injustice.  For starters I have to search my own heart for places where fear breads contempt for those with less power than I have and be willing to embrace both compassion and the call to take action where I find injustice.
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Of course, this is hard! It might result in being embarrassed! It might mean my effort to do the right thing gets scrambled in my own human brokenness – even making someone I’m trying to help angry. So be it -- because I can learn from that. But being complaisant because my sense of safety is not being rattle at a given moment is just not an adequate reason to ignore the pain of others.

We need all hands on deck here folks. We need to risk being uncomfortable in the quest to learn more, grow more, invest more in helping others understand how deeply they are loved, how important, how valuable, how urgently needed they are in this life God is calling us to create in the midst of a broken world.

Between the time of COVID and the land of protests morphed into riots it is normal to long for "getting back to normal." But I am praying fervently that we do NOT return to what was. I'm in favor of more people washing their hands after using the bathroom. I'm in favor or people being more aware of the need to share what we have with those who have less, especially when they are doing essential work. And I am certainly in favor of a dialog and a call for all hands on deck in repairing a broken legal system that is far more horrifying than one death, even such a horrifying one.

Because the truth is that as a nation we have not been discussing with horror the people detained and working in jails and prisons that are overcrowded by legal malfeasance...wrongful convictions get the headlines, but those abused by the legal system into accepting plea bargains that leave them permanently wounded financially and their deeply wounded families is not a new story. The coverage of prison condituions during the time of COVID is barely a footnote, although they represent significant numbers. (At one point more than 20% of cases in Ohio were in prisons. And before you get snarky about people "getting what they deserve" remember that those who YOU expect to work in these facilities live in your communities and shop at your pharmacy and grocery store, so be careful about the consequences of your inhumanity.)

We are so busy misusing resources on over-incarceration there is no money left to adequately address the domestic violence epidemic that can dump our children in a struggling foster care system but absolutely leaves them easy pickin's for human traffickers. (Should you have any confusion on this, a minor CAN NOT consent to sex, a detained person CAN NOT consent to sex, an impaired person CAN NOT consent to sex. Pass it on!!!)

Below is a prayer we have been using the past two years as we seek to nourish more just legal systems.

Please pray it today. Let today be the day you ask God to open your heart to ways you can ACT to offer healing and hope to the brokenhearted...and that is all of us.

Prayers for Justice and Legal Reforms
 
​Everything starts with prayer. Today we pray for Your Mercy Lord, that we might find our way to a more just legal system. The current situation is causing so much pain, leading to what seem to be never ending problems with brokenness upon brokenness. So we know that with problems this big we need You. We need You to draw us to a more God-pleasing, Christ-like system of dealing with the injustices of this broken world.
 
Lord, direct our prayers.
 
Romans 12:12—Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
 
Be merciful, Lord, to all of us affected by crime, from the victims of crime to those who commit crimes, but also the first responders who come when we are fearful, and all those along the journey through the legal system: judges and juries, prosecutors and defense attorneys, social workers, health care workers, foster care folks, and eventually detention officers and probation and​​ parole staff​, classroom teachers​ and the family, friends, co-workers, church family, neighbors and acquaintances of all these because all are part of the ever expanding circles of damage caused by crime.
 
Lord, hear our prayers.
 
James 1:12—Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 
 
We have all been wounded by crime, Lord. We are fearful, Lord. We long for our sense of safety to be restored and our longing for retribution to be fulfilled to our way of thinking. Yet, we acknowledge that even those who participated in the crime are still Your children. And we ask you to teach us to long for their redemption more than for vengeance. We acknowledge that “safety” exists only in You. This kind of deep healing is only possible in you. Praise God that You are bigger than all this.
 
Lord have mercy on us all.
 
Revelation 21:4--He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
 
We lift up the legal system, the criminal justice system up to you, Lord. We expect the legal system to stand in our stead, a thin blue line between safety and chaos – a process where we hope to be protected from those who seek to harm us or those we love. Yet we are learning more clearly each day the price paid by those who wade into chaos and sin on our behalf from the first responders through all the steps in the legal system and​ social safety net professionals, and​ finally to the incarcerated folks who eventually return to the free world and their communities and families.  We have a special heart for those whom justice fails.
 
Lord have mercy on them all.
 
Hebrews 13:3--Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
 
Lord, we have longed to believe that laws protect us although we understand that is not possible; for if laws protected us there would surely no domestic violence, no vehicular manslaughter. We listened to the siren call of politicians’ promises to make us safe by being more harsh, yet now we are less safe than ever.  Lord, how do we balance consequences with rehabilitation, balance honoring the pain and loss of victims with the call to prevent future damage by someone who lacks impulse control and the capacity to foresee the damage their actions do to others, both strangers and those they love, but are still your beloved child?
 
Lord, give us Your Courage and Your Wisdom.
 
Romans 8:38-39--For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
Lord, the Pharisees believed they were “right” in crucifying you.  Pilot believed he was making the right decision for the protection of his employer’s interest. The crowd provided the noise, the energy to make such stunning injustice seem not only OK but desirable.  Lord, we know we have been part of just such a mob as we have demanded to be safer while hiding our eyes from outrageous miscarriages of justice that such fear births.
 
Lord, break our hearts made hard by fear that we might have tender hearts for those seeking to serve you in new ways, living better lives, reaching back to help those still living in such darkness.
 
Micah 6:8--He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
 
Christ’s rising announces that we are all restored, rehabilitated, renewed both from our sins and from the ways other’s sins and carelessness wound us. Yes, Lord, we acknowledge we are each and all in need of healing, healing from wounds of body and soul and mind and heart. Yes, Lord, we acknowledge that we are all in need of forgiveness, given and received. We are exhausted from trying to care for ourselves. Today we choose to rest confidently in you. Teach us to forgive and to accept forgiveness!
 
Halleluiah, Lord!
 
2 Corinthians 5:18b--All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Protect us Lord, from the lies fear would tell us. Fill our hearts with love for each other, for all your children. Make our tender hearts strong enough to look brokenness and fear and darkness in the face that your love might shine from You through us into a world that is in such utter need of healing, hope, peace, joy, love, truth and light….In need of You.
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Lord, have mercy.​
 

I recently read this quote from 1964:  Apart from what other countries may think, more and more Americans have a national conscience that is troubled by unfairness in law enforcement in any state--or by any state's racial discrimination. There is more information on the source of that quote at the end of this post, but it spoke to me about our situation today.  Over recent decades we have seen our RATES of incarceration grow until we are the most incarcerating nation in the world. 

I emphasize RATES because some people think it is because we have a big country, but I am talking about this: the USA incarcerates over 700 people per 100,000 versus Canada's less than 140 per 100,000.  That means that they incarcerate at a rate 5 times higher than we do.  Does that mean that they have 1/5 of the crime?  No, they have comparable rates of crime. So their streets are about as safe as ours, but it appears they are paying 1/5 of the cost to achieve the same "safety".

Oey vey! Yipes! What the .....?  Yes, that was my reaction. I lived in a part of the country where I met more Canadians than I do living in the Midwest and I was struck by how similar we are in culture and heritage. So the difference struck me as particularly painful.  

There are more statistics that can keep you up at night, but suffice it to say there is A LOT of evidence that something is rotten in the USA legal system. And there is A LOT of evidence that, even when people return home, their families suffer long-term financial damage because when people "have paid their debt to society" (and what a painfully ironic phrase that is) they continue to pay in routinely being denied employment, housing, opportunities to volunteer in their communities (even in encouraging young people to NOT make the mistakes they made), social safety nets even after years of being solid citizens with no subsequent arrests much less convictions. And, like the quote above, I am seeing (and praying for) rising awareness of American voters learning much that leaves them disconcerted about how their tax dollars are being spent and examining if they are any safer because of policies that have led to a mountain of small mistakes resulting in confusingly inconsistent punishment devastating families and communities AND leaving those against whom the crime is committed with additional wounds from a system that does not honor their pain.

And there is clear research and plenty of anecdotal evidence from EVERY silo of the legal system about wealth making a big difference in how people are treated or mistreated in our legal system. Cash bond is a particularly big problem even though Kentucky made reforms in 1976 which has NOT resulted in them becoming a hot-bed of crime. Because states have been so slow to visit this question, especially in the "lock everybody up forever if they make any kind of mistake" days of the 1980s that really accelerated this mess, we are now seeing movements to adjust this. But there is also LOTS of whaling and anguish from rural areas where prosecutors and sheriffs are screaming.  But these are also areas where a growing awareness of a particularly egregious form of classism flourishes.  People charged with petty crimes are charged room and board for the days they are in jail.  Then when they get out and the conviction makes it hard to find jobs where there are few jobs, and they are unable to go to cities where there might be jobs because they owe for back room and board charges. Soooo, they are then clapped back in jail because they are not keeping up on the payments for past room and board, and/or not being able to afford a car, much less insurance, they have missed a court date to discuss all this and....yes, you guessed it. They are dumped back into the jail to begin racking up more bills for room and board.  There are records where a single minor offence (even a status office for a minor) has lead to decades on this no-money-to-pay-room&board merry-go-round.  

Does that sound fair? reasonable? best use of resources?  Nope, to me neither, but it a common problem.

My state's Supreme Court has ordered our Circuit Courts to use pre-trial tools to improve fairness, but six months after that went into effect my Circuit Court has demonstrated no willingness to comply and we still have the most dysfunctional legal aid in the country according to several sources. (Legal aid has too few lawyers, too many court referrals/clients which exacerbates the cash bail problem with people spending several days in jail before someone can appear with them to challenge bail requirements.)  We learned recently that, while the expense for all this nonsense is mounting, the district attorney's office is shuffling increasing numbers of domestic assault cases (where no bones were broken and no shots found their mark) into municipal court where there are no teeth when folks don't abide by the court's orders. (This includes no mechanism for fire arms to be removed from the home by court order.)

And let me make one last point about that.  Locally, 25% of our murders are domestic. Domestic abuse and over-incarceration are placing more strain on foster care systems.  For people aging out of foster care, homelessness and trafficking are significant risks.  And 70% are incarcerated within 3 years of aging out.

We not only live in a hot mess of legal and judicial and bureaucratic malfeasance that is outrageously expensive and horribly unsafe, but we are not working to stop the flow INTO the system in any effective ways. 

Become informed and hold your elected officials accountable.  Speak up and speak out at your churches where their prayers and hands and feet are desperately needed to help our wounded families and people who genuinely are working to return to being a blessing to their families and communities need mentors and welcoming churches. Volunteer in schools and jails and prisons. Befriend a struggling single parent. Comfort the parent whose child has gone astray. Take dinner to the foster family on your block. Write a note to a law enforcement officer, teacher, social worker, ER nurse or doctor, family counselor, corrections officer because they are all struggling with the ugly reality of what is happening to our children.

If there is hope, it comes as God had called us forth to behave in new ways, that we might have better outcomes for us all.

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The above quote is from Anthony Lewis' Gideon's Trumpet, a history of how the United States' commitment to legal aid for anyone accused of a serious crime--even if they are too poor to pay--became the law of the land. It feels like pure God's Grace because so many pieces had to come together to make this land-mark decision happen. One of those pieces were the 35 states who had already moved to assure access to an attorney for anyone accused of a felony. The Supreme Court was seeing a high number of cases coming to them from states that had not moved to provide broad access to legal representation and they had themselves been highly variable on how such cases were resolved. Another was the astonishingly "on point" application submitted to the Supreme Court by poor, poorly educated, deeply flawed Florida prisoner 003826 AKA Clarence Earl Gideon. I did not realize the Supreme Court accepts for review some applications from indigent petitioners although often mental illness and lack of education or failing physical health render such applications impossible to understand and ineligible for consideration.  But Mr. Gideon's application, pencil printed on lined paper, painstakingly executed, came at the right moment in history and indicated that all prior appeal efforts had been duly exhausted. He had asked the judge to provide a pro bono attorney for him and been refused. As a result it appeared from the scanty transcript that the judge had often asked him if he understood a point of law, but had provided, of course, no help when testimony was open to challenges. (All parties except the accused thought it was a slam dunk of a man whose record was not unusual for people who have a hard time finding their way from the fringes of society and subsistence survival, but which contained no violence even at that, yet he was given the highest possible sentence after being overcharged for what for a more "acceptable" citizen would have been charged as a misdemeanor.)

You see, Mr. Gideon had been charged with the of breaking a window to access a bar where he worked part time, breaking into the cigarette machine to steel the change, and stealing a six-pack of beer and a couple of bottles of wine, none of which was found in his possession. The lone accuser was a person at least as likely to have committed the crime based on opportunity and criminal record. No, this was not a "big deal" case to us, but it was a very big deal to a man with compromised health, and a deep love and commitment to his children's well-being. (His children were in the foster care system although he had been working to get them to his extended family out-of-state because of his health and his wife's abandonment of them all.)

The book is a challenging read, but it made me proud to be born where we keep working on being more Just. May we be diligent in heeding Hebrew 13:3-- Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.

The legal system is filled with a spectrum of silos (victims, law enforcement, judiciary, medical, mental health, social workers, teachers, probation & parole, foster system, corrections, communities receiving those returning to the free world). And with each crime waves of damage pour into each of those silos and out from the individuals wounded in the silos into their families, communities, places of work, places of worship, volunteer work, sometimes for years if there is no opportunity to "detox" and heal. Each crime births rings of pain that spread further out and out some for for years.

This is why I am so passionate about teaching folks that we are all in this together.  

We may believe we live in a "safe neighborhood"...until a burglary or suicide or arrest for domestic violence or abuse a few doors down leaves us shaken and fearful.  We may believe we work in a safe place...until a shooting on a domestic USA military base clarifies how naive that is. We may believe that, although the working wounded beside us are struggling in silence with a sense of isolation, their issues are not our problem...until it dawns on us that we are adding to their pain by failing to see Jesus in their face. We may believe that we are "better", "nicer", more deserving of a "good life" that THOSE people, the people whose wounds are more visible and sins more public...until a letter in the mail or a knock on the door teaches us that "those people" are us and the people we love.

We are all broken and in need of rehabilitation, restoration, redemption. And we look in all the wrong places to ease our pain. We build walls that make us far less safe and embrace behaviors that consistently add to our pain...and so we again do MORE of the same things that are not working.

But in a breath we can take a chance, small though it may seem to us, that God speaks truth.  And here is that oh so unbelievable truth.  GOD loves us. God has always loved us. God will always love us.

But it is unbelievable because no matter how hard we try, we know the horrible truth...we don't feel very lovable. And the more we wade deeper into those lying behaviors that promise to assuage our pain, the yuckier we feel. And the harder it is to believe that a perfect God, the creator of all life and the complex systems that support life, could have any very personal interest in such a broken vessel as we know ourselves to be. Maybe we have even put our toe in the water and asked God to help us, hear us, but then we quickly embrace doubt and maybe even more destructive behaviors because it is so scary to think that God might not love us, that we are just too worthless, too horrid for God and that would truly be the end of hope.

So what do we do, filled with pain and doubt as the rage seeps out and leaves despair? I have this Bible verse printed large in my office:  "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24)  I love this because it reminds me of this truth: on my own this belief thing is just too hard to manage. But God, knowing this, invites us to say so and ask for help.  Now, my girlfriends would say, "Well isn't that awfully hard for the menfolk?" Yes, in truth it is hard for all of us in the truest parts of our hearts. The stronger we are, the more able the world knows us to be, the harder the humility thing is. But it is the essence of getting to the truth. It is our brokenness that opens us to the love of God. To the degree we are independent, self-dependent, we limit the room God can work in us (and through us). 

So I love this father in Mark who is willing to lay down EVERYTHING for love of his dying child. He loves and lives as Christ loves and lives for us. And he shows us the way when he prays, "Lord, I rely on you for everything, including my ability to rely on You!"

"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24)

       One Week from tomorrow we will gather at The DO Justice Like Jesus event 
www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=do%20justice%20like%20jesus&epa=SEARCH_BOX afternoon includes six opportunities for discussions with people who are working to make smart changes to improve problems all long the crime to restoration spectrum. 

1. Our keynote speakers will share more personally at a break-out discussion about their work in the Indiana prison system as a chaplain and as a coordinator for Bridges to Life, a powerful program that gives voice to folks wounded by crime and helps folks who have committed a crime have a safe place to understand more deeply the effect a crime has on individuals, families and communities. (Remember that convicted folks are discouraged from admitting guilt about anything because they are often punished for any admission both before the fact and during appeals. And families sometimes withdraw support if the find behaviors unacceptable. But this limits their capacity to apologize or make amends or even understand the range of wounds their choices have inflicted!)

2. Greg Winship will discuss Restorative Justice concepts and how they are used in preparing incarcerated individuals to return to free world as people of value to their families and communities.

3. Caroline Giammanco, author of Behind the Death Fences: Memoir of a Whisleblower, speaks with authority as a former teacher inside a Missouri prison who has become a passionate advocate for more accountability and transparency in the Missouri Department of Corrections, and Nancy Lazar, the Director of the Kansas City Municipal Jail known as "the municipal Farm" at the time it was closed in 2009. She continues advocate against warehousing of detainees in ways that reduce community safety. Corrections officers have what may be the hardest job anywhere. It is soul searing in the best of circumstances. Government officials for Missouri and Jackson County face challenges and need informed voters holding them accountable.

4.  Americans for Prosperity is a grass roots advocacy group working with diverse partners to advocate for smart and proven changes to make justice more just, more accessible for the poor, make communities safer and families stronger, all of which has been eroding as our rates of incarceration have soared.  In this election year you can make a difference by asking good questions of people on the campaign trail and educate our elected officials and other potential voters about these issues.  You can make it clear to businesses that you support 2nd Chance hiring for people who are working to make better lives for their families and make amends for past mistakes.

5.  Gracious Promise coordinates volunteers working in jails to help detained people make changes that can restore hope, support good choices and be resources to empower them to become more of what God has created them to be.  I'm especially excited because they serve as resources for local churches who are ready to listen and love people who often have had little of either in their lives.

6. Children in abusive and negligent homes often find themselves in a foster care home.  For some this is a lifeline that restores the stability needed to make the most of educational opportunities.  But a recent expose by the Kansas City Star provides a stark and distressing picture of the high number of failures within foster care, especially when these children have been struggling for years in situations that have steadily declined so that by the time they are place in foster care. They have significant health, mental health and academic challenges that are too often not met.  They are at-risk for further abuse by sexual predators and sex traffickers. Within 3 years of aging out of foster care 70% have been incarcerated and a similar percent are single parents. Homelessness is common. Join the discussion about how these how some special folks work as volunteers work with CASA to advocate for these children. 

It will be a great day with many opportunities to consider how God might be calling you to be a part of important work.

It seems that our culture values "happiness" and "no anxiety" very highly. And the blow back from this attitude says "If you are not happy or if you are anxious you are a failure. You need to avoid stress and get rid of what makes you unhappy."

But for most of us, that is not just impractical, but actually rather horrid. You see, the bottom line is this: In this world the only people who avoid stress and reject anything that makes them unhappy are from my vantage point, really not happy at all.

When I avoid the challenges of traveling with those I love during difficult times I miss great joy in the pursuit of 'happiness and fun’.  People who never accept the challenge of persevering through setbacks to achieve goals that so often bless others may be missing out on personal satisfaction that they can't even imagine in the midst of the challenges.

Let me be clear.  I am a great believer in having boundaries and using those boundaries to take time to maintain healthy life choices and take time to restore and renew, even in the midst of challenges. But, honestly, is struggling such a bad thing?  

One thing that my work in justice advocacy and jail/prison ministry volunteering has made clear to me is this: we ALL have challenges and sorrows. A crime is committed. Someone is injured or has lost property, or even has lost their life. Not only is that person affected, family, neighbors, family, coworkers, church family, even folks watching on TV feel less safe. Into this painful moment someone dialed 911 and asked law enforcement to help.  The officers that show up may be battle weary veterans or rookies still trying to get in the groove.  They may have answered dozens or even hundreds of calls with similar issues or this time may be new for everyone.  EMTs may be called.  Firefighters may be called. Folks might go to the ER or longer term medical help may be needed. Social workers might be needed. Children may be headed to foster care. Classrooms may be affected. Detectives will try to unravel what happened and build a case, if appropriate. The municipal courts or county/state courts will wade in if someone is charged bringing prosecutors, legal aid and private attorneys into the process. There may be a jury, although this is increasingly rare (94-97% of cases are plea-bargained before or after their sentence has been served). Then those who suffered the original crime are patted on the head and sent on their way to pick up the pieces as best they can, usually barred from even asking "Why?" after the conviction. A convicted person heads off to serve their sentence, often believing that if they admit culpability it will mean they lose face and lose the chance to appeal even if the issue is the balance between wrong committed and size of sentence. They go to a jail or prison (unless they were detained so long pre-trial that they equaled or exceeded the sentence) where the sentence if often not carried out. A "two year" sentence may lead to death, increased mental illness, rape or other things definitely not mentioned at sentencing.  And for corrections officers who are expected to turn a blind eye to much that is deplorable, they too wind up being deeply wounded. At some point 95-97% of people who enter prison are returned to the free world, their families and their communities.  Unfortunately, the "corrections" part of detention is most often a cruel joke because the recidivism rate tells us clearly that not a lot of "correcting" goes on. Many folks who find their way to recovery in prison do so with the help of an army of unpaid volunteers who have a deep commitment to the brokenhearted. So off to the free world, skipping back to what?  More than 40,000 laws apply to people with a felony record that do not apply to those with enough money for more effective representation. They are often PTSD afflicted. In most places they can be freely discriminated against in jobs (even if the conviction has no relation to the job), housing, social services, even forbiding the restorative experiencing of volunteer -- again even when such efforts are in no way related to their crime. This not only makes building a productive life difficult for the person who has plead or been convicted of a crime difficult. It also makes a life of poverty much more likely for their children, and aged parents.

Which brings us to this fact:  Every person along the spectrum from crime through punishment and return to the free world, has a family that is also affected by what they have experienced, seen, dealt with professionally and personally. Each has been affected emotionally, physically, financially and, yes, spiritually because such challenges either draw us closer to God in our pain or leaves us trying to deal with all this on our own.

My point is this, each and every "crime" affects us ALL in the ever widening circles of pain and fear. Each silo of professionals along the legal spectrum see their own challenges, often with tender hearts for wounded coworkers whose broken spirits may be adding to the problem; they can be fearful of allowing the light of accountability and hope and new ideas in that offer hope for us all. But it takes great courage to advocate for change from within a broken system.

But God is bigger than this, for which I am deeply and profoundly grateful.  Slowly, painfully, across the country and in every state there are courageous people who are standing up and advocating for justice that is just, justice that respects ALL who are wounded, justice that shines hope where people who have made mistakes, often terrible mistakes, can still become or return to being productive contributors to society. They are seeking better ways to restore a sense of safety, not because we have built higher walls, but because we have addressed wounds earlier, tended all with PTSD whether they are a "victim" or a professional, or even the person whose personal junk blew up in someone else's life in a way that the legal system became involved. There are even people working to make changes long before the legal system steps in by improving educational interventions, funding mental health support, offering supported recovery for victims of crime, being great foster parents and advocates for foster kids.

Unfortunately there are still folks for whatever reason, who keep defending the broken system, particularly the part they feel "in control of".  They gain and keep power by playing on our fears and false assumptions.  

However as the number of incarcerated folks climbs, and the number of folks who are detained but eventually released without being convicted of anything grows, and as more folks are becoming more distressed with the stunning number of times that they have to deal with dangerous and outrageous issues along the legal system spectrum, for themselves and for their families and friends, the inappropriate shame is being overpowered by a very strong sense that justice and fairness is sadly missing in ways that are making this a less safe world for us all.

Please join us Saturday, February 29, 2020 at DO Justice Like Jesus to pray for all the folks who are struggling specifically because they are trying to keep us safe, trying to be better people, trying to recover from wounds that need not be repeated. Come to hear from people who work to advocate for justice, to woo and mentor folks to embrace hope and to learn skills needed to lead more productive lives, and to tend the brokenhearted all long the legal system spectrum.
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Remember those in prison and being mistreated, as if you were in prison with them and undergoing their torture yourselves. Hebrews 13:3 (CJB)

Use this link to learn about how your state helps poor and very poor folks recover from crime:     http://www.nacvcb.org/index.asp?sid=6

What do we want most deeply?  Scientific theory has postulated physical needs being met (water, food) that life might be sustained; safety, that life might be tolerable; a sense of acceptance, of being loved. The theory has adherents and detractors, but at least these three first needs seem pretty reasonable to most folks. As I watch my grandchildren, living where food and shelter and an absence of war leave them with a day-to-day sense of "enough" and safety, I am grateful.

Then the little darlings approach and surpass the teen years and start venturing forth into travel to far-off places and social experiences that curl my hair and, as their world expands they meet people I don't know, and as they experience loses and challenges...Yikes! My head knows these are essential to their personal growth and future safety, and an indication that they are healthy growing teens and young adults and now even less young adults. But this is just so hard.

I grew up in a family that held on tight and was proud in their belief that somehow their holding made us safer. I believe it made THEM feel we were safer; but sometimes I know we were so busy trying to get a little space to grow that getting space used energy that might have been better spent in watching for the dangers around us.

So I am trying very hard to be more cheerleader with open arms, and less harbinger of doom with wringing of hands. I am also more careful about the lessons I teach in the way I live. I can hardly expect someone to believe me when I say "God has got this" if I then exhaust myself with trying to "keep them safe" from my narrow vantage point and with my limited understanding of what safe looks like in the larger sense.

So my perspective has changed from crushing my loved ones to my chest with determined plans coursing through my head. Now I work harder instead to choose to thank God that God has indeed got all the "this" moments of challenge and even danger and even wounds.

• If my child travels or works where there is danger, I will choose to remember that those are the places where good people doing good work are often most urgently needed.
• If my grandchild talks of an area of study or mission trip that seems risky to me, I will let God handle the planning on that.
• If my spouse or adult child needs to make a job change that leaves me feeling anxious, I will let God handle that too.
• When people I love are going through tough times, I will give my own anxiety to God and be more fellow traveler and less advance recon commander and self-appointed project manager.

And I will hold my beloved ones gently, tenderly, trusting to their own ability and in God's perfect ability and willingness to handle all this without my supervision.

                                                                               ....at least most days.

Matthew 5:4 (MSG) “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”

I was speaking to an author recently and she commented that many pastors she speaks with say that Justice is a political issue and therefore not a proper part of church activities. I wish I was surprised.

Here is one thing the Bible says about this:  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Prov 31:9).  Once I started seeking the Bible's wisdom about justice issues I admit I was shocked at how many verses in both the Old Testament and New Testament speak to justice, advocating for the poor and needy, treating those in jails or prisons with compassion, and a passionate commitment to the making sure that "justice" is not a club to suppress the poor. 

One of the clearest ideas that is so strong in scripture is this: we cannot wait for to "the world" to get on the bandwagon to improve the lot of the poor and needy or administer justice that is just -- even most of the time. Current commercial advertising speaks to a kinder, gentler world to tout their goods and services, but working to defend the rights of the poor and needy is certainly not accomplished by driving a trendy car or drinking the right brew or buying the right insurance.

The longer I work in jail and prison ministry, and the more I learn as I study contemporary legal system conditions and potential reforms, the more overwhelming it all seems.  I have not found one social scientist so far that can speak to these questions: 

• Why does the USA incarcerate 30 times more people than Canada, although our crime rates are similar? 
• Although one in 27 children in the USA have at least one incarcerated parent and the financial, education and health ramifications of that do not end that day mom or dad is released; how does this play out in classroom challenges?
• Why, when 70% of children aging out of foster care are incarcerated within 3 years and they have a similar rate of unwed pregnancies, do we so often blame these youngest of victims for their "bad behaviors" rather than assure the mental health, physical health and education services needed to give them better skills to escape the foster care to incarceration and human trafficking pipeline?
• What do we expect from those who serve in law enforcement and in detention facilities? Story after story and courts upon courts are crying out for more humane working conditions. Suicides have been increasing for more than a decade for both law enforcement and detention professionals. Are we insuring the safest possible employment practices for them as they protect us?
• With inhumane working conditions rampant in jails and prisons, how can we be surprised that increasing numbers of lawsuits and investigations are finding extraordinarily inhuman conditions contributing to poor outcomes for the 95% of incarcerated persons that we are "conditioning" to return to their communities and families?
• Why are we still struggling to step-up for the 90% of trafficking victims reporting that their first contact with law enforcement was as offenders, not victims and, having been arrested, were too often released back to the person selling them rather than referring them to shelters or legal services for victims!

Does any of this sounds political?  Sure, there are plenty of political issues like bad laws that we have supported in our fear and naivete, and there are plenty of political types more interested in making personal hay or avoiding irritating the uninitiated than in taking a principled and informed stand. But all that begs the question. How can churches and individual Christians turn their backs on this growing public health crisis? How will you and I answer when God asks, How did you treatment me when I was in need, sick and in prison? (Matthew 25:43-45)

Please join the conversation this 29 February 2020 at DO Justice Like Jesus.  For more information use the Contact button or look for Do Justice Like Jesus on Facebook Events.  There are easy things that will help. There are opportunities to make a difference in individual lives, support chaplains working in such difficult situations, help your churches find ways to make a difference in ways big and small. There are things  you can do as i individuals.  It is a BIG job, but God is calling all sorts of folks to join His Army in protecting families, reclaiming lives, comforting those striving to be a part of ethical and effective professional work. Let's be a part of a wave of volunteers.

PLEASE PRAY FOR US IN THE DAYS LEADING UP TO THIS EVENT, THAT THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO ATTEND MIGHT BEAR FRUIT AND FOR HEALING FOR ALL THOSE  ALONG THE LEGAL SYSTEM  SPECTRUM.

​One month from today DO Justice Like Jesus convenes. This is something I can only describe is something I MUST do. After these past six years of working in the prison ministry and criminal justice reform advocacy fields, I struggle most days to NOT feel overwhelmed by the long journey our nation has traversed to get to this sad and dangerous condition.

It is quit sad enough to reach out to folks who are struggling to recover from mistakes, especially the kinds that land folks in jail and prison. But the longer I work in and learn about our legal system, the more I find I can not in good conscience call something to consistently broken a criminal justice system.  

The most frustrating thing is this: for too many folks, and, yes, especially Christians, it is all too easy to be "in favor of justice and fair play" without intentionally weighing very large of references in the Bible defining our responsibilities. We are instructed to strive persistently, to work unceasingly, to insure justice is just, proportional and available for all people regardless of social status or "clout" of those harmed and those harming.

Christians SAY justice should be equally available and applied by our government's courts, yet seem unwilling to look with courage at what is actually happening ...

• in foster care's all too frequent failure to protect our most vulnerable victims of crime,
• in legal aid systems overcrowded and failing victim's, accused AND those who are employed in the system,
• in poor and unenforced pre-sentencing protocols ignored by the very courts all levels who we expect to insure justice,
• in dealing with trafficking victims, including returning them to their traffickers with disdain for minors,
• in providing protections for corrections officers from abuse BY THEIR EMPLOYERS (that's us folks!) and
• by making folks returning to the free world face hurdles that would overwhelm most of us, making returns to criminal activity too frequent and supporting the de facto creation of a laboring class with few options in employment, housing, making family and community restoration failures a hidden, persistent and growing reality.

Please join us 29 February 2020 at DO Justice Like Jesus.  For more information use the Contact button or look for Do Justice Like Jesus on Facebook Events.  There are easy things that will help. There are opportunities to make a difference in individual lives, support chaplains working in such difficult situations, help your churches find ways to make a difference in ways big and small.  It is a BIG job, but God is calling all sorts of folks to join His Army in protecting families, reclaiming lives, comforting those striving to be a part of ethical and effective professional work and a wave of volunteers.

PLEASE PRAY FOR US IN THE DAYS LEADING UP TO THIS EVENT, THAT THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO ATTEND MIGHT BEAR FRUIT AND FOR HEALING FOR ALL THOSE  ALONG THE LEGAL SYSTEM  SPECTRUM.

In little more than two months DO Justice Like Jesus will be held at Woods Chapel Church in Lee's Summit, MO. 

This is an event designed to provoke thought, open conversations, evoke prayer, empower action by people of conscience. Too often we have a TV's Law & Order view of crime and punishment. Then someone we care about or we ourselves become a victim of crime, are accused of a crime, are doing time for a crime rightly or falsely, are returning to the free world only to find that there is no housing, few jobs, and 44,000 laws that only apply to someone with "a record" meaning a drastically reduced capacity to support our families (spouse or children or parents), contribute to our communities or make amends for past errors. But learning all that often comes with a purposeless sense of shame and crippling fear.

One of the saddest things I have learned when working with individuals affected by incarceration (their own or that of someone they are deeply connect to) is how often their churches or proud church people add to their pain in direct contradiction to God's commands in scripture.

So what is our responsibility?

Is it enough to never be arrested ourselves? I believe we have all known people who cause great harm without ever exceeding the threshold for incarceration, so that seems a poor standard.

How about if we pray for people wrongly convicted? or political prisoners in far away lands?  Convenient, because it does not require that we exceed our comfort level.

Indeed, C. S. Lewis wrote, "“I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. If our giving habits do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we want to do but cannot do because our giving expenditures exclude them.” While this is generally applied to financial matters, is it really any less applicable to our giving of time, talents, attention, or service?  Mother Teresa got a lot of grief for saying "I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me, and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me." 

Please let me be clear.  Wherever you are, wherever I am, God loves us and longs to hear us speaking to God (prayer) with our most tender longings and demands NOTHING in return. But when we recognize that relationship, we can not expect the relationship to become deeper, stronger, bigger if we treat it shabbily. It is like a newly married couple where one (God) is delighted and the other indifferent or demanding!

So, if you have a heart for justice or know some who might benefit from thinking seriously about justice, especially biblical justice (which is fair, balanced with mercy, and equitably applied) please reserve February 29, 2020--YES! That is leap day! (Saturday beginning at 9 am, but you are welcome to come and go as your schedule allows and your heart demands.) We will be delighted to see you!

If you want more information, check out www.facebook.com/events/905186776503454/ or use the Contact Button on this site.