Download a digital copy (1.5 MB) - Open Door Community

Hospitality to the Imprisoned ˜ 169
number to find out more about it. So I did, only to find out
that our prayer had been answered. And I just want to say
thank you Jesus! Thank you Open Door Community and
May God Bless Each and Everyone of You.
˜ ˜ ˜
I can vividly recall organizing and planning for my own first trip to Hardwick
shortly after I had begun working at the Open Door. Murphy, who had already
made numerous trips to Hardwick, and on whom I was relying for initial
“orientation,” became very ill the day before our scheduled visit and was unable
to go. I well remember how Murphy, in spite of her illness, pulled herself up in
bed, outlined the trip’s procedures, drew maps, gave last-minute tips, and, most
of all, encouragement.
On that initial trip I was greeted at the church in Milledgeville by Jane Tipton,
who at that time was coordinating the noon meal, and whose husband,
Clyde, led us in our blessing as we sang “Amazing Grace.” As we joined hand to
hand in a wide circle, I thought of the bonds this circle represented—bonds not
only between friends, new and old, but within these families, sources of strength
and encouragement in difficult circumstances.
I thought of families who would enter the prison buildings, allowed only
the required picture identification and no gifts for their loved ones but themselves.
I was reminded of God’s gift to people everywhere and in all circumstances—the
gift of Jesus, who gave freely of himself so that we might all know
the eternal gifts of God’s forgiveness and love. Such gifts bring healing and
restoration to the broken places. Jesus not only joins us in our joys and sufferings,
but joins us to his resurrection victory and to the hope and promise of
God’s amazing grace.
Resurrection Women, by Murphy Davis
A p r i l 1 9 9 6
After all these years, it is still amazing that the biblical story tells us that the
first witnesses to the resurrection of the Executed One were, by all accounts,
women. It was an inauspicious beginning, to say the least.
In first-century Palestine the testimony of a woman was worth nothing: not
legally admissible in court and certainly not to be counted on in matters of im-