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Hospitality to the Imprisoned ˜ 193
place” under the strong arm of the escort guard has a more difficult journey than
we do as visitors. He is strip-searched, including body cavities, both on the way
up and the way down. Some of our friends have experienced torn anal tissues as
a consequence. When there is tension between prisoners and the guard pulling
escort duty, some inmates refuse to come for the visit. The humiliation and harassment
are simply too much to bear.
The meeting room or visitation area is transformed nonetheless when we
are finally together, locked in and watched, but free at last, if only for a short
moment. Here, for a flash, we from the “free world” and those in prison, who
are under the state’s—but not God’s—sentence of death, are neither prisoner
nor free but one in heart and mind (Gal. 3:26–28). We extend to one another
our welcome and friendship; the beast flees into the sea, and we are brothers and
sisters by the blood of the Lamb. For a moment, Babel is silenced. We speak
truth in love to one another.
Then, suddenly, the guard hits the steel bars and calls, “Visitation is over.”
The emperor takes off his clothes again, and we begin our descent to the parking
lot. Nevertheless, the history of the world has changed, and a chink in the
prison wall has appeared to those with eyes to see. A tiny child’s step, a puny,
planted mustard seed has tilted the universe: Liberty to captives is at hand. Resistance
to the death penalty has grown a little leaf; angels sing, and the reign of
God flashes.
Speak a Word to the Discouraged, by Murphy Davis
A p r i l 1 9 8 8
Editor’s note: This article adapts a commencement address delivered at Associated
Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in Elkhart, Indiana.
The Desert will rejoice
and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.
The desert will sing and shout for joy;
It will be as beautiful as the
Lebanon Mountains
and as fertile as the fields of
Carmel and Sharon.
Everyone will see the Lord’s splendor,
see God’s greatness and power.