What does it mean to be free…?

When people are released from prison, then what? What services and resources are available to help them reintegrate into a world that is very different from the world they may have known for years? a world where decisions are made for them…into a world filled with technology and activities they could not have imagined.

I’ve been reading the book Free by Lauren Kessler, a book that raises these questions and puts human faces to them. She follows six individuals on their journeys from prison to the outside world.

I have to admit, I had never thought of the barriers facing newly released inmates. This is an example of the privilege I have—this situation has never been part of my family experience, and I have just assumed that there are resources available.

There are…but they are not coordinated or easy to find. And a person needs to know how to navigate them, and if there is no one to help guide them through the process, it becomes easy to simply give up hope and return to what one has known.

On a gut level, I understand the desire for retribution, for revenge, when one has been violated in some way. But I also wonder if there isn’t a better way. Many of those currently locked in prison will be released—what can we do to help them adapt to a new world successfully?

Finding housing…getting a job…getting a driver’s license…these sound simple, but many don’t want ex-cons in their neighborhood. Without stable housing, it becomes almost impossible to get a job—if it’s even possible to find one that pays more than minimum wage (which isn’t a living wage).  And there are many jobs automatically closed to those who have been in prison.

Some have families who will support them, but others have families who have turned their backs on them—or whose families are toxic enough to suck them back into the life of crime and violence that they may be trying to escape. Is there some place else they can turn for support?

As a country, we have chosen to be “tough on crime”—and we are paying the consequences. That “toughness” has done incredible damage to many minorities, targeting them with severe punishment that has closed down their futures rather than finding ways to help them turn their lives around.

What if we chose to really focus on rehabilitation and restoration rather than simply punishment? That doesn’t mean allowing individuals to escape facing the consequences of their actions. The idea of restorative justice recognizes that crime harms everyone—the criminal, the victim, society—and focuses on repairing that harm as much as possible.

What would happen if that became the norm? What would happen if—as a country—we decided that it was worth it to create coordinated resources and support that would help newly released inmates find a positive way to become members of society? What would happen if we truly recognized that our criminal justice system is broken and we decided to refocus our efforts on healing rather than merely punishment?

Wouldn’t the world be a much better place for everyone?

One job…

I enjoy periodically googling “one job” and seeing just how badly someone can mess up a single job they’ve been given. There are some spectacular disasters!

But it’s not so much fun to think about just how badly those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus have messed up the single job he gave his followers.

It’s a job with two parts–but they’re connected together into a single one: Love.

That’s it. Love.

The first part is maybe the easiest–to love God with everything we have in us…heart, mind, soul. I think it may be easier because we aren’t looking face-to-face with God.

But the second part is where it gets challenging. We’re called to love our neighbors as ourselves. No “if,” “and,” or “but.” Love our neighbors as ourselves–and Jesus made it very clear that “neighbor” isn’t restricted to the people who live on our streets…or the people we know and get along with.

“Neighbor” is “the other”…those who look different from us…worship differently from us…have different political beliefs from us…

And this second part of the job is where we’ve royally screwed up.

I sometimes wonder if we really love ourselves…or do we hate ourselves that much? Because if the way we love others is the way we love ourselves, something is sadly lacking.

I see so much hatred directed toward those whose skin color is different…who loves differently…who worships differently…or any of a myriad differences because of our diversity. If we truly saw them as ourselves, would we still hate so much?

Love doesn’t mean we have to agree all the time. We won’t.

But love means celebrating each other…delighting in the diversity created in us by the One who created all of us in the divine image. Love means not fearing each other…listening to each other…learning from each other…working together…

If we truly want to be seen as followers of Jesus–as so many of us claim to be–then we need to step back and take a good look at ourselves.

We have one job. Jesus said everything else…absolutely everything else…rested on this two-part job. Maybe that’s why our world is so screwed up right now–because so far we’ve done a lousy job of doing what he asked us to do.

One job…love. Love God with everything we have…and love our neighbors–those who are “other”–as though they were us.

Love one another…can we do it?