In Prison, Lonely
Originally scheduled for
October 4
Sherlock
Holmes called them the “agony columns.” They are the personal ads which even
yet appear in the newspapers, and increasingly on various web sites. A common
one comes from someone who is an inmate, seeking someone to write and perhaps
to visit. Prison is a surprisingly lonely life. You are surrounded by thousands
of sinners, each looking out for number one. You are therefore alone in a
crowd; you dare not seek help – for that betrays your weakness, and you will be
crushed. Surrounded, yet completely alone.
In
such a life the letter from outside is greatly prized; a visit is like a light
in a dark tunnel. For most prisoners, these things are rare. There may be
thousands of prisoners in the institution; a few dozen will get a visit.
Letters are a little more common, but also rare.
Those
of us outside may say, “It’s your own fault. Stew in your own juices.” That
is usually true – but does nothing to comfort the lonely.
In a
sense, we should understand this. We are all prisoners on Planet Earth. We
too are surrounded by sinners, who are admittedly more polite about it. And,
if you will, it’s our own fault, for we are sinners all. Our lives are no
doubt more pleasant than that of the prisoner, but our chance of being lonely
is still great. Consider that we trust our fellow sinners much more; when they
fail us the rejection and loneliness is even greater. We are serving a life
sentence; no hope but death.
But
for the Christian there is hope. Do we prize a letter from home? Yes, we have
a whole Bible full of them. We have not been left alone. Is not the Holy
Spirit, the Comforter, indwelling us? We have not been left alone. But the
great comfort comes at communion – it is a visit from our Lord. He tells us,
“this is my body.”
There
is greater hope than that. We celebrate this memorial until our Lord returns.
It is then that the bars of death will be torn away. We shall see the end of
tears and loneliness, and celebrate indeed.
