Keokuk Internship: Prison Diversity

OK, I’ll admit: when I first read through the curriculum for the Community Bible Study (CBS) at the prison in Ft. Madison, I was skeptical. The curriculum made a lot of assumptions without addressing some of the theological background issues. This section is on the resurrection and it seemed to ignore the historical issues surrounding docetism and other sects of Christianity. Granted, it would be incredibly difficult for people who hadn’t read some of the historical analyses or authors’ actual works to teach or even participate in a bible study that acknowledged them. Nevertheless, when I was reading the CBS curriculum, I thought it was simplistic and would help only certain types of Christians — those who need there to be only one right answer.

I went into tonight with a lot of unknowns. Tom and Larry (his co-leader from the E-free church) had told me on the ride up about the procedure once we get there. I had somewhat of an idea of what to expect, but there were still a lot of uncertainties. Would the guards be mean? Would the prisoners even pay attention? What kind of leaders would Tom and Larry be?

When I got there tonight, I was astounded. First off, all of the prisoners gave us hugs when they came into the room and we all sat around, had a prayer session, and then sang some songs. And can they sing! Some of them made these harmonies on top of the songs that sounded phenomenal. Anyway, the prisoners (and really anyone who participates in a CBS group) gets a commentary sheet to read on the chapter and then a couple pages of questions — it’s more homework for each chapter than even Dr. Grant assigned.

When we started going through the questions, Larry would ask the questions and the guys would come up with so many different answers. It was great. Larry and Tom kept encouraging them to share. When we go to the second prison and were meeting with the leadership team, Tom made sure to point out that many answers were encouraged and the Holy Spirit impacts each reader differently. No kidding! It didn’t only impact each reader, but each hearer tonight.

It was great to watch the leadership team work in the second prison. The first one was a medium-security prison while the second was a maximum-security. One of the guys who led the discussion by asking questions was named Jesse. Tom and Larry shared that he’s doing hospice work as a prisoner; I can see why — he’s so pastoral! His mannerisms and the voice inflection he used to ask questions were perfect for getting the guys to share. He’d call on them when needed, but often times he’d just wait and they’d all contribute. The curriculum worked wonderfully and there was more diversity there than I see on many campus ministry settings. In the end, Tom closed us with a lecture (sermon with notes). He did a wonderful job in sharing different ways that we react to the resurrection and how much we accept it. What surprised me, coming from what I’d gathered in previous conversations with him, was that he defended doubt as a viable option but still encouraged those who doubted to keep asking the questions and to keep searching. He described it as natural! He’s a natural. What an exhausting day and night — it sure was a great note to end it on, however.