Prison ministry lives forgiveness.

Byline: FROM HEART TO HEART By Tom English For The Register-Guard

Recently, I began meeting with an insightful and articulate inmate at the Lane County Jail. He poured forth stories of his life: poverty, abuse, abandonment, betrayal and some very bad decisions. But also an early childhood of love and laughter and an amazing awareness, by a little boy, of Jesus Christ.

Returning to Eugene from military service, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome, but before he could get treatment he got into trouble with the law. We met weekly in the Rite of Reconciliation of a Penitent for six weeks. Each session ended with the declaration of forgiveness, each time my friend wept, each time the Holy Spirit renewed us to continue so that healing could begin.

This was not just about another tragic life, but every tragic life: Jesus walked through the locked doors of our small room at the Lane County Jail. He breathed on us and we were alight with the Spirit.

Two months ago my friend was sent off to the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. At St. Mary's Episcopal Church, we continue to include him in our Prayers of the People.

Recently I received a letter from this young man:

Dear Deacon Tom,

I sure do miss seeing you every week. Many times when we were talking I was convinced that you would stop coming to see me. Each time I left the room, I thought, "He won't be back." But every time you came back again; you defeated my defenses and each time it was harder to put them back

up ...

There is still a lot of rebuilding to be done, but because you cared and you shared the Holy Spirit in you with me, the hardest part is behind. You showed me the Lord's love and gave me an ample helping of your own. You showed me what the Lord meant by unconditional, and I will always be grateful. You believed in me and that will forever stay with me.

My friend rightly credits the Lord for his reconnection to God, but it was St. Mary's Jail/Prison Ministry and the Diocesan Prison Ministry Commission that provided the opportunity for him to hear that "still small voice." There is the same Christ in all inmates. Through this contact, the Holy Spirit has rekindled my own spirit for a ministry in a place that too often succumbs to the gray specter that haunts our criminal justice system. Deep down many feel what some openly say, "that nothing works."

Jesus tells us, "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"

Indeed, what are we going to do with the 600,000 prisoners who leave our jails and prisons each month? We need to help offenders develop the knowledge, experience and courage to rejoin their neighbors. The hurdle remains, however, that when they do come home, we all too often refuse to forgive them.

My friend and I were able to share Eucharist the day before he left our jail. I encouraged him not to let the label "felon" define him, but to move forward with courage into that challenging picture of whom I trust our Lord is calling him to be.

Tom English is an ordained deacon at St. Mary's Episcopal Church and a volunteer chaplain at the Lane County Jail. This column is coordinated by Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries, a network of more than 35 spiritual traditions in the Eugene-Springfield area. For more information, call 344-5693 or visit www.interfaitheugene.org.