“How did the weekend go?”  That’s the question that almost everyone who knows that we just finished Kairos 12 asks.  It seems such a simple question, but one for which a simple answer like “Great!” is wholly inadequate.  During this time when so many are discussing “The Iraqi War Plan,” I wanted to say, “it followed the Plan when we didn’t get in the way!”  These weekends certainly have a plan.  Since our plan is highly scripted, literally down to the minute, by our nationally published manual there is even a certain sameness to these weekends.  There is also a sameness to the 42 men selected by the warden to attend the weekend, men sealed behind bars for society’s safety, but who are still pursued by a loving God unable to bear the loss of even one of His children.  There is an even certain predictability to how the candidates will respond and when and to what.  We always know, in advance, when to put boxes of tissues on the tables for those tough guys who never cry.

But there was a predictability to the manna that came every day for the Israelites during their forty years in the desert, and that didn’t make it any less a miracle.  I’m certain that after thirty-nine years there were still Israelites who would get up every day before dawn to see if they could figure out the ‘trick’ that created the manna.  I know there are some who wonder about the ‘trick’ that Kairos pulls off every six months.  Probably some see the delicious food prepared at a local church as the source of the ‘trick.’  Others might think the ‘trick’ is the brightly colored paper chain that is long enough to completely encircle the large prison chapel we use for the weekend, a chain whose links are made of people’s names.  Or perhaps the ‘trick’ is the bag of about a hundred personal letters that each of the 42 candidates receives during the weekend.  Perhaps the ‘trick’ is the different placemats used at each meal, since most, done by children in that “refrigerator art” style that can’t be duplicated end up being kept for years.  Some are sure that the ‘trick’ is the presence of more cookies than the men can eat, about 50,000 cookies altogether, enough to give a dozen to every one of the 3,000 inmates in the prison.

But those people are missing the real reason, just like the ancient Pharaoh did when Moses pulled out his bag of ‘tricks.’  It is God working through the hearts and prayers of the outside team that make the food so special.  It is that each name in that huge paper chain tells of someone who has pledged to spend a half hour at a specific time, in prayer, for those on the weekend.  It is the Christian message of love and the offer of God’s forgiveness found in those letters that touches the hearts of these tough men.  It is the faith of a child illustrated on those placemats that makes the difference, and it is the prayer baked into the cookies that gives them a special taste.

“Tricks” can be relied upon to elicit certain responses, responses that be predicted, but the body of Christ called the Church, working together to do God’s will, produces changes no trick can.  I want to give you two examples I saw this weekend.  The first was a man who seemed to have been able to resist all the ‘tricks’ of the weekend; then on Sunday afternoon, at a simple birthday party, his heart, that had been too hard to let anyone in, broke.  When asked “What do you think of the party?” I heard him say, “I’ve always wondered what a birthday party looked like; I’ve never been to one.  I never got invited as a kid; and the one I got invited to later got busted by the cops before I got there.”  Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he lost the power to resist God’s love.  The second is harder to explain, you have to understand that the most racist places in the world are our prisons.  You also have to know that the weak are targets and are always exploited.  One of the candidates, a small white man, had some disease that caused him to lose control over his body.  His head, arms and legs were in constant motion, and he walked in a bent over amble that screamed ‘target of opportunity.’  I confess that I was a little apprehensive when I saw him in the grip of a large black man in an area removed from most of the group, until I saw what that man was doing, he was cutting the white man’s toenails.  Toenails as filthy as those of the disciple’s feet that Jesus washed.  Strangers Thursday, now brothers.

Frequently God can make the best use of us when we are willing to be a servant.  I know that black gang member’s service made a difference in my life even if it didn’t affect the man he was serving.  I want those who baked cookies, colored placemats, wrote letters or who spent time on their knees in prayer to know that this weekend “followed the plan,” that it was “predictable,” but you knew that.  Christ said that faith can move mountains, and your faith demonstrated it in what you did:  moved those men onto a new path, a path of freedom even if they never leave prison.  With today’s huge trucks and tools, moving mountains seemed more likely.

Reb Bacchus