Who is your neighbor?
How well do you know your neighbors?
Are there neighbors you try to avoid?
Is there something in your neighborhood that has been there for years that you suddenly noticed for the first time? That happened to me today, I drove past San Quentin Prison, which is only 4.7 miles from my home. Okay, this wasn’t the first time I have noticed it in the four years that I have lived in the neighborhood; I actually drive past it all the time. Its campus is 432 acres and has the capacity to house 3,317 inmates, but due to popular demand, it actually has 5,967 residents. Nearly 6,000 neighbors that I never want to meet and am happy are off the streets live there. These are the neighbors I avoid! Do these folks really count as my neighbors? Many of these neighbors have done some very evil acts and have hurt and damaged countless people and deserve to be locked-away from society. If they are in prison, they don’t count as neighbors, do they? I sure hope not.
It is hard to miss San Quentin for it sits on the bay with a spectacular view of San Francisco and Oakland surrounded by million-dollar homes in of the most beautiful areas in the world. It is the only way for most folks in San Quentin to ever have an opportunity to live Marin County. Although only 2% of the population here in Marin attend church services, you would not know it by the cars we drive, for there are more Hummers, Mercedes S-series, and 7-Series BMW’s than in Beverly Hills. We are "blessed", praise Jesus.
Like I said, it wasn’t the first time I noticed San Quentin, it was the first time I paid attention to the reality that we execute people in my neighborhood. In a way, it is like having a human waste dump. Imagine if there was a trash dump in your neighborhood. We want to dump our waste and valueless, unredeemable trash, but not in the neighborhood! Right here where those of us who are blessed-- surf, sail and dine. You may not know this but San Quentin boasts the state’s only gas chamber and death row for all male condemned inmates, still it is not much of a tourist site. My friends and family who visit like the Wine Country, Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz, but we tend to avoid San Quentin. As a matter of fact, San Quentin is the last place I want to visit for any reason. (NOTE: My friend is gay and he says he sometimes feels treated like the inmates by parts of the church. He is glad there are no gas chambers at church.)
Funny, I have some friends who serve as chaplains at San Quentin and visit the inmates weekly. I used to think they had more guts than I did. Then I thought I had more sense than they did. Now I am wondering if they just have more faith or compassion than I do? Maybe they just take the "love your neighbor as yourself" way more seriously than I do.
5 Comments:
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oh, boy. i hate being the lead-off batter on a topic like this, but there are reasons for everything, i suppose.
visiting the imprisoned is actually scriptural, but i am sure you knew that:
Matthew 25:...Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'what a unique opportunity you have been given! do you think the Lord is trying to stretch you? we all look for ways to serve and be of service, choosing the seemingly *socially acceptable* ways of doing so...i won't enumerate because i am not trying to belittle any form of volunteerism. however, the less palatable ways of volunteering? i would venture a guess that prison visitations would be up there on the list.
wonder why God has you thinking about it, or better yet, why it's in your own backyard?
What if loving your nighbour actually meant, well, your neighbour? The young couple across the street, the elderly woman down the hall, the Iranian man in the variety store around the corner... what if it was really that simple?
Thanks for the comments.
Yes, scripture does teach that we are to visit prisoners. Yes, our neighbors are those folks we come in contact each day.
The mandate is to LOVE my neighbor, not to be NICE to my neighbor. I am nice to all my neighbors, I'm not so hot at LOVING them, especially those I don't like.
Thanks!
Rick
Thanks for the comments.
Yes, scripture does teach that we are to visit prisoners. Yes, our neighbors are those folks we come in contact each day.
The mandate is to LOVE my neighbor, not to be NICE to my neighbor. I am nice to all my neighbors, I'm not so hot at LOVING them, especially those I don't like.
Thanks!
Rick
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