Can We Put Our Hands To The Plow?

December 19, 2023 - News from PINC

Michelle Alexander (author of “The New Jim Crow”) says in this interview about fighting the US caste system “I am deeply saddened that been so little resistance from people of faith (to the inhumane, racist penal system.) Certainly there have been many wonderful people who have worked within prisons over the years, tutoring and ministering to people behind bars, people who have performed wonderful acts of charity for those released from prison, helping to feed and clothe them ……but I find shockingly few examples of faith communities really coming together to organize and speak out collectively against a criminal justice system that flies in the face of so many of the values Christians claim to hold dear.”

Could our community of faith (COS Prisoners in Christ) come together to organize and affirm that God works wonders when God shows up in a prison solitary confinement cell? Certainly, as the paragraph next to Troy’s self-portrait in the 2023 O Antiphons service stated, we want to “pray for Troy and all others in the process of reentry that they may be free from the trauma of the prison.” Haven’t we been doing that for a long time? Have we been stuck in a perpetual waiting season? Let’s proclaim: Now has Christ appeared! It’s time to praise God for faithfully and miraculously answering prayers – for breaking through the darkness. O star of wonder, star of night! Star with royal beauty bright. (For)ward leading, still proceeding. – Guide us to thy perfect light! When Christ came to Troy in the darkness and shadows of the prison walls, Troy was transformed from a poor, pathetic prisoner of the state to a Prisoner IN Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and power, prepared to do good works (Ephesians 2:10). He began practicing, moving beyond potential, with divine knowledge of his purpose in life: pastoring a flock to which God led him, whether in prison or Pontiac (where he now lives and works.) Can we put our hands to the plow, plan and plant with him?