Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Prison Packs

Saw something unique last Sunday when I went for the service at the Willow Creek Church, South Barrington (Chicago).  The whole congregation was packing Christmas gifts for the prisoners. 






The sense of involvement by every parishioner was written on each one's face. Like Heather Larson said "we want to be a church not only about words, but a church with action. We want to roll up our sleeves and do something now to bring hope to those who are in prison" She explained everything in detail, as to what has to be packed and how. 


Bryan Stevenson who is the founder of Equal Justice Initiative, is responsible for the reversal (or relief) of 125 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row. He says in 1972 US had three hundred thousand prisoners. To day the figure stands at 2.3 million people. His key word is "Redemption"

While this was going on, the kids were in an adjacent enclosure doing their bit and helping in the packing. 


Later all held up the bags and prayed before it was packed into boxes and labelled. 






I have put what ever I could capture into a short video so that you can see the flow of event.
I hope to attend one more service this coming Sunday before I leave Chicago. (the music and the singing is something that is very appealing)