Sent with Authority
Mark 6:7-13
July 9, 2006
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
There is an ancient Hindu folktale that tells the story of a tiger who happened to be raised with a herd of goats. This tiger ate grass like a goat, butted heads like a goat, even bleated like a goat. Then one day another tiger came into the clearing where the goats were feeding. There was no doubt about what this tiger thought he was. Seeing the goats he let out an earth shattering roar. While the goats fled in terror, the tiger -who was raised with the goats- hesitated. Some spark of recognition stirred inside him. Watching this great being, he flexed his muscles, feeling a call to something more. But he couldn't quite believe in himself or what he saw. A goat's life was all he had ever known and all he could truly imagine, so he turned and fled with the other goats.
Now there is nothing in the world wrong with behaving like a goat -if you're a goat. But there is something wrong with it, if you are, in fact, a tiger!
As individuals and as communities of faith we who have been called and commissioned by Christ, all too often act like tigers who have been raised with the goats -forgetting who we truly are and thus failing to live into the fullness of who we are created to become. Such was not the case for the first disciples -at least not in the story we heard read today from Mark's gospel.
"Jesus called the Twelve to him, and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition." [Mk 6:7-8] The disciples of Jesus were called, commissioned, empowered and sent with authority to do the very same things that Jesus did! Now there are times in the gospel stories where the disciples are less than they can be; but not this time. This time, Mark tells us "they preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits." [Mk 6:12-13] This time they dared to trust who they were and what they knew. This time they dared to trust themselves, because they trusted Jesus.
But just what is the authority and power with which Jesus sent those disciples and with which he just might also be sending us? This authority is an internal knowing, a lived experience; it is something expressed from the inside out. It's the authority of knowing who one is -a child of God- and what one's God-given, God-empowered gifts are. It's the authority of a tiger who knows he is a tiger and acts like one! And the power is the power of Divine Love, awakened; a power which, when the disciples dared to trust it and to live out of it, would heal and call forth its reflection in the heart of each and every person.
For more years than I care to acknowledge, I have from time to time experienced a stirring deep in my gut that totally unsettles me every time it comes. For instance 3-4 years ago at a Dances of Universal Peace workshop, in a discussion group about how we could use the Dances to make a difference in the world, the unbidden thought arose: "You need to take the Dances of Universal Peace to women in prison." When preparing a class on prayer and checking some on-line resources about the use of the Metta or Loving-Kindness Meditation, I came across an article that talked about the powerful effects that teaching inmates to use the metta had in one prison, and again I thought, "You work near a prison, you need to take the dances or meditation or something to the women there." When I was reading about one of the leaders in Interplay and his work with young men in the department of corrections, once more it came, "When are you going to contact the prison and do something?" Each time I have felt this stirring and had these thoughts, panic sets in and I immediately come up with some reason why I can not do it.
- 1 -
With this history in mind what happened at the recent Dream On Sisters event in Indianapolis is not too surprising. I was on my way to one of the Discovery Groups for which I had registered when I happened to pass by a group whose title was something like Women's Prison Ministry. It was in the room right next door to the group I really wanted to attend. I caught the now familiar flicker, attempted my usual dismissal and walked on to my assigned group, entered the room and sat down. At that point the nudging became somewhat less gentle, "You can get information about this workshop in a number of places. What's going on in the next room, you need to experience!" So I went.
The prison ministry workshop was led by Dana Blank, who until June of this year had been the Warden at the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. As Dana shared her story, I sat there spellbound. I don't recall and didn't write down what Dana said about the kind of career she had prepared for prior in college. I do remember her saying that she applied for a job at the prison because someone told her there were openings at the prison and she needed a job. She was hired and planned to stay only until she could get a job she really wanted. But the women and the system captured her heart and ignited her passion and for the past 38 years she has worked at the prison. What was and is remarkable about Dana is the insight she had into the needs of incarcerated women and her passion, her energy and her drive to do something to meet those needs.
Early on Dana recognized that some 80% of incarcerated women are mothers. One statistic she quoted was that something like 1.5 million children in our nation have at least one parent who is in prison. Under her visionary leadership the Indian Women's Prison has developed the Family Preservation Program which is a vast network of multidisciplinary services, both in the prison and outside, geared toward fostering healthy families. It includes things like parenting classes, a special children's visitation room with toys and activities and Day Camp -a once a year event where children are brought into the prison every day for a week to be with their mothers or grandmothers and do the kinds of things kids and moms on the outside might do. The aim of this program is to maintain bonds between the mother and child and stop the cycle of incarcerated moms, incarcerated kids. In addition inmates are given the opportunity to earn high school and college degrees, something which very few of them have when they enter the system. Another amazing program is one where inmates care for and become the primary trainers for dogs who will later become life-giving assistants to persons with a variety of disabilities. Caring for and training these dogs awakens compassion and caring in the women, things which have often been stunted due to their life situations. There are also a number of different programs to meet the spiritual needs of the prisoners including a group that combines a 12-step approach with teaching from a powerful spiritual work called A Course in Miracles. In 2004 a permanently installed Labyrinth was even opened within the prison gates. Through everything they do there is an atmosphere of respect for these women, who happen to be in prison.
"The thing is," Dana said, "we don't try to sugar coat things. These women have committed crimes and we make no bones about telling them again and again that what they did was wrong. But we also tell them that life doesn't have to be the same when they leave here. We tell them that they have the power to make things different. But saying that is useless without giving them the skills to make it so." Her philosophy must be right on target, because when asked about recidivism her co-presenter said that nation wide the recidivism rate for women is 67%. For the Indiana Women's Prison its 7%.
One can only imagine the untold numbers of women who have been freed from demons that haunted them, the children that have been rescued from a life of crime and the healing of lives -emotional, physical and spiritual- that has been triggered by the passion of one woman, who used her God-given, God empowered gifts to awaken in others a passion for justice, compassion and love.
- 2 -
I'm still not sure what the stirring in my belly is about or what I am being called to do with it. But one thing I do know for sure is that within each and every one of us lies the power of Divine Love to heal and transform, to empower and make new. When we dare to tap into that power, when we dare to live with the authority of tigers who know we are tigers, using our unique God-given God-empowered gifts it will make a difference in the world and just as importantly it will make a difference in our lives as well. We are sent with the authority of Divine Love, which will -if we dare to trust it- guide and empower us action by action and moment by moment to become the beautiful, awesome powerful tigers we were and are created to be. May we dare to go! Amen.
- 3 -
Mark 6:7-13
July 9, 2006
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
There is an ancient Hindu folktale that tells the story of a tiger who happened to be raised with a herd of goats. This tiger ate grass like a goat, butted heads like a goat, even bleated like a goat. Then one day another tiger came into the clearing where the goats were feeding. There was no doubt about what this tiger thought he was. Seeing the goats he let out an earth shattering roar. While the goats fled in terror, the tiger -who was raised with the goats- hesitated. Some spark of recognition stirred inside him. Watching this great being, he flexed his muscles, feeling a call to something more. But he couldn't quite believe in himself or what he saw. A goat's life was all he had ever known and all he could truly imagine, so he turned and fled with the other goats.
Now there is nothing in the world wrong with behaving like a goat -if you're a goat. But there is something wrong with it, if you are, in fact, a tiger!
As individuals and as communities of faith we who have been called and commissioned by Christ, all too often act like tigers who have been raised with the goats -forgetting who we truly are and thus failing to live into the fullness of who we are created to become. Such was not the case for the first disciples -at least not in the story we heard read today from Mark's gospel.
"Jesus called the Twelve to him, and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition." [Mk 6:7-8] The disciples of Jesus were called, commissioned, empowered and sent with authority to do the very same things that Jesus did! Now there are times in the gospel stories where the disciples are less than they can be; but not this time. This time, Mark tells us "they preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits." [Mk 6:12-13] This time they dared to trust who they were and what they knew. This time they dared to trust themselves, because they trusted Jesus.
But just what is the authority and power with which Jesus sent those disciples and with which he just might also be sending us? This authority is an internal knowing, a lived experience; it is something expressed from the inside out. It's the authority of knowing who one is -a child of God- and what one's God-given, God-empowered gifts are. It's the authority of a tiger who knows he is a tiger and acts like one! And the power is the power of Divine Love, awakened; a power which, when the disciples dared to trust it and to live out of it, would heal and call forth its reflection in the heart of each and every person.
For more years than I care to acknowledge, I have from time to time experienced a stirring deep in my gut that totally unsettles me every time it comes. For instance 3-4 years ago at a Dances of Universal Peace workshop, in a discussion group about how we could use the Dances to make a difference in the world, the unbidden thought arose: "You need to take the Dances of Universal Peace to women in prison." When preparing a class on prayer and checking some on-line resources about the use of the Metta or Loving-Kindness Meditation, I came across an article that talked about the powerful effects that teaching inmates to use the metta had in one prison, and again I thought, "You work near a prison, you need to take the dances or meditation or something to the women there." When I was reading about one of the leaders in Interplay and his work with young men in the department of corrections, once more it came, "When are you going to contact the prison and do something?" Each time I have felt this stirring and had these thoughts, panic sets in and I immediately come up with some reason why I can not do it.
- 1 -
With this history in mind what happened at the recent Dream On Sisters event in Indianapolis is not too surprising. I was on my way to one of the Discovery Groups for which I had registered when I happened to pass by a group whose title was something like Women's Prison Ministry. It was in the room right next door to the group I really wanted to attend. I caught the now familiar flicker, attempted my usual dismissal and walked on to my assigned group, entered the room and sat down. At that point the nudging became somewhat less gentle, "You can get information about this workshop in a number of places. What's going on in the next room, you need to experience!" So I went.
The prison ministry workshop was led by Dana Blank, who until June of this year had been the Warden at the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. As Dana shared her story, I sat there spellbound. I don't recall and didn't write down what Dana said about the kind of career she had prepared for prior in college. I do remember her saying that she applied for a job at the prison because someone told her there were openings at the prison and she needed a job. She was hired and planned to stay only until she could get a job she really wanted. But the women and the system captured her heart and ignited her passion and for the past 38 years she has worked at the prison. What was and is remarkable about Dana is the insight she had into the needs of incarcerated women and her passion, her energy and her drive to do something to meet those needs.
Early on Dana recognized that some 80% of incarcerated women are mothers. One statistic she quoted was that something like 1.5 million children in our nation have at least one parent who is in prison. Under her visionary leadership the Indian Women's Prison has developed the Family Preservation Program which is a vast network of multidisciplinary services, both in the prison and outside, geared toward fostering healthy families. It includes things like parenting classes, a special children's visitation room with toys and activities and Day Camp -a once a year event where children are brought into the prison every day for a week to be with their mothers or grandmothers and do the kinds of things kids and moms on the outside might do. The aim of this program is to maintain bonds between the mother and child and stop the cycle of incarcerated moms, incarcerated kids. In addition inmates are given the opportunity to earn high school and college degrees, something which very few of them have when they enter the system. Another amazing program is one where inmates care for and become the primary trainers for dogs who will later become life-giving assistants to persons with a variety of disabilities. Caring for and training these dogs awakens compassion and caring in the women, things which have often been stunted due to their life situations. There are also a number of different programs to meet the spiritual needs of the prisoners including a group that combines a 12-step approach with teaching from a powerful spiritual work called A Course in Miracles. In 2004 a permanently installed Labyrinth was even opened within the prison gates. Through everything they do there is an atmosphere of respect for these women, who happen to be in prison.
"The thing is," Dana said, "we don't try to sugar coat things. These women have committed crimes and we make no bones about telling them again and again that what they did was wrong. But we also tell them that life doesn't have to be the same when they leave here. We tell them that they have the power to make things different. But saying that is useless without giving them the skills to make it so." Her philosophy must be right on target, because when asked about recidivism her co-presenter said that nation wide the recidivism rate for women is 67%. For the Indiana Women's Prison its 7%.
One can only imagine the untold numbers of women who have been freed from demons that haunted them, the children that have been rescued from a life of crime and the healing of lives -emotional, physical and spiritual- that has been triggered by the passion of one woman, who used her God-given, God empowered gifts to awaken in others a passion for justice, compassion and love.
- 2 -
I'm still not sure what the stirring in my belly is about or what I am being called to do with it. But one thing I do know for sure is that within each and every one of us lies the power of Divine Love to heal and transform, to empower and make new. When we dare to tap into that power, when we dare to live with the authority of tigers who know we are tigers, using our unique God-given God-empowered gifts it will make a difference in the world and just as importantly it will make a difference in our lives as well. We are sent with the authority of Divine Love, which will -if we dare to trust it- guide and empower us action by action and moment by moment to become the beautiful, awesome powerful tigers we were and are created to be. May we dare to go! Amen.
- 3 -
