5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This was the Installation Service for our pastor, Jeff Gwilt.
Ephesians 1:1–12 (ESV)
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
It is interesting the requests that are made after the story of forgiveness after Jon’s death is presented – the issues that prisoners wish to talk to me about – somehow, they must feel I can relate and conversely, they say they can identify with me in some manner. One such incident follows.
A Christian prisoner who had been attending our weekly bible study at what was the Straits Correctional Facility signed up for the Keryx weekend. He was a very mild-mannered man – quiet, peaceful-appearing. As we know from Alice In Wonderland, though, things are not always as they appear. Such was the case with this man.
It is surprising what issues people are hiding. People may appear very content, at peace, with no issues that are percolating, over either the short-term or over a period of many years. Our church culture, to some degree, can be so that a person can have the sense that to express these issues to anyone would be a matter of shame. We don’t do a very good job of enabling and encouraging people to deal openly with topics such as arise here, and going further, allowing people to obey James 5:16.
The Saturday session arrived and nothing seemed different with my friend. After I made my presentation which included the story of Jon’s death and forgiveness, my friend requested some time and we were granted some time and place to talk. The Keryx weekends at that prison are conducted in the prison gymnasium, with tarps stretched across the gym at various places to serve as ‘walls” of sorts, dividing the gym into “rooms.” In the center is the room used as a chapel and around the edge of the room are some metal bleachers. We sat on one of the metal bleachers.
The conversation was very generic and he didn’t appear to have any real issues, until he became very quiet. He started to squirm – literally. Beads of sweat popped up on his forehead and this was all within 30 seconds. I said nothing. The bleacher started to rock a little as he squirmed. Then all of a sudden, “POW!!” He punched the metal bleacher with everything he had and it made this very loud noise – VERY loud – a noise that rang through the gym. The chaplain popped his head around the corner of the trap and said, “Everything OK?” I said “Yes,” as the man got up and started to pace around the room. I walked over to him and he just wanted to be alone. I asked the chaplain if we could go into another room where we would be behind a closed door and he said he would take care of it, which we did after a few minutes.
This man was in his late 40′s. The issue? he had been hiding it for 40 years. When he was about eight years old he and his friend of the same age were invited to a bible camp by a man. They got permission, signed up and went. They became friends with this man who took great interest in their lives. Too much interest. The interest quickly turned sexual. The man molested my friend and his friend for two years. At bible camp. At Christian gatherings. The shame and fear turned to anger as my friend grew up. The anger bubbled for 40 years and finally came out in the furious punching of the bleacher.
By the time the day ended, after our service focusing on forgiveness, my friend had forgiven the man. The next day, when he returned, I asked him how he had slept. He had told me the day before he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in 40 years. He said, “I slept straight through the whole night. It was great.” Praise God.
The power unforgiveness holds over a person is incredible, even for the Christian. Praise God for the grace given to this man, even after 40 years of torment. Praise God.
In a post back in 2010, I wrote concerning an ex-prisoner friend of mine who had been gunned down in yet another senseless street killing. Richard Joiner was a young man who had been released from prison and was trying to do the right things with his life when he was killed. Several months later, a memorial service was held that was directed primarily toward having Rick’s/Red’s (I knew him as “Red” Joiner as did most at the prison where we met. Since then, I have found out that many prisoners elsewhere in the system knew him as “Rick” – hence the dual nicknames) friends from that bible study have an opportunity to eulogize him, which did not occur at the service immediately following his death.
Christian Faith Missionary Baptist Church (courtesy of Google Maps)
The service was held at Christian Faith Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, where Yusef Qualls is the pastor. Mr. Qualls is Red’s stepfather (unbeknownst to me was his status as stepfather – not until after the video below was taken did I find out that he was not Red’s birth father, which will explain my referring to him as “Mr. Joiner – I just knew him as Red’s dad). Mr. Qualls ministers in Detroit – a city that we all know has fallen upon hard times. The streets there do not have much hope. He has a difficult ministry, to say the least.
The video you will see is part of a much longer video, where several former prisoners (all of whom, by the grace of God, have not returned to the Michigan Department of Corrections) also spoke along with the chaplain at the prison where we knew Red. The video had never been edited until recently and I am posting my contribution to the service. Remember that I am a layman and not a trained minister (as evidenced by my death grip on the pulpit) or highly educated, just a man who loves his Lord and who loved Red and many like him who wore (and wear) state blue and have a number.
The audio quality is not the best, so you will have to turn your speakers up to hear.
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
