May I speak in the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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One day God was looking down at earth and saw all of the misbehaving that was going on.  So he called one of his angels to go to Earth for a time.  When he returned, the angel told God, 'Yes, it is very bad on Earth; 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not.'   God thought for a moment and said, 'Maybe I had better send down another angel to get a second opinion.  So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time too.  When the angel returned he went to God and said, 'Yes, it's true. The Earth is in decline; 95% are misbehaving, and only 5% are being good.'   God was not pleased. So he decided to e-mail the 5% who were good, because he wanted to encourage them, give them a little something to help them keep going.  Do you know what the e-mail said?   No?   Okay, just checking with you. I didn't get one either...

Today is Prisoners Sunday, and I am here to speak to you because as Volunteer Co-ordinator for MUDPIES, the Mothers’ Union and Diocesan Prison Initiatives, I am fairly well acquainted with both of our local prisons.  

 ‘You do the crime, you pay the time’. In other words, those who choose to commit a crime, only have themselves to blame if they end up in prison.  So what is crime?   If I asked you personally, you would probably say something along the lines of, ‘breaking the law’, yes?  But who makes the law?

Our government…Society….. We do.  So in fact crime is a social construct, because it doesn’t exist until we make laws, and it is time, place and culture specific.   We know that laws change frequently and we hear discussions about this on the news: the criminalisation and de-criminalisation of certain drugs, the raising of the age of criminal responsibility, the lowering of the age of consent. Then there is the smacking of children and assisted suicide, topics that can drive the mildest person into a complete frenzy …... And do you remember the outcry of many when abortion was legalised?

Jesus broke the Jewish Sabbath law 2,000 years ago by picking corn ^{(Mark 2: 23-24)}, and when he healed the paralysed man he not only broke the Jewish law himself, but also told the man to carry his bed, something else forbidden on the Sabbath ^{(John 5: 8-17)}. In Old Testament times, David broke the Jewish law by eating the priests’ bread, and also giving it to his men because they were all hungry ^{(Mark 2: 25-26)}.  And then of course, laws differ from country to country ……remember the old ‘Crime of Passion’ in France?  That has been rescinded now, but at one time it was not against the law in France, if, for instance, you killed your wife in a terrible rage because you unexpectedly caught her in flagrante delecti  with the gardener.  So the law is changing all the time.  What was legal yesterday may be illegal today – and vice versa.  Consequently the 80,000 or so inmates currently being detained at her Majesty’s pleasure in England and Wales, are not all desperate criminals who have done despicable things, although many have of course. Some will even be innocent, although they were found guilty by the courts and sentenced.

Are these prisoners worthless or talented? Indeed are YOU, worthless or talented?

In today’s Gospel reading we had the parable of the talents which provides a strong contrast between those servants who received talents from their master and developed them, and the one servant who was regarded as worthless/ because he did nothing with his talent.   One Biblical commentary I consulted says that the worthless servant stands for the scribes and Pharisees who wanted to keep everything as it was, to maintain the status quo, both in their attitude to the Law and to God.  This attitude had the effect of paralysing religious truth.  It then goes on to say that in this parable, “Jesus tells us there can be no religion without adventure, and that God can find no place for the shut mind”.  The parable does however tell us much more than this:  Firstly that we have all been given talents, gifts and abilities from God – including the prisoners – and it is our responsibility to use and develop them.  They are all different, but it is not the actual talent that matters, what does matter is how we use our talents.  That we use then for good, not for evil.

God never demands anything we don’t already have or can’t do.  OK we may have to work at it, develop it, study it, but God will not ask us to use a talent we simply don’t have – which is why He will never ask me to wire a circuit-board or to be a ballet dancer!   OK, so at times I am finding my Reader-training difficult, but because God has called me, I know that He will equip me with the talents and skills I need for the task He has set.

Secondly, the parable tells us that the reward for a job well done is……yes, you’ve got it, more work!  The two servants who doubled their talents were given even more to do, with even greater responsibility.  Their boss didn’t pat them on the head or give them a bonus. But then they would actually have been slaves, not paid servants at all and would have known right from the outset that they were doing it for the boss.  Actually that’s rather like doing things for our church, isn’t it.  If you volunteer or are press-ganged into doing a task and do it well, the next time they want the same job done they ask you! 

The third thing this parable tells us is that the man who is punished is the man who did nothing with his talent.  Mind you, this servant didn’t exactly help his own cause, because he even told his master exactly what he thought of him, blaming him for his own inactivity; calling him harsh and accusing him of being a rapacious capitalist.  It can be very easy to think that our own talent is so small and worthless that there is no point in doing anything with it.  So easy to blame others for our own lack of effort; because somebody else can do it better.  The condemnation in this parable is for the man who has just one, small talent, and does nothing with it, will not risk using it.  So now I ask you again, are the prisoners worthless or talented? Are YOU worthless or talented?

In prison there is opportunity for the men to discover and develop their gifts for the benefit of society.  Much time is invested in a rehabilitation programme that is vital to the re-integration of offenders into society upon their release, enabling them to live creative lives and to prevent re-offending. 

Both prisons in our diocese are now male establishments.  Chelmsford prison takes 695 and Bullwood Hall now takes 228.  That is 923 husbands, sons and fathers in prison in Essex, while their wives, children and parents wait at home.  So who serves the sentence?

"They also serve who only stand and wait", is a well-known line from one of Milton's Sonnets and although written in 1673, it very accurately describes the women and children who are waiting for and serving the sentence with their loved ones.  When a person is sent to prison, their families and friends can suffer shame, stigma, loneliness, and bring with it many serious financial, emotional and social implications.  A recent government study estimated that 45% of prisoners lose contact with their family whilst imprisoned, and 22% of married prisoners divorce or separate as a consequence of receiving a custodial sentence.  Yet research has shown that  families play an important part in effective prisoner resettlement because prisoners who maintain strong family relationships are much less likely to re-offend.  This in turn, helps the community.

In a growing number of programmes across Britain and Ireland, MU volunteers are aiming to reverse divorce and separation rates; using their talents to help support prisoners and their families, encouraging them to develop nurturing relationships, even whilst separated by imprisonment. 

The voluntary sector is essential in supporting the prison system and the support the MU gives to families is invaluable to the prisoners.   In our diocese members of our congregations join with MU members to do this sterling work and the role of MUDPIES is to support the needs of the children and of families at visiting time.  We provide a safe supervised play area and a friendly face in the alien prison environment which enable families to be together without the stress of bored children.  In addition we provide a sympathetic ear to the Mums and the children.

Chelmsford is lucky enough to have a purpose-built play area in the Visits Hall.  We provide toys/ and supervise play on Saturdays & Sundays.  Also Wednesdays during school holidays.  We are soon to be involved in providing skilled assistants for regular sessions called 'Me and My Dad' when children are brought into the prison to relate individually to their fathers.

Until 2 years ago Bullwood Hall at Hockley took women but is now a male prison for foreign nationals.  There we welcome the visitors on Saturday afternoons and serve cups of tea before going into the visits hall to supervise the children’s play area.   

The governors of Bullwood Hall have now asked that in addition to the play area, we provide a wider range of skills to enhance the lives of prisoners and their resettlement into their home society. These include:

·        help with literacy

·        listening skills

·        visiting those without their own visitors

·        language skills

·        teaching therapeutic and life enhancing skills, e.g handicrafts

So we need volunteers, both male and female, at both prisons. What talents, small or large, are needed?

·        A love of children

·        Compassion

·        A sense of fun and a warm heart

·        Teaching skills

·        Language skills

·        Listening skills

The condemnation in today’s parable is for the man who has just one, small talent, and does nothing with it.

Do you have a talent that is not being used?

Will you risk using it for the common good?

AMEN