The Wolf of Wall Street On Christmas Day: The Wolf, Sheep & Goats: Matt 25:31-46

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut

The Wolf of Wall Street On Christmas Day:

The Wolf, Sheep & Goats: Matt 25:31-46

These actual comments and replies from

 Forbes concern Mark Hughes' review of

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

and its opening on Christmas Day. 

Please feel free to add your thoughts and comments 

to this conversation either below 

or online at Forbes.  

__________________________

• Rev. Jeff Grant 1 week ago
  We have the first ministries in the US to support the families of persons accused or convicted of white-collar and other nonviolent crimes. As see it, the biggest tragedy of all about white-collar and nonviolent crime is not how big the matter is, or sensationalized the headlines – it is in our failure to see it as a human story, with real people, real brokenness, and real families left behind. I went to prison for a white-collar crime myself, so I am especially concerned that this movie does nothing to help.
  
  Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
  Director, Progressive Prison Project/ Innocent Spouse & Children Project
  Christ Church Greenwich
  254 East Putnam Avenue
  Greenwich, Connecticut 06830 USA
  
  Assoc. Minister /
  Director of Prison Ministries
  First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
  126 Washington Avenue, 1st Fl.
  Bridgeport, Connecticut 06604
  progressiveprisonproject.org
  
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• Author
  Mark Hughes, Contributor 1 week ago
  I think the film actually does an excellent job of balancing the need to make clear the personal responsibility of the people involved and how widespread such behavior is — and our need to definitely stop it and hold those guilty responsible — with the need to show the human side of the equation in terms of the lives left shattered by those responsible for these crimes and the human side of the lives of the criminals themselves.
  
  There’s no point in trying to pretend they didn’t do terrible, selfish, cruel things that caused a great deal of damage to so many other people’s lives, while also causing trauma and suffering in their own families. The film doesn’t shy away from that at all, while also clearly showing that these folks committing these crimes were not some sort of pure Bond-villain evil incarnations lacking any potential for redemption and feelings of guilt and pain over what they did.
  
  That many of them chose to give up on redemption, or attempted to “earn” redemption without fully accepting responsibility for the damage they caused, is their choice of course and very unfortunate. It’s pretty important to remember that the people involved in these crimes suffered relatively short sentences at comfortable facilities and in some cases have paid very little of the money back — they made hundreds of millions of dollars, lived very elite, privileged lives for a long time at the great expense of other people, and then when caught and punished for years of broken laws they got off pretty easy while our prisons are stuffed to the gills with nonviolent drug offenders suffering terrible conditions, abuse, and years in prison for crimes that didn’t really harm anyone else the way these white collar criminals exploited and robbed so many people. When considering the broken lives and families left behind in these particular cases, let’s not forget that the vast majority of lives damaged by these events were the large numbers of people robbed of their life savings or of large portions of their income by the guilty parties in this story.
  
  It’s possible to demonstrate the ugly truth of what happened, the larger message about what it reflects about our society and our priorities, the shocking problem of lack of true accountability in such situations, and the human stories about all of the people harmed and exploited by these criminals, but also present the criminals themselves as human beings who did often experience a wide array of emotions and pain during the course of the pain they caused others. It’s a very complex story, and this film absolutely represents that complexity in remarkable fashion. A very strong indication of how well it presents the humanity of the story and even of the most guilty parties is the fact that many people have made the mistake of interpreting it as “glorifying” or “justifying” their actions, claims that are not remotely accurate but stem from misunderstanding about the film’s excellent portrayals and strong balance of the human stories involved.
  
  
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• Rev. Jeff Grant 1 week ago
  Mr. Hughes, sincere thanks for your sincere and thoughtful words – truly the kind of message we try to impart in our ministries. Ours is exactly the kind of conversation that is important if we are ever going to be real thought leaders, and on-the-ground change agents, in what you rightly point out as a complex problem. But it in this complexity, perhaps the first steps are always about commitment to, as the late Michael Jackson said, “take a look at yourself and then make a change.” He wasn’t the first to note this:
  
  “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.” Matt. 25:41-43
  Let’s take a brief look at what the The Wolf of Wall Street has shown us thus far:
  
  On Christmas Day. On Christmas Day…. Coming to a theater near you, On Christmas Day.
  
  We’ve seen these commercials on television and on the Internet for months. Leonardo Dicaprio – arms flung wide open in full Christ the Savior flagrenti delicto – announcing to the World that The Wolf of Wall Street is Coming to a theater near you on Christmas Day.
  
  Doesn’t this disturb you somehow? It sickens me.
  
  And millions of people will line up to see the spectacle. But there is no crown of thorns in Mr. Scorsese’s Christmas message, no rapture, no risen Christ and message of hope. Just a lot of greedy second rate hustlers who stole a lot of people’s money, and Hollywooders who will make even more off of it – without returning one nickel to the victims.
  On Christmas Day.
  
  Well here’s another Hollywood message Mr. Scorsese – in the words of Howard Beal: We’re Mad as Hell, and We’re Not Going to Take It Anymore!
  Well, you know that’s not exactly true – we’re going to take it plenty. We’re going to line up and watch this sordid and exagerated tale, take schadenfreude in the downfall of your caricatures, and read sycophant reviews about brilliance and humanitarianism as you all collect your golden statuettes.
  
  It is not our job to judge you (although judged we all shall be). But we do have a suggestion for everybody who is able…
  Instead of going to a movie and checking out on Christmas Day, why not go into your own heart and open it, start really speaking to your partner, friend or a family member about the things you feel and need to say, knock on your child’s door and get down on the floor and play with him, read the real Christ story out loud with your family and share the reasons that Jesus brings the message of hope and renewal into our lives, find a family whose father, mother, son or daughter is in prison and invite them into your home, implore your church or faith institution to start an “in-reach” program for people in your own neighborhood who are suffering in silence, and start recognizing that we are all the same.
  
  We live, we make mistakes and God gives us the opportunity to live second, more faithful lives- whether fallen “Wall Street” hedge funders or South Central gang bangers. We are all fragile people bonded by our brokenness.
  
  On Christmas Day.
  
  Blessings,
  Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
  Director, Progressive Prison Project/ Innocent Spouse & Children Project
  Christ Church Greenwich
  254 East Putnam Avenue
  Greenwich, Connecticut 06830 USA
  Assoc. Minister /
  Director of Prison Ministries
  First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
  126 Washington Avenue, 1st Fl.
  Bridgeport, Connecticut 06604 USA
  our website:
  progressiveprisonproject.org
  
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• Cinders 5 days ago
  Bologna. It’s the worst movie (or one of the worst) I have ever seen. The more he (Scorsese) uses sex and drugs, the more I know he doesn’t have a well-constructed story. He needs to have a lot of therapy, THEN make another movie.
  
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• Author
  Mark Hughes, Contributor 3 days ago
  Then I’d just say you need to do more assessing of what constitutes a well-constructed story. If sex an drugs in a film depicting literal true events offends you, that’s different from whether or not the story itself is well-made. Scorsese’s films are realistic depictions of the worlds about which he tells stories, many of them (most, in fact, for the last many years) based on actual events. These are great films, and that doesn’t change just because some viewers are too offended by the reality of the events depicted. That so many people wrongheadedly also seem to think the films are endorsing the behavior further demonstrates how far from accurate are those viewer’s perceptions of what constitutes a well-constructed story.
  
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• Stacy Wilde 4 days ago
  I don’t know who the “we” is in your article “We almost seem to admire it, and the film is subtly telling us this is why the excess exists, and why it is punished so modestly — not merely because those with the power are addicted to it and abuse it, but because the vast majority of the rest of us allow it to go on and on some level imagine that perhaps we’ll be invited to the party, too.”I have to wonder about the writer of this article who feels that the vast majority of us want to be invited to that kind of party. The vast majority of people I know could never live with themselves for a minute if they did what these people did in real life. There are many articles on line by people who were directly affected by this gang of thieves, one mans daughter who’s family was completely destroyed, investors who lost everything, agents who spend years of their lives trying to nail these guys. All I know is any time I’ve ever been sent over even as little as a drink at a bar in downtown NY by a group of these kind of hustlers I refuse the drinks, as my girlfriends do too because we find these kinds of men disgusting. We’ll make our own way and our own money in this world with hard work and integrity and a with good decent man beside us with a strong moral compass. What’s Marty’s point in that scene towards the end of the film with the agent on the subway who busted Jordan now reflecting on his ride home , he’s taken down all these crooks but he’s still “sweating his balls off riding the subway” one of Jordan’s lines to him when they first meet. He’s the only appealing character in the film, he’s the hero. He’s who I admire in the film. I’d be the one sending him a drink at a bar, hoping he’d accept.
  
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• Author
  Mark Hughes, Contributor 3 days ago
  The “we” is the broad public in general who too often seem to admire precisely this sort of behavior, even while they often also pretend not to. It includes the rather large number of people who DO engage in precisely that sort of partying, the large number who excuse that kind of behavior, and the large number who don’t do it or openly excuse it but who on some level are jealous of it. If you don’t think those people exist, then you’re mistaken.
  To interpret this as an endorsement of the events is to entirely miss the point of what I actually said, and of what the film actually says. These things happened, and they kept happening and continue to happen in different ways while our government and courts and society allow it to happen and express little outrage unless/until it directly personally affects them in a directly personally negative way. When we go about our lives letting this happen so often and doing little or nothing to stand up against it or demand it stop, then it’s going to keep happening and we will have our own measure of guilt and blame for it. That doesn’t remotely erase the guilt and blame of those who are directly responsible for it, but shaking our heads and pretending it only happens because of immoral hustlers — rather than because the system allows it and the public largely does nothing to indicate we care — is willful blindness to the reality of what happened and why.
  
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• Rev. Jeff Grant 3 days ago
  Mr. Hughes, I’ve been following The Wolf of Wall Street online comments & replies closely, and I have a couple of things to add that might be helpful.
  
  You end your article by stating that this movie “is a film that speaks to our times.” In my experience, this is simply not the case. We have supplied spiritual support to many people accused or convicted of white-collar crimes and/or their families – the events portrayed in this movie have nothing to do with current themes that these families have experienced and are going through. However, this all did cause me to retrace some of my own personal experiences in the 1970′s that led up to own imprisonment for a white-collar crime. I have posted an excerpt on my blog at progressiveprisonproject.org, “Last Stop Babylon: What It Was Really Like Growing Up On Long Island.” Feel free to let me know what you think.
  
  Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
  Director I Progressive Prison Project I Innocent Spouse & Children Project
  Christ Church Greenwich, 254 East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830 USA
  Assoc. Minister I Director of Prison Ministries I First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
  progressiveprisonproject.org
  
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• Author
  Mark Hughes, Contributor 2 days ago
  When I talk of the film’s themes speaking to our times, it’s important to remember that in any story there are different perspectives and different themes being presented. Some films about these issues will specifically focus on the experiences of the criminals themselves, others will focus on the experiences of the people being victimized by crime, still others will focus on the suffering of families and loved ones of either/both the criminals and victims, and at other times the story will focus on how the events speak to a larger theme in our society. “The Wolf Of Wall Street” touches on all of these things, but the recurring theme and major point of the film is about the failures of our economic, political, and social systems as they’ve created an environment in which the criminality shown in the film is so common and in fact encouraged, and where the violations of law and morality are largely overlooked as long as financial success can be had.
  
  It’s a culture of excess and pervasive exploitation, and the film draws our attention to the fact that the excesses we see in the film are frankly minor compared to widespread, bigger corruption that engulfs financial and political institutions in our nation in the last several years. Our reaction as a nation, as citizens, has largely been to complain and act angry, but to ultimately do little about it in any significant regard. Compare the film’s examples of financial corruption with what happened in the recent financial collapse, for example. In the end, the punishments for the film’s main character were minor and he was treated to overall safe, comfortable conditions, then he was released and now is able to engage in a new career that largely mirrors his past career, too.
  
  While we consider the human stories involved — which definitely get attention in the film — we cannot lose sight of the basic blunt truths that these actions harmed people, and those actions were taken willingly by the people involved, and they all felt our society and economic systems made it okay and even encouraged it to some extent. A lot of people suffer when this kind of large, widespread corruption takes place, and the film is showing us that there are important lessons here that reflect major problems in our society as a whole and that threaten the safety and fabric of our financial institutions, and we ignore those warnings at our peril.
  
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• Bill Franklin 3 days ago
  Sex, drugs, avarice, unbridled greed? Did not bother me at all. Sheer monotony of story line is what bored me to death, not to mention almost three hours in the pew seat. Goodfellas? One of the best movies ever. Stylistically this Wolf was a lousy knockoff of Henery’s cocaine induced stupor in Goodfellas. Mr. S, your done draw the curtain and retire, please.
  
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Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
Director, Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Christ Church Greenwich

254 East Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA 06830

Assoc. Minister/
Director of Prison Ministries
First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
126 Washington Avenue, 1st Fl.
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA  06604

 

(0) +1203.769.1096 

(m) +1203.339.5887

jgrant@progressiveprisonproject.org
jg3074@columbia.edu 

progressiveprisonproject.org

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Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut

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We want to thank these outstanding servant leaders for their willingness to  share their skills and expertise with us.  Our workshop presenters are hands-on practitioners who understand the challenges and blessings of serving those impacted by incarceration.

TRACK	TITLE	PRESENTER
Chaplains	Effective Mentoring to the Incarcerated: Changing the Lives of Returning Citizens and Impacting the Institution’s Culture	Lettie Car, Maryland Correctional Institution for Women
Chaplains	The Genesis Project – Lifer’s Reentry Program	Ron Evans, Jackson Correctional Institution
Chaplains	The Three Faces of Prison Chaplaincy	Jeff Hinshaw, Jay Vincent, Kathy Williams, New Castle Correctional Facility
Chaplains	Building a Foundation for Faith-Based Volunteer Engagement	Tammy Holland, Texas Juvenile Justice Department
Chaplains	Evaluating Correctional Chaplaincies and Correctional Chaplains	Dale Pace, Christian Jail Ministry, Inc.
Chaplains	S.P.I.R.I.T: A Program for the Transformation of Self-Concept in the Incarcerated	Henry Tysor, HT Ministries
Chaplains	The Impact of Religious Programming on Sex Offenders	Kathy Williams, New Castle Correctional Facility
Church Leaders	Prison Reform: How to Get Your Voice Heard	Craig DeRoche, Justice Fellowship/Prison Fellowship
Church Leaders	Ministering to Transform White Collar Criminals and Families through Christ	Jeff Grant, Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project
Church Leaders	Getting to the Root of the Work Problem	LaToya King, Jobs for Life
Church Leaders	Empowering Churches for Correctional Ministry	Harold Dean Trulear, Healing Communities USA
Church Leaders	Sex Offenders in our Churches	Bob VanDomelen, Broken Yoke Ministries
Church Leaders	How to Assimilate Recovering People into the Church	Mark VanderMeer, New Community Church
Correctional Administrator	Integrating State DOC and Community Based Case Management Systems for Effective Reentry	Allan Barsema, MPOWER
Correctional Administrator	The View from the Warden’s Office	Jack Cowley, Alpha USA Prison & Reentry Ministry
Correctional Administrator	Cultural Bias in the Treatment Industry – Diversion to Treatment	Gina Evans, MN Adult and Teen Challenge
Correctional Administrator	Creating Impactful Faith-Based Programming	Karen Swanson, Institute for Prison Ministries
Jail/Prison Ministry	Non-Religious Education In Prison as Christian Ministry	Will Andrews, doctoral student, Chicago Theological Seminary
Jail/Prison Ministry	Achieving Your Growth Goals through CMCA	Richard Barnhart, CMCA
Jail/Prison Ministry	Loving Inmates to D.E.A.T.H (Dignity, Eternal Security, Absolute Truth, Teaching, Heaven)	Pamela Bolding, Neighborhood Christian Center
Jail/Prison Ministry	Using Dialogue for Discipleship	Craig Curtis, E.C. Brooks Correctional Facility
Jail/Prison Ministry	It Takes Money!	Dan Hanneken, In2Action
Jail/Prison Ministry	International Leadership	Angel Hernandez, Grace Covenant International
Jail/Prison Ministry	Encountering Religious Pluralism in Correctional Ministry	Michael R. Smith, Sr., Federal Bureau of Prisons
Jail/Prison Ministry	Strategic and Operational Ministry Expansion and Funding Using Social Impact Bonds	Alphonso Spence, Making a Difference International
Jail/Prison Ministry	Programming for Justice Involved Women: Gender-Specific and Faith-Based	Karen Swanson, Institute for Prison Ministries
Jail/Prison Ministry	A Biblical Cognitive Approach to Understanding & Addressing Addiction & Relapse Prevention	Robert Vann, A Strictly Biblical Perspective
Jail/Prison Ministry	Faith and Character Based Programming: Creative Concepts for 21st Century Prison Ministry	Michael Vosbrink, Florida Department of Corrections
Jail/Prison Ministry	Criminal Justice Trends: An Overview of State Criminal Justice Reforms and How to get Your State on the List	Jesse Wiese, Justice Fellowship/Prison Fellowship
Juvenile	Don’t Forget Incarcerated Youth	Steve Lowe, Pacific Youth Correctional Ministries
Juvenile	Changing the Youth of Today for Tomorrow	Victor Marx, All Things Possible Ministries
Juvenile	Hot Topics in Juvenile Justice Advocacy	Heather Rice-Minus, Justice Fellowship/Prison Fellowship
Juvenile	Strategies for Working with High Risk Youth	Gareth Unruh, Youth for Christ Juvenile Justice Ministries
Juvenile	How to Start an Effective Juvenile Detention Center Ministry	Gareth Unruh, Youth for Christ Juvenile Justice Ministries
Reentry Specialists	Welcome Mentor Female Inmates	Annie Goebel, Daughters of Destiny
Reentry Specialists	Purposeful Neighboring: Creating Reentry-Ready Communities	Steve Gordon, Strategic Reentry Group
Reentry Specialists	Engaging Resistant Clients: Interaction Skills	Dan Hanneken, In2Action
Reentry Specialists	Different Insights on Prison Ministry	Rev. Joyce Pugh, Reid Temple AME Church
Reentry Specialists	The Biblical Blueprint for Re-Entry	Michael Swiger, True Freedom Ministries
Reentry Specialists	Building a Legacy of Strong Families	Catherine Tijerina, The Ridge Project
Reentry Specialists	Community Recovery	Mark VanderMeer, New Community Church
Reentry Specialists	Build Better Boards	Debbie Walsh, Child Evangelism Fellowship
Reentry Specialists	Keeping it Legal in 2014	Dennis Walsh, The Micah Project
Reentry Specialists	Collateral Consequences: The Social and Moral Costs of Perpetual Criminal Punishment	Jesse Wiese, Justice Fellowship/Prison Fellowship

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On That Day, a sermon by Hopeton Scott, Senior Reverend of the First Baptist Church of Bridgeport CT

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Greenwich, Connecticut

"On That Day"

A sermon by

Pastor Hopeton Scott

 Pastor Scott is the Senior Reverend

of The First Baptist Church of Bridgeport

126 Washington Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut 06604.

It is a home church of our Prison Ministries.

                                                                                                                                                                 

December 8, 2013

“On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his dwelling will be glorious.” Isaiah 11:10.

In our bulletin there are two images. 

 

We have had them appearing in the bulletins for several weeks now. They are images that are also in the each set of stained glass windows in our Sanctuary. They are the Greek letters - Alpha and omega, the first and the last letters in the Greek alphabet. And they have come to symbolize for us the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

As we came to the end of the Christian year last month and now launch into the new Christian calendar, we are reminded that God is at the beginning and at the end of all things. Jesus is indeed referred to as the “Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” in the Book of Revelation. (Revelation 1:10)  We are reminded that God is beyond time and seasons and space but that God has chosen to be active in the arena of human history.

Advent is a time to remember that we are living in the last days. We are in the ‘in between times’, the time after the first Advent and before the final Advent, when God’s work will find its culmination, its glorious conclusion.   So in Advent we say: “Jesus has come, Jesus is coming, and Jesus will come again!”

This is a time of waiting, of expectancy, a time of preparation. This is a period of hope, of looking for the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation, of the restoration God’s creation.

The Bible, both Hebrew and Christian scriptures, is filled with diverse and wonderful images of the end, of the culmination of God's purpose. Some of the most vivid pictures are in the Book of Revelation, but at the start and at the end of the Christian calendar, we are presented with that richness of Biblical images as we rehearse the pageantry of the salvation history.

Our Scripture reading today from Isaiah is one such passage. Isaiah paints a picture of the end, of the end times. There is indeed an image of judgment, of the defeat of evil but the dominant theme is of reconciliation and peace and wholeness....”The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf and the young lion will feed together, and a little child will lead them.”  Isaiah 11: 6

Most Wednesdays, Minister Jeff Grant and I meet for conversation to catch up on the ministry and projects in which he is engaged. We review our work and often talk shop and share theological reflections. In our conversation this past week, we talked about wholeness. Jeff asked me whether wholeness was a goal for individuals or for the community as a whole. My response was that God’s goal is wholeness for both the individual and for the entire world. The goal is wholeness, a translation of the Hebrew word, ‘Shalom’. It means: integration, well- being, alignment, harmony, fulfillment, completeness.

At personal level, there is a need for the body and the spirit to be in harmony; we need to be at peace with ourselves; we need to experience the absence of inner turmoil, a lack of anxiety, no restlessness and no dis-ease.

In the New Testament Story of Legion, we find the story and the healing of a person who was fractured, who was ‘many’. We want to dismiss him as a mad man, a crazy person, a paranoid schizophrenic. But we are all like Legion. He is a symbol of humanity.  We are fractured; we are multiple personalities; we are disjointed,  out of alignment. When Legion encounters Jesus, the miracle that Jesus performs leaves him 'clothed and in right mind'; he is now ‘dressed up in Jesus Christ’ and integrated - at peace, with a proper alignment of body and spirit. Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39

This is what God intends for you, for all of us –“to be clothed and in our right minds”. Our spirit and your mind need to be in harmony. We need to experience “shalom”, peace, completeness, wholeness.

Minister Jeff and I also spoke as well of wholeness in community. Image of integration in the created order is embedded in the pictures of Biblical wholeness, of the end time.

Peace is not merely the absence of violence and fear, but the sense of oneness. God’s goal is an inclusive community where none is excluded, where everyone is valued. God’s Shalom envisions a time when all persons regardless of gender, race, nationality, wealth or poverty, disability or ability or other classifications are treated equally and are embraced in the community.

You see, conflicts arise because we are focused on securing our own rights instead of seeking the common good. In our disjointed state we want to be in control and we want preferential treatment for ourselves and for our kind. We wish to inflate our position at the expense of others.

The evils of apartheid and Jim Crow, racism and bullying have their roots in the desire of individuals wanting to suppress others. Our insecurities lead us to engage on behaviors that deny others their humanity and lead us to use violence to get our own way. We cannot see the divine in others and so we deny them and ourselves the wholeness God grants to all. We forget that all of us are made in the image of God and we refuse to see the face of God in each other. The inclusive community however has the ingredients of mutual respect and empathy. It is built on love and patience and tolerance.

“On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his dwelling will be glorious.”  They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain. The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of God as the water covers the sea.” Isaiah 11:10, 9.

I also had a very stimulating conversation with the visitor we had in church last week. She had the perennial question that most of us have: “Why do I suffer when others lead successful lives, others who are less religious?”  It is the question that generations of believers have struggled with. It is the question that the Book of Job tries to answer.

My answer to our guest was that we are out of alignment. Sadly our focus, even in the church, has been on the material rather than the spiritual. We have forgotten that we are both spirit and material and our primary concerns have been about the transient and temporary things of our existence.

So we are concerned about how much money we have. Whether we have the latest gadgets or wear the trendiest fashions or meet the prevailing ideas about image and appearance. We have forgotten that the material things are only for a time; they fade, they wither; they lose their luster their cache; they grow old

I might wait outside an Apple store for the latest smart phone, but in a couple of years, that phone will be passé and I will need to upgrade again! The temporary and the ephemeral things of this year cannot satisfy our hunger for meaning and wholeness. We build our lives on the sand when our emphasis is on the material.

No matter how much we accumulate in this world, we will have to leave it behind when the spirit leaves the body. Our focus then should be on the eternal, on the spiritual because that continues even after our physical passing, after we turn to dust. Will my spirit be deformed, be diminished, be small after the material is no more? Will I have spiritual poverty and lack completeness?

This is not to say that our suffering, our pain, our heartaches, our lack of resources are not important. The miracles Jesus did and continues to do in the church demonstrate that our quality of living in of concern to the creator God. Jesus healed the sick. He fed the hungry. He relieved anxious minds. He helped those in emotional distress.

But he says to all: "Seek first the kingdom of God and it's righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Our primary desire should be spiritual. When we are in that place where we are at one with God and with ourselves, clothed and in our right minds, we are in a position to address our material needs. We will find that it is not the end of the world if we do not have the latest gadgets and wear the trendiest fashions. We will find that there are resources to help us meet our basic needs of food and shelter. We will find that that there are persons who love us just as we are. We will find that there are shoulders that we can cry on. We will find that we can find comfort from others around us. We will find that we are not alone in our pain and in our grief!

When our focus is on the spiritual, on the eternal, we can understand Paul saying that the kingdom of God is more than meat and drink, it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)

All week I have been haunted by a song by Michael Jackson. 

                   Don’t know how it fits into this sermon, but here it goes:                 

 "Man In The Mirror"

I'm Gonna Make A Change, For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good, Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My Favorite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street, With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard, A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That's Why I Want You To Know
I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And

Then Make A Change

Change can come to us. Transformation can be ours if we re-order our priorities. Shalom is our destiny. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!” On that day it won't be my possessions but the vitality of my spirit. How integrated will I be? How at peace will I be with God and with myself? How at one will I be with the created order? How I unencumbered will I be from self-centeredness, from hate, from prejudice, from greed, from the material things of life? Will I be clothed and in my right mind?

Nelson Mandela is a wonderful example of the triumph of the spirit over the material. Imprisoned for almost thirty years he never gave up hope. He longed to see a day when oppression would cease in South Africa. He suffered all kinds of indignities but yet he grew to love those who oppressed him. He forgave his enemies. He forsook revenge and chose the path of reconciliation. Today he is being remembered as a giant, as one who changed the course of human history.

What of us? Where is your focus? What is most important to you? In this season of waiting of expectation, how will that day find you?

God is working His purpose out
As year succeeds to year;
God is working his purpose out,
And the time is drawing near;
Nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled
With the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

What can we do to work God’s work,
To prosper and increase
The brotherhood of all mankind,
The reign of the Prince of Peace?
What can we do to hasten the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled
With the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.  

 Amen.

_________________

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
Director, Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Christ Church Greenwich

254 East Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA 06830

Assoc. Minister/
Director of Prison Ministries
First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
126 Washington Avenue, 1st Fl.
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA  06604

 

(0) +1203.769.1096 

(m) +1203.339.5887

jgrant@progressiveprisonproject.org
jg3074@columbia.edu 

progressiveprisonproject.org

In Prison For The Holidays: Real Letters

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Greenwich, Connecticut

In Prison for the Holidays:
Real Letters 
 

Lee Gutierrez is serving eight years hard time in the NYS prison
system for a single DWI - an accident in which someone got hurt badly.
We had one week with him before he reported to impart
some spiritual principals of survival & success in prison.

Lee's first letter, The Night Before Prison, 
is one of  our most requested blog posts.

________________

November 29, 2013: Dear Rev J & Lynn - 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!  It was so nice to hear from you and sharing a little of your life with me.  It sounds like the clan at your home yesterday were blessed to spend time together.  You were very generous of heart to welcome so many with open arms. 

As for my correspondence to you, please feel free to publish it on your site.  If you think my words will help, I am living testimony that your guidance and experience is so valuable to a soul such as mine who is entering a dark and unknown time through the penal system. 

You and your wife Lynn reinforce my strength that that we don't have to do it alone.  God is always with me and a long as I show how grateful I am for each small miracle that I experience HE will see me through this. "This too shall pass." 

Lynn's prayer for me is inspiring, makes me want to share it with some of the souls here who have befriended me.  In my next AA meeting I will pass it around to whoever would like to read it. 

In orientation the newcomers go to F-cell block, it is the pre-introduction into Gen Pop "general population." The COs have little respect for us with each interaction they make it clear that we are less than who we are and are the bottom of the barrel. I don't take it personally because they assume you are a career convict and there is no hope for you. I am mixed in with drug dealers, murderers and rapists so I understand their attitude, but this attitude is very counter productive if their real purpose is to rehabilitate and introduce inmates back into society.  

On a good note several COs in my block noticed that I didn't fit in, so they actually took the time to read my record. Realizing that I am here because of a single DWI due to my ALCOHOLISM, they changed their attitude towards me.  They call me out of my cell to talk to me and find out who I really am, they sensed the true remorse of my actions. I have been at ease ever since. 

I did see my first act of violence to an inmate from the COs.  Two says after I was placed in F-Block the cell next to me houses a young man who was very upset - He was unable to call his family the night before, and had been put in "keep lock" for the day not sure why.  He became very frustrated and started to ask for the CO. Getting no response he began to yell for the CO who responded by yelling obscenities to him to shut up.  The inmate continued causing the guard to head head to his cell and told the other CO to open the cell.  I couldn't see but it seemed that the CO was pushing & punching him into submission.  He couldn't gain control so he started throwing him about in his cell.  Once he realized that he couldn't handle him he called for a "Code 26," moments later a platoon of 13 COs swarmed in to subdue him.  It was very sad for me and the others. I won't go into details but as he was carried off I could see the damage to him.  Very sad. 

I really believe in God and the brief but intense lessons you gave me.  I have been spreading the word to many of the frustrated souls here about managing their spiritual pain and help them understand that they shouldn't be upset by things they can't control.  I really think it is helping. Thank you for you words of encouragement and prayers.  God bless you.  Have a peaceful day. 

Lee

PS. Again if you feel my words can help other please publish them.  If you have specific topics you like me to describe to you about my journey please let me know. 

__________________

November 22, 2013: Dear Lee, 

I received your letter this afternoon - thank you for for vivid and of course disturbing images of your first days in the prison system.  My wife Lynn is praying for you and your family right now as I begin this letter to you - I will pray for you later during my spiritual time.  I will not post or share your letters with anyone unless you give me explicit permission - it is entirely up to you.  I can tell you that your first letter to me, the one that you sent the evening before you left, is among the most read posts on my blog.  It is powerful but honestly nowhere nowhere near as powerful a the letter I received today. No pressure or persuasion is intended - I only have your interests first and how it fits in with your spiritual development and path to freedom through mind, body and spirit.  Helping others, of course, is the highest order and greatest path to freedom. 

I was saddened to hear about the deplorable conditions and feel for you - but of course you know that I am not surprised.  I say this because I want to continually remind you that you are not alone.  You are part of a great community now - we are bound by our brokenness and our suffering - and only through it will we be able to communicate and reach across vast voids to understand what each other is going through.  Deplorable conditions, inhumanity, needless pain - and in the midst of it a flower always - always - grows through the rocks.  Always.  If you look for it you find it in the smallest of places inside of you - and in the unlikeliest of places in other men too.  Kindness, compassion, caring.  It's there just waiting to be found - to be revealed.  It requires patience and trust - but it is always there. It is how we found each other only one week before you had to report to prison - and how you could trust a stranger enough to learn skills to survive your early ordeals. It's God. And there is more to come.  More journey - more sadness and more joy in unlikely places.  Just be quiet and watch for it. 

By now you've learned that there are levels to your learning - that the process is so much more complex than you ever could have dreamed of.  That you are developing new instincts and intuitions, relying on almost a sixth sense about things.  This will all change again and again.  You are in a process not a place.  A process.  Stay fluid and keep alert to changes around you and in you.  Keep learning and observing.  The things you think you understand one day can be different the next (like the stock market). Just know that it keeps changing & so do you.  Just keep your humanity and cherish it.  Prize it above all else and you will be fine.  Respect all things & everything - especially yourself.

Our ministry is going wonderfully.  It is growing in the 'hood in Bridgeport and in the white collar sectors too.  We have new churches signing on, new articles written about us - a new one coming out this week on Forbes.  We have our first innocent spouse test case before a Federal Judge in New Haven - she's the estranged wife in a very large financial crimes case.  If we are successful, it will be the first time in history that a Federal Judge will modify a temporary asset freeze to give a non-defendant innocent spouse access to her own assets in a financial crimes case.  It could be a banner case in recognizing the rights of innocent spouses & children. 

We are having 15 people here for Thanksgiving next week - old friends & new friends.  Some recovering alcoholics, a woman & her children whose husband/father is in prison, a friend of mine & his wife & 3 month old son - they are Episcopal Priests, a Christian couple, my wife Lynn's former husband David, and their daughter (my step-daughter) Skylar who is home from school.  Basically a mish mosh of people brought together in a new form (or old form) of family and community out of love & caring. It should be wonderful.  We will sit around our table and I will think of you - I promise. 

I spent one Thanksgiving in prison, and Lee - it was my most memorable Thanksgiving.  Probably not my most pleasant one - but my most memorable one.  The one I was most present for, I was most awake for.  I needed that Thanksgiving in the prison dining hall to teach me how to be thankful - and I was thankful for every bit of it. 

I am thankful for you.  You are a touchstone for me.  Keep writing, praying. Mind, body & spirit everyday. Your friend, 

Jeff 

________________

November 22, 2013: Dear Lee, 

I hope you don't mind, Jeff shared your letter with me.  It prompted me to pray for you and I want to write a prayer for you to share with you:

Heavenly Father, 

We come to you today asking for your special mercy and care for your beloved child Lee.  Please dear Lord, help Lee feel your incredible love for him during these difficult days, this love that will strengthen and sustain him.  Father, we ask that Lee reach for you, yearn for you and anchor his soul in YOU.  We ask that Lee entrust all concerns to you dear Heavenly Father, in prayer; and pray sincere prayers of gratitude to you very, very often; because we know dear Lord that GRATITUDE makes miracles possible. We thank you dear Lord for this day you have created, for the air we breathe, for the love we feel in our hearts, for friends, for letters. We are so very grateful for every blessing you bestow upon us.  AMEN. 

Peace to you Lee.  Lynn

_________________

November 20, 2013: Hey Jeff - 

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you and your family are doing well. Looks like I am in my final destination for the next 6-9 months.  I have been classified as "maximum" candidate; and was sent here.

Coxsackie is a "super" max facility, where "offenders" are in their perspective cell about 18 hours out of each day.  This will continue until the "program committee" designates what programs I will be participating in.  Having already been taken through orientation, I am deposited in F1-Block until further notice.  

I have to admit that I was very insecure when I was first incarcerated in the Nassau County Correctional.  Never having done prison time before I didn't know what to expect. The 3 days in "quarantine' was a very grim start - the 72 hour hold is for introduction into the system, taking several medical examinations to see how I am physically as well as mentally.  The hold is a dark, dank cell block that has very little ambient light from the sun.  Confusing you as to know whether it is day time or night. There is no clock provided, adding to the confusion of time.  Giving the appearance that time is standing still - seconds seem like minutes, minutes expand to hours and days never end.  The dungeon of cells in a single row seems to go on forever.  The cells themselves are hauntingly gray, unkempt layers of dull colors that are chipping away.  Showing years of neglect in a lifetime of misery. 

The personal facilities dressing each cell are tarnished and corroded, forcing one to stand hovering over the toilet.  Drab and colorless meals are pushed through the cell door, a liquid I call "bug juice" is poured in plastic cups from a metal bucket. Now I know why they say the expression, "don't shit where you eat."

I will send you more correspondence of my journey as time goes on.  Your counseling and experience has made the 1st leg of the journey most bearable and for that I am grateful.  

Please write back with news of the outside world!  Again, Happy Thanksgiving. 

Your friend, Lee

_______________

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
Director, Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Christ Church Greenwich

254 East Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA 06830

Assoc. Minister/
Director of Prison Ministries
First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
126 Washington Avenue, 1st Fl.
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA  06604

 

(0) +1203.769.1096 

(m) +1203.339.5887

jgrant@progressiveprisonproject.org
jg3074@columbia.edu 

progressiveprisonproject.org