I'm not sure what got me thinking about prisoners of conscience today. On second thoughts, I think it was this post from John Davies, and also my reading today in Isaiah 5:8.
"He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed
He looked for righteousness, but heard cries of distress"
It reminded me of a visit to Warwick Castle, where in the back of the dungeon is an "oubliette" where people were thrown in, and simply forgotten. It profoundly impacted me at the time, and I took the following picture
In the weeks that followed, I had a recurring "vision" as if I was inside the oubliette, seeing out through the bars (if there bars to look through), somehow feeling the confinedness, the panic, the desperation, the torment. The following Sunday's advent sermon was about the Messiah coming to release those who had been abandoned and forgotten and never expected to see the light of day again.
The following image, entitled "View from a Forgotten Place" is as close as I can get to portraying what I saw ... and it became a prayer for the forgotten, for those imprisoned in any way, because of conscience, loneliness, abuse, injustice, depression or whatever ... who never expect to see the light of day ... a challenge for the rest of us to work to see them released.
I have felt since then that it was a kind of calling, or at least a focusing of an earlier call ... a call to work to see people released to live in the freedom that Jesus came to give us in all kinds of ways.
In the following chapter, Isaiah heard the call "Who will go for us, and whom shall I send?", and his simple, but profound response was "Here am I. Send me."
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Wow! This is a wonderful post. Jesus came to set the prisoners free! We are to do likewise.
My friend in Oz has recently been telling me of the plight of refugees and their kids in 'concentration camps' in Australia. They've been on my mind and in my prayers too. I know it's not an easy question politically - nothing ever is - but somehow their plight hit home. Sorry I can't send any links. The kids had drawn some heart wrenching pictures of the prisons.
Posted by: Lorna | July 18, 2005 at 04:12 PM
WOW!!!
Posted by: richard | July 18, 2005 at 04:48 PM
I keep coming back to look at the picture. There's something hauntingly beautiful about it.
Posted by: Lorna | July 22, 2005 at 09:14 AM
Quite a calling... something worthy of investing your life in.
Powerful image, as ever...
Posted by: wilsonian | July 22, 2005 at 07:10 PM
mmmm... spot on..
Posted by: nealb | July 27, 2005 at 08:01 AM