Kairos: Prison ministry

Yesterday I went to the closing ceremony for a Kairos weekend at the CWWF womens' prison near Gig Harbor. Kairos is a prison ministry patterned after the renewal movement Cursillo.

The closing ceremony was the final event in a three-day weekend during which Kairos volunteers brought their program into the womens' prison. The volunteers come from a wide variety of churches in this area.

We drove to the womens' prison after church on Sunday and parked the car. We left everything in the car except for two forms of ID and the car keys. When we entered the facility, they signed us in and took our keys and ID and issued us a visitor's badge. I'll have to admit it felt spooky to have all my ID and keys taken away. There's something about a prison that strips you down to the essentials.

After all the visitors, probably fifty of us, had assembled in a waiting room, we were ushered into the prison. First we went through a security system like the ones you find in an airport, then we were taken as a group through a series of locked fences with concertina wire on the top. Stern guards accompanied us. They take their jobs very seriously.

When we came to the chapel, we sat for twenty minutes or so waiting for the Kairos participants. When they came in, we stood and clapped and cheered for these women. Dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, they carried themselves with diffidence, solemnity, and in some cases, a shy smile.

The Kairos volunteers had spent the three days with these women helping them work through their pain, anger, and helplessness, offering them the knowledge that God forgives and loves them. From the handmade posters on the walls, I could see the words "not alone" on many of them.

The women got up in their small groups (called families) and talked about their experiences. It was very touching to hear them. A number of them said how broken they felt at the beginning of the weekend, and how they'd learned to forgive. Many of them mentioned the ceremony the night before in which they'd made a list of the people who had hurt them and then burned the list as an act of forgiveness.

I looked at the volunteers and saw good hearted people who willingly gave their time and their hearts to these incarcerated women. They brought healing, strength, and hope to them. I'm sure this weekend was a transformative weekend for many of these imprisoned women.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when they gave me back my car keys and we drove away, free to go home to our blessedly normal lives.
-