Social Transformation in Action

This month, I am taking a short class at Pacific School of Religion (PSR is my home school at the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley). The syllabus for “Social Transformation in Action” describes the course as follows:

Under the PSR Stackable Curriculum, every student will engage in experiential learning during the intersession of their first or second year. This is a chance to get to know local community organizations and different ways in which they seek justice and peace for their neighborhood. The theme of this course is “Centering the Margins”. Students will consider and reflect on what it means to center the margins in community engagement.

Students will engage with the principles of community organizing, transformational change, and community development within a theological and social justice framework. The course begins with two classroom sessions of readings, lectures, and discussions. This will be followed by engagement with Bay Area social justice organizations and movements who will present opportunities for in-the-field work in various topic areas. Students will participate in a variety of activities with different organizations as a method for experiential learning field work. The class will end with a closing dinner and a final discussion and reflection of their experiences over the week.

This is only the second time PSR  has offered the class, so our professor Dr. Joyce del Rosario is experimenting with how it should best go. Our home base for the three community days was the Oakland Peace Center, where Executive Director Sandhya Jha was our host. (Oakland Peace Center was also where a different class I was in visited the “Insider | Outsider: Visionary Arts by, for, and about the Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated” exhibit last year.) This week, our class put up posters, helped to create tiny homes and a garden for The Village (which works to create and support curbside communities, aka homeless encampments), visited the East Bay Meditation Center, joined the Martin Luther King Day rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza, and helped run a community vision day for the Oakland Peace Center.

I was surprised at how much press there was for The Village project. Our class ended up in many of the photos. I am in the background of several painting my garden sign:

• • “Homeless activists build ‘Right to Exist’ tiny homes in Oakland over MLK weekend,” By Lisa Fernandez, KTVU, Fox-2, 19 Jan 2020
  • “Tired of waiting, homeless advocates build unsanctioned East Bay village of tiny homes – Volunteers are building 8-by-12 foot homes on a street median on E. 12th Street,” By Thy Vo, Bay Area News Group, East Bay Times, 19 Jan 2020 (this article was also reprinted by the San Jose Mercury News)
  • “Oakland Homeless Group ‘The Village’ Constructs Tiny House Community On Median,” By Jay Barmann, SFist, 20 Jan 2020
  • “Volunteers create unapproved tiny home development on Oakland median,” By Matthias Gafni, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 Jan 2020
  • “Group Builds Curbside Houses to Fight Homelessness in Oakland,” NBC Bay Area, 19 Jan 2020
  • “Homeless advocates build unsanctioned tiny homes near Oakland public street,” By Cornell W. Barnard, ABC 7 News, 20 Jan 2020

Now that lectures and community action are done, I need to write my paper!

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27 Jan 2020: added news story

 

 

22 Bishops Celebrate Lucinda Ashby (not counting Bishop Barbie)

Bishop Lucinda Ashby was ordained and consecrated the fourth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real on 11 January 2020, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Saratoga, California. Twenty two bishops participated in the consecration, ten of them women. Bishop Lucinda is the sixth woman to be consecrated an Episcopal Bishop this year. She is the second Episcopal Bishop ever to succeed another woman bishop. Like Bishop Mary, Bishop Lucinda is bilingual in Spanish. The ordination and consecration was conducted in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. The sermon was by the Rev. Dr. John L. Kater, Professor Emeritus, Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

24 of the 127 active Episcopal bishops (diocesan, suffragan, assistant or assisting) are women. The Episcopal House of Bishops has nearly 300 active members and comprises half of the governing body of the Episcopal Church. All bishops of the Episcopal Church, active or retired, make up the House of Bishops.

My husband John Plocher lead the team that livestreamed the event. John created 41 pages of notes and directions and the team practiced for months. By the end of 11 January 2020, more people had watched the event online than had attended in person. During the service, I was grateful to be able to see the live online high view of some of the more intimate parts of the service, especially when the 22 bishops laid their hands on Bishop Lucinda in blessing. They prayed together:

Therefore, Father, make Lucinda a bishop in your Church.
Pour out upon her the power of your princely Spirit, whom you bestowed upon your beloved Son Jesus Christ. with whom he endowed the apostles, and by whom your Church is built up in every place,
to the glory and unceasing praise of your Name.

Full text – Service bulletin:
Episcopal diocese ECR, part one consecration 11 Jan 2020 (pages 1 to 26),
Episcopal diocese ECR, part two consecration 11 Jan 2020 (pages 27 to 52)

In addition to the traditional presentations of the stole, chasuble, cope, mitre, pectoral cross, episcopal ring, festal crozier, and Bible, Bishop Lucinda was given a special gift, her own Bishop Barbie. The first Bishop Barbie was presented to Bishop Mary at our 2010 women’s retreat. From my blog post about that event:

Leslie Butlar and the Rev. Maryellen Garnier worked with a team to create this event… We were honored to spend part of an afternoon with our own Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves in open conversation. Maryellen presented Bishop Mary with a token of our regard, the first Bishop Barbie doll. Maryellen had the doll’s custom robes created because of a story she had heard. Recently, a little girl who was much taken with Bishop Mary, asked her why there was no Bishop Barbie. Well, now there is one.

Here are the 22 bishops who participated in Bishop Lucinda’s ordination and consecration:

Michael Curry	The Rt. Rev.	Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
Katharine Jefferts Schori	The Rt. Rev.	26th Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
David Bailey	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Navajoland
Barry Beisner	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Northern California
Patrick Bell	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Eastern Oregon
Diane Jardine Bruce	The Rt. Rev.	7th Bishop, Los Angeles, Suffragan
Griselda Delgado Del Carpio	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Cuba
DeDe Duncan-Probe	The Rt. Rev. Dr.	Bishop, Central New York
Robert Fitzpatrick	The Rt. Rev	Bishop, Hawaii
Mary Gray-Reeves	The Rt. Rev.	3rd Bishop, El Camino Real
Mark Holmerud	The Rev.	Bishop, ELCA – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – Sierra Pacific Synod
Michael Hunn	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Rio Grande
Jerry Lamb	The Rt. Rev.	6th Bishop, Northern California
Mark Lattime	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Alaska
Kimberly Lucas	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Colorado
Gretchen Rehberg	The Rt. Rev. Dr.	Bishop, Spokane
David Rice	The Rt Rev.	Bishop, San Joaquin
Nedi Rivera	The Rt. Rev	7th Bishop, Eastern Oregon
Susan Brown Snook	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, San Diego
Robert Springett	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Tewksbury, England (suffragan bishop, Diocese of Gloucester)
Brian Thom	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Idaho
Megan Traquair	The Rt. Rev.	Bishop, Northern California

Thanks to Timothy Gee for this list!

Signed consecration certificate.
John Plocher and crew, 9:10 am.
Diocesan choir.
Interpretation team.
Ed Jacklitch, sound.
St. Andrew’s altar.
Cantemus Filipinas Chorale.
Bishop-elect Lucinda greets her family.
Procession of diocesan banners.
Bishop Michael blessing congregation.
Ordination and consecration of Bishop Lucinda.
Mary Ann Gee and diocesan choir.
22 bishops consecrate Bishop Lucinda, 12:25 pm.
Presentation of the bishop’s crozier.
Presentation of Bishop Barbie to Bishop Lucinda.
Bishop Lucinda’s husband Bob Ashby with Bishop Barbie, 2020.
Bishop Mary with the 1st Bishop Barbie, 2010.
1st and 2nd Bishop Barbie, 2012.
Bishop Michael gives communion.
Reviewing the video, 1:45 pm.
Bishops Katharine, Mary, and Lucinda.
Bishop Lucinda Ashby, John Plocher, and Katy Dickinson.

If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home). Thanks and acknowledgement of copyright to Mark LeBlank and Elrond Lawrence for their photos of the Bishop Barbie, consecration certificate, and Bishops Katharine, Mary, and Lucinda, all other Images Copyright 2010-2020 by Katy Dickinson.

Incarceration and Theology

The Graduate Theological Union where I am a Master’s student requires us to take a “Research Methods” class before writing our 90-page thesis, or capstone paper. The final paper of Research Methods is intended to be a chapter in that thesis.  What follows is the paper I submitted earlier this month in which I argue that some practices associated with relational theology promote better outcomes for prisoners and may lower recidivism. I start work on my thesis in the Spring term in February 2020.

Range of Chaplain Engagement with Prisoners

By Katy Dickinson
MA-1000: Research Methods (Fall 2019)
16 December 2019

Introduction

There is a range of chaplain engagement and practices with prisoners that reflects both sociology and theology. Chaplain practices range from missionary to relational and chaplain engagement durations range short-term to long-term. In this paper, I argue that some practices associated with relational theology promote better outcomes and may lower recidivism. I have used two primary sources for inmate engagement examples, Tanya Erzen’s God in Captivity: The Rise of Faith-Based Prison Ministries in the Age of Mass Incarceration,[1] and Laura Bates’s Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard, a Memoir.[2]  I also consider the theology presented by Arthur Peacocke, in Theology for a Scientific Age: Being and Becoming – Natural, Divine, and Human,[3] as well as drawing examples from my own experience since 2015 as a volunteer chaplain on the men’s side at Elmwood jail in Santa Clara County.

After presenting information about incarceration, I will explore examples of inmate engagement by Erzen and Bates and show how these define the range. See the Appendix for a graphic that visualizes the range of engagement. My focus is on male Christian prisoners because this is the group with which I have the most experience as a jail chaplain. In America, 93% of prisoners are male[4] and 68% are reported to be Christian.[5] Women were 7% of the total prison population in 2017.[6] It may be that my research includes or pertains to other prisoner groups, or to other elements of the penal system such as the justice courts and the parole system; however, those are not the center of my study. In particular, while there are sociological differences between male and female prisoners, I have not observed theological differences. My work represents more practical theology than academic research. I have found comparatively few academic resources about ministry to the incarcerated and ex-inmates. This paper is a subset of my developing Master’s thesis on the range of chaplain engagement and how understanding it can benefit prisoners. It is a small addition to a much-needed field of study.

Incarceration and the Marginalized

Jail and prison numbers reflect the lives of the most marginalized in American society. The Prison Policy Initiative reports not only the overall volume but the much-higher churn of prisoners cycling through county jails, “The American criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people… Every year, over 600,000 people enter prison gates, but people go to jail 10.6 million times each year.”[7] These numbers are substantiated by The Sentencing Project, “The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people currently in the nation’s prisons and jails — a 500% increase over the last forty years.”[8] The good news is that state and federal incarceration rates went down 13% from 2007 to 2017.[9]

Jail and prison are different in some ways. Whether or not they are guilty, 76% of people held in American jails are not convicted of any crime. Many un-convicted people remain in jail because they are too poor to make bail. Prison inmates have been convicted. Inmates are usually in a jail near their home community. Prison inmates may be sent anywhere in their state. People can be jail from a few days to fifteen years. Most do not know their schedule for judgement. Prison inmates know their incarceration schedule. Jail sees a large-scale, constant churn in and out. Prison populations are comparatively stable.[10]

In addition to criminal behavior, incarceration is associated with a variety of personal and socio-economic challenges, acting alone or together. For example, about 50% of inmates in Santa Clara County have mental illness.[11] About two thirds of jail inmates report drug dependence or abuse.[12] In U.S. prisons, “people of color — who face much greater rates of poverty — are dramatically overrepresented in the nation’s prisons and jails.”[13] America is not the only country which disproportionately incarcerates the poor and marginalized. María Belén Roca Pamich of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata writes of how incarceration degrades and fragments lives in Argentina,

Entrar en los circuitos de la justicia penal implica en Argentina verse degradado en la condición de ciudadano, ya que las desigualdades sociales se refuerzan, se fragmentan los lazos familiares, se empeora la calidad de vida, y por supuesto se interrumpen trayectorias educativas y laborales.[14]

Conversion and Salvation: One End of the Engagement Range

Tanya Erzen is an Associate Research Professor, Religion and Gender & Queer Studies at the University of Puget Sound. She is also the Faculty Director of the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound which provides college classes to women in prison.[15] Erzen started teaching in prison in 2003. In God in Captivity, she describes how during the last few decades, educational and mental health services in hundreds of American prisons have come to be provided by tens of thousands of conservative evangelical nondenominational Christian volunteers.[16]

Erzen seems both to approve of the churches and faith-based groups for providing volunteer chaplains to the incarcerated, while at the same time being critical of their motives and methods. Erzen asserts, “They’ve created a theology that includes the prisoner, spurred by the Bible verse in Matthew 25:36, ‘I was in prison and you visited me.’ Yet, for the volunteers, ministries and churches that go inside, the prison contains a captive population, ripe for proselytization.”[17] The theological and sociological impulse for prison ministry as described by Erzen seems at least partly to be based in what Howard Thurman calls missionary appeal,

It is not a singular thing to hear a sermon that defines what should be the attitude of the Christian toward people who are less fortunate than himself. Again and again our missionary appeal is on the basis of the Christian responsibility to the needy, the ignorant, and the so-called backward peoples of the earth. There is a certain grandeur and nobility in administering to another’s need out of one’s fullness and plenty… It is the sin of pride and arrogance that has tended to vitiate the missionary impulse and to make of it an instrument of self-righteousness on the one hand and racial superiority on the other.[18]

Erzen’s description of the growing predominance of evangelical Christian chaplains in prison is supported by Hallett and Johnson who write, “what is new is the way in which the reach and nature of religious programs have changed in prisons over the last several decades. For many, quite understandably, the term ‘prison ministry’ is synonymous with prison evangelism.”[19] Evangelical Protestantism or Evangelicalism as defined by D.W. Bebbington includes four qualities, “conversionism, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism, the expression of the gospel effort; biblicism, a particular regard for the Bible; and what may be called crucicentrism, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.”[20] The Pew Research Center’s Religion in Prisons parallels Erzen in reporting the strong participation of evangelical Christians as chaplains, “The overwhelming majority of state prison chaplains (85%) identify themselves as Christians, and about seven-in-ten are Protestants (71%). Fully 44% of all the chaplains surveyed say their denomination is part of the evangelical Protestant tradition.”[21] Pew also reports that there are many more Protestant Christian chaplains (71%) compared to the number of Protestant Christians among prisoners (51%).[22]

Prisons and jails present complex sociological circumstances with many stakeholders who have goals that both conflict and align. Prisons welcome volunteer chaplains not only because their services are free but also, as Erzen writes, “the ministries serve as agents of surveillance and authority and make it easier to maintain order and control.”[23] Nonetheless, inmates welcome the volunteer chaplains. Erzen writes, “For a woman or man separated from children and families for years, the fellowship in religion recreates familial and kinship bonds.”[24] The bleak life circumstances of most prisoners makes them vulnerable to emotional and spiritual manipulation by other prisoners and especially by chaplains. For example, in a recent Los Angeles Times article on jail chaplaincy, Leila Miller reported, “The inmate, who is Jewish, said he attends Christian classes as an escape. ’You do anything to get out,’ he said. ‘It feels very secluded and isolated in there. Anything that inspires learning, wisdom.’”[25]

Erzen explores questions of punishment and redemption while remaining critical of faith-based ministries which, she characterizes, are largely focused on salvaging souls.[26] One ex-prisoner quoted by Erzen speaking on the evangelical Christians churches said, “Sometimes churches come in and want to save the souls. Really what they want to do is make them believe like they do, to be their kind of Christians… They’re concerned about the soul. But they’re not concerned about the person.”[27] Erzen compares the theology of the evangelical chaplains to that of American slave owners in the 19^th century. She writes, “One prisoner tells me that the prison no longer has an overseer with a whip as slave plantations did, but the same kind of psychological and theological control is still present. The faith-based volunteers, teachers, and others who oversee the seminary program are now the watchers.”[28] This comparison is especially disturbing because of the strong racial and ethnic disparities among the incarcerated.

Thurman writes that missionaries feel responsible for the “backwards peoples” of the world. At one time, that phrase most often referred to outside of the West, particularly to people in Africa, Asia, and South America. Now, it seems that prisoners fill that sociological niche. Erzen writes, “Release from prison is supposed to signal a form of absolution, a pardon for the crime for which someone was convicted. However, former prisoners continue to be punished and stigmatized in myriad ways.”[29] She describes how released prisoners may be absolved in some ways but continue to be subject to long-term personal, social, and economic consequences, including limits on voting, housing, custody of children, jobs, education, travel, as well as lasting psychological impact. The evangelical chaplains described by Erzen define one end of the sociological and theological range of engagement and practices with prisoners.

Respect and Compassion: The Other End of the Range

In contrast, the more relational end of the range is represented by the work of Indiana State University English Professor Laura Bates. Her very different kind of engagement can be seen in her remarkable account of teaching in prison, Shakespeare Saved My Life. Bates is a teacher rather than a chaplain. Her stories come from teaching Shakespeare to male prison inmates as a volunteer in the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, in Carlisle, Indiana. Bates has worked with thousands of prisoners since 1983. She connects deeply with her students in a secular class focused on their intellectual enlightenment through studying Shakespeare.

By presenting stories about teaching inmates, Bates argues that empowering prisoners to study Shakespeare can be life changing, both for the students and the teacher. Bates writes, “I had come to prison to teach prisoners about Shakespeare, but I would learn from them at least as much as I would teach to them.”[30] In one of her most powerful passages, Bates writes of how her life and those of her inmate students became connected,

I had the answer to my Shakespearean research question regarding verisimilitude. I could leave prison and write the articles I needed to publish in order to apply for tenure… But then I thought about all of these people we had locked away from the world, whom I had started to know…They had no one. They seemed to need me – or, at least seemed to need Shakespeare. I realized I couldn’t leave – not now, and maybe not ever. In a way, I started to feel like I was serving a life sentence myself.[31]

Although she states her “conviction to never become emotional in prison,”[32] Laura Bates’s style of engagement might best be described as being based in respect and compassion.

As part of teaching The Taming of the Shrew, Bates facilitated a written dialogue between men and women prisoners. As part of this at-a-distance communication, incarcerated women who had been victims of domestic violence answered a series of questions from the men including, What is love? The women wrote, “Caring, respect, honesty. Listening, being there.”[33] This succinctly matches Laura Bates’s description of how she treats her inmate students and also aligns with my own experience of engagement practices that work with jail inmates. University of Chicago Professor David Bevington, after observing Bates teaching in prison, wrote in the Foreword of Shakespeare Saved My Life, “Laura was cool. She was in charge. She didn’t stand for any nonsense, but she listened, she helped, she respected.”[34]

I first learned about Shakespeare Saved My Life in a radio interview with Laura Bates in 2013.[35] My undergraduate honors thesis was on Shakespeare, so I was fascinated. The book was one of the inspirations that encouraged me in 2015 to start a college-level faith-based weekly study program inside my local county jail. Like Bates, the best practices I use in my jail ministry are based in showing prisoners respect and compassion and giving dignity in an incarceration system that rejects respect, compassion, and dignity for inmates.

My practices are intended to help the inmates grow spiritually, socially, and intellectually. They include calling inmates by their first name, giving choices whenever possible, giving opportunities for leadership, answering questions on any subject related to our study area, and regularly telling the men that they are valuable, forgivable, and loved human beings. In quarterly end-of-class feedback from my students, inmates consistently say that the single most important aspect of our program is that we mentors show up every week. If we are not locked out, we are there.

The Rev. Louann Roberts wrote when she retired after 25 years of service as the Chaplain at Elmwood Women’s Facility, that jail ministry can be addictive and life-affirming,

The best of poignant memories of all are the bright, strong and contagious faiths that encouraged and blessed me in unexpected ways. The faith, love and gratefulness found among prisoners that is freely shared with anyone who will take the time to listen, is the most addicting thing I’ve experienced in my life. I’m forever changed by the evil and the good, the contrasts where love can still win over hate, and that God is found in jail.[36]

Chaplains like Roberts who engage prisoners with respect and compassion demonstrate to them their value, both as individuals and to God. In her dissertation, Moira De Nike concludes that this recognition of worth may lead the inmate to better life outcomes, “more than faith and moral resolve are required for successful re-entry into society, but that offenders’ sense of God in their lives can be pivotal, especially as it gives them belief in their own value.”[37] When inmates understand that they have value, they may be motivated to fight harder to get a shorter prison sentence. Sawyer and Wagner report, “almost all convictions are the result of plea bargains, where defendants plead guilty to a lesser offense, possibly in a different category, or one that they did not actually commit.”[38] In my own jail ministry, I have observed that some inmates accept excessively long sentences because they do not feel they deserve better. On the other hand, I have also seen inmates get much shorter sentences when chaplains write letters for them and show up at court hearings. This is so unusual that judges pay attention.

Theology of Incarnation and Atonement

Theology is the framework in which a chaplain interacts with prisoners. It provides a context and motivation for how the chaplain values prisoners and whether prisoners are encouraged to see themselves as having a positive future. Tanya Erzen presents one end of the theological range when she writes of the beliefs of evangelical chaplains who support the role of the criminal justice system in punishing prisoners, “The idea that forgiveness or resolution only occurs as a result of punishment… has roots in Christian theology… from the Christian idea of atonement. Jesus’s death on the cross is necessary as a sacrifice to provide the only basis for sinful humans to escape deserved punishment.”[39] Erzen calls this theology a contradictory hybrid of New Testament forgiveness and Old Testament vengeance. She writes, “many nondenominational and evangelical Christians seem wedded to the idea that punishment awakens good and the biblical idea of God’s law as retribution.”[40] This theory of atonement is called penal substitution. In penal substitution, God punishes Jesus on the cross in place of sinners to satisfy the demands of justice. Penal substitution with its familiar context of judicial punishment is a popular belief among prisoners as well as evangelical chaplains.

At the other end of atonement theology is theologian-scientist Arthur Peacocke. Peacocke was an Anglican priest, Dean of Clair College, Cambridge, and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. In Theology for a Scientific Age, Peacocke presents his interpretation of the incarnated Jesus growing the upper limit of human potential when he writes, “we have come to see Jesus the Christ… as the distinctive manifestation of a possibility always inherently there for human beings in their potential nature, that is, by virtue of what God had created them to be and to become.”[41] Peacocke criticizes the penal substitution theory of atonement because it suffers from both the moral defect of God inflicting punishment on the innocent as well as the blasphemy of putting God in the role of a hanging judge seeking retribution.[42] Peacocke offers an alternate atonement interpretation in which Jesus represents a new upward possibility for human realization, “the life, suffering and death of Jesus the Christ as an act of love… an act of love of God.”[43] Peacocke’s love-based theology affirms continuing spiritual growth and human value growing in parallel with the physical evolution of humans. In his view, theories like penal substitution fail to support the ongoing transformation of humanity into what God intends.[44] Chaplains like Roberts who act out of a theology of love and belief in growth potential show respect and compassion for the inmate as a person, not just as a soul to be saved.

Better Outcomes and Lower Recidivism

There is a great deal of information about recidivism (that is, ex-inmates repeating criminal behavior, or being re-arrested), all of it complex and potentially conflicting. For example, the Bureau of Justice reports a 68% recidivism rate within three years, and 83% within nine years.[45] However, Gelb and Velazquez, citing data from the aforesaid Bureau of Justice, report that the numbers returning to state prison within three years have dropped.[46] What seems true in any case is the summary by Michael Hallett, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of North Florida, “Rebuilding the lives of ex-offenders has proven exceedingly difficult.”[47]

A review of published reports indicates that certain kinds of programs do help those in re-entry to stay out of incarceration. Many of these are faith-based programs that offer study groups, mentors, support for housing, jobs, transportation, training, life skills, reconnection with family, and healthcare, including substance abuse treatment. Faith-based programs can reduce recidivism but Hallett cautions, “most faith-based programs do not last very long… prisoners need a more substantial or sustained faith-based intervention to be effective.”[48] The Pew Research Center interviewed prison chaplains who advocated for ongoing support during re-entry, “78% say they consider support from religious groups after inmates are released from prison to be absolutely critical to inmates’ successful rehabilitation and re-entry into society.”[49]

One such program with a long-term focus is called Stepping Stones Gathering, started a year ago by my home parish, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, in partnership with Grace Baptist Church. Each Sunday morning, about thirty jail volunteers, men in re-entry, family, and friends meet to worship, celebrate our accomplishments, and seek help with our challenges. Some of the men have been in our community (inside and out) since 2015. Stepping Stones is developing into a successful long-term re-entry program and I am proud to be a part of it.[50]

According to Hallett, systemic objective research into the effectiveness of faith-based programs has been limited.[51] This will be an area I study more completely in my fully-developed Master’s thesis. I suspect that because faith-based programs are offered at no cost they are less studied than are programs paid for by taxes. In addition, it is hard to study formally the many faith-based programs for prisoners because there are fewer non-faith-based programs with which to compare them. As Erzen writes, “The reality is that the alternative to a religious group is often nothing at all.”[52] Nonetheless, Hallett concludes, “Successful desisters [ex-prisoners who stay out of incarceration] frequently report that religiosity provides a spiritual fortitude useful for a path for longer-term desistance.”[53] That is, faith-based programs give those in re-entry much-needed strength to go on.

Conclusion

I have proposed a range of chaplain engagement with prisoners. One endpoint of the range is based in a missionary or evangelical theology centered around conversion, salvation, and a belief that prisoners deserve punishment and a low place in society. The other end of the range reflects a more relational outlook with emphasis on respect, compassion, and a longer-term focus improving the circumstances of inmates and those in re-entry to society. Both provide benefit to a marginalized group, but the sustained, relational engagement seems to be tied to better outcomes and lower recidivism. Understanding the range of prisoner engagement can be beneficial in any case.

Footnotes

[1] Tanya Erzen, God in Captivity: The Rise of Faith-Based Prison Ministries in the Age of Mass Incarceration (Boston: Beacon Press, 2017).

[2] Laura Bates, Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard, a Memoir (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2013).

[3] Arthur Peacocke, Theology for a Scientific Age: Being and Becoming – Natural, Divine, and Human (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993).

[4] US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2017, by Jennifer Bronson and Ann Carson, NCJ 252156 (April 2019): 368% report, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p17.pdf.

[5] Stephanie C. Boddie and Cary Funk, Religion in Prisons: A 50-State Survey of Prison Chaplains (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 22 March 2012): 23, https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/03/Religion-in-Prisons.pdf.

[6] US Department of Justice, Prisoners in 2017, 3.

[7] Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, Mass Incarceration: the Whole Pie 2019 (Easthampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 9 March 2019): 1-3, https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html.

[8] Trends in US Corrections (Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2019), https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/trends-in-u-s-corrections/.

[9] US Department of Justice, Prisoners in 2017, 3.

[10] Sawyer and Wagner, Mass Incarceration, 4-7.

[11] Maryann Barry, “Augmentation of Behavioral Health Services to Inmates in County Jail,” County of Santa Clara: Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System, 15 December 2015, https://www.sccgov.org/sites/scc/Documents/Item19-79301A-Board-of-Supervisors-Meeting-2015-12-15.pdf.

[12] Wendy Sawyer, BJS Report: Drug Abuse and Addiction at the Root of 21% of Crimes (Easthampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 28 June 2017), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/06/28/drugs/.

[13] Sawyer and Wagner, Mass Incarceration, 19.

[14] Maria Belen Roca Pamich, “Sociología general en cárceles: sistematización de la experiencia educativa en contexto de encierro,” [General sociology in prisons: systematization of educational experience in confinement context] Cuestiones de Sociología 19, no. 068 (December 2018), https://www.cuestionessociologia.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/article/view/CSe068/10356.

[15] “Tanya Erzen,” University of Puget Sound, accessed 6 Dec 2019, https://www.pugetsound.edu/faculty-pages/terzen/.

[16] Erzen, 5.

[17] Erzen, 14.

[18] Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (Boston: Beacon Press, 1949), 12-13.

[19] Michael Hallett and Byron Johnson, “The Resurgence of Religion in America’s Prisons,” Religions 5 (2014): 670, https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/5/3/663/htm.

[20] D.W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (London: Routledge, 1989), 2.

[21] Boddie and Funk, 27.

[22] Boddie and Funk, 23.

[23] Erzen, 11.

[24] Erzen, 14.

[25] Leila Miller, “When Jail Chaplains are Volunteers, Some Faiths are More Present than Others.” Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov 2019. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-02/la-me-inmate-chaplain-requests.

[26] Erzen, 15.

[27] Erzen, 80.

[28] Erzen, 63.

[29] Erzen, 115.

[30] Bates, 37.

[31] Bates, 78.

[32] Bates, 209.

[33] Bates, 247.

[34] Bates, viii.

[35] “Teaching Shakespeare in a Maximum Security Prison,” hosted by Michel Martin, Tell Me More, on NPR, 22 April 2013, https://www.npr.org/2013/04/22/178411754/teaching-shakespeare-in-a-maximum-security-prison.

[36] Louann Roberts, “Praying with My Eyes Open,” CICMinistries.org, Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy, 2016, https://sites.google.com/cicministries.org/welcome/our-stories/praying-with-my-eyes-open.

[37] Moira De Nike, “The Penitent: The Myths and Realities of Religious Rehabilitation Among California Prisoners” (PhD diss., University of Hawaii, 2005), iv, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (10838887).

[38] Sawyer and Wagner, 14.

[39] Erzen, 116.

[40] Erzen, 115-117.

[41] Peacocke, 302.

[42] Peacocke, 324.

[43] Peacocke, 328.

[44] Peacocke, 327.

[45] U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-up Period (2005-2014), by Mariel Alper, Matthew R. Durose and Joshua Markman, NCJ 250975 (May 2018), https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/18upr9yfup0514.pdf.

[46] Adam Gelb and Tracy Velazquez. The Changing State of Recidivism: Fewer People Going Back to Prison (Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts, 1 Aug 2018), https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/08/01/the-changing-state-of-recidivism-fewer-people-going-back-to-prison.

[47] Hallett and Johnson, 677.

[48] Hallett, 674.

[49] Boddie and Funk, 11.

[50] “Stepping Stone Gathering: Supporting & Celebrating Reentry & Recovery,” HelpingOut (blog), 3 November 2018, https://helpingout.net/2018/11/03/stepping-stone-gathering-supporting-celebrating-reentry-recovery/.

[51] Hallett, 675-676.

[52] Erzen, 163.

[53] Hallett, 677-678.

Bibliography

• Barry, Maryann. “Augmentation of Behavioral Health Services to Inmates in County Jail.” County of Santa Clara: Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System, 15 December 2015, https://www.sccgov.org/sites/scc/Documents/Item19-79301A-Board-of-Supervisors-Meeting-2015-12-15.pdf.
• Bates, Laura. Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard, A Memoir. Napierville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2013.
• Bebbington, D. W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. London: Routledge, 1989.
• Boddie, Stephanie C. and Cary Funk. Religion in Prisons: A 50-State Survey of Prison Chaplains. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 22 March 2012. https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/03/Religion-in-Prisons.pdf.
• De Nike, Moira. “The Penitent: The Myths and Realities of Religious Rehabilitation Among California Prisoners.” PhD diss., University of Hawaii, 2005. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (10838887).
• Erzen, Tanya. God in Captivity: The Rise of Faith-Based Prison Ministries in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Boston: Beacon Press, 2017.
• Gelb, Adam and Tracy Velazquez. The Changing State of Recidivism: Fewer People Going Back to Prison. Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts, 1 Aug 2018. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/08/01/the-changing-state-of-recidivism-fewer-people-going-back-to-prison.
• Hallett, Michael, and Byron Johnson. “The Resurgence of Religion in America’s Prisons.” Religions 5 (2014): 663-683, https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/5/3/663/htm.
• HelpingOut.net. 2018. “Stepping Stones Gathering: Supporting & Celebrating Reentry & Recovery.” HelpingOut (blog), 3 November 2018, https://helpingout.net/2018/11/03/stepping-stone-gathering-supporting-celebrating-reentry-recovery/.
• Miller, Leila. “When Jail Chaplains are Volunteers, Some Faiths are More Present than Others.” Los Angeles Times, 2 November 2019. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-02/la-me-inmate-chaplain-requests.
• Pamich, Maria Belen Roca. “Sociología general en cárceles: sistematización de la experiencia educativa en contexto de encierro.” [General sociology in prisons: systematization of educational experience in confinement context] Cuestiones de Sociología 19, no. 068 (December 2018). https://www.cuestionessociologia.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/article/view/CSe068/10356.
• Peacocke, Arthur. Theology for a Scientific Age: Being and Becoming – Natural, Divine, and Human. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.
• Roberts, Louann. 2016. “Praying with My Eyes Open.” CICMinistries.org (blog). Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy, https://sites.google.com/cicministries.org/welcome/our-stories/praying-with-my-eyes-open.
• Sawyer, Wendy. BJS Report: Drug Abuse and Addiction at the Root of 21% of Crimes. Easthampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 28 June 2017. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/06/28/drugs/.
• Sawyer, Wendy and Peter Wagner. Mass Incarceration: the Whole Pie 2019. Easthampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 19 March 2019. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html.
• “Tanya Erzen.” University of Puget Sound. Accessed 6 Dec 2019. https://www.pugetsound.edu/faculty-pages/terzen/.
• Tell Me More. “Teaching Shakespeare in a Maximum Security Prison.” Hosted by Michel Martin. Aired 22 April 2013, on NPR, https://www.npr.org/2013/04/22/178411754/teaching-shakespeare-in-a-maximum-security-prison.
• Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Boston: Beacon Press, 1949.
• Trends in US Corrections, Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2019. https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/trends-in-u-s-corrections/.
• US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-up Period (2005-2014), by Mariel Alper, Matthew R. Durose and Joshua Markman. NCJ 250975, May 2018, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/18upr9yfup0514.pdf.
• US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prisoners in 2017, by Jennifer Bronson and Ann Carson. NCJ 252156, April 2019, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p17.pdf.

Appendix

Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by Katy Dickinson
Citadel of Qaitbay window, Alexandria, Egypt – Image Copyright Ⓒ 2018 by Katy Dickinson.

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Christmas 2019

May this blessed Christmas season bring you and your family joy! It has been a busy Christmas, starting even before I turned in my last (16 and 18 page) term papers at the Graduate Theological Union. So far, our adventures have included:

• Reading Charles Dickens‘ “A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas” aloud with my Shakespeare Reading Group
• Hosting the Silicon Valley Lines and John‘s train club lunch group’s annual holiday party
• Dinner with my Education for Ministry class, after the Bethlehem pageant at Santa Clara First Baptist Church
• Lunch with the Interfaith Speakers of the Islamic Networks Group
• Shopping in Chinatown, San Francisco, with Sally Hambridge and Paul
• Receiving my certificate of appreciation from the US State Department for being a TechWomen 2019 mentor for Team Algeria (my 10th year as a citizen diplomat with TechWomen!)
• Dickens Christmas Fair day of music, high tea, and shopping with Jessica and Paul (including buying an amazing Christmas candle)
• Seeing the new Star Wars movie with John, Matthew, Jessica, and Paul
• Cheering on Paul for finishing the many Christmas orders for his reclaimed hardwood cutting boards
• Sitting with John and his teen video crew recording the Christmas Eve service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
• Bringing services to two Elmwood jail dorms with John on Christmas Day (on behalf of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and the Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy)
• Enjoying family, food, and gifts with John, Jessica, Matthew, and Paul at home on Christmas Day!

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Tour of the Badè Museum

I very much enjoyed my Graduate Theological Union classes during the Fall 2019 semester, particularly “Archaeology of the Lands of the Bible” by Dr. Aaron Brody, Robert and Kathryn Riddell Professor of Bible and Archaeology, and Director of the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology. Part of the fun was getting to see and touch ancient artifacts in storage. We even got to discuss Tell en-Nasbeh artifacts with visiting scholar Dr. Aharon Tavger of Ariel University, Israel. Below is my final paper for the class, proposing the creation of a traveling exhibit for three Badè Museum artifacts.

Archaeology of the Lands of the Bible, Paper 3
5 December 2019

In this third paper for the Archaeology of the Lands of the Bible class, I will describe three objects from Pacific School of Religion’s Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology for a traveling museum exhibit. If it could get security clearance, this exhibit would serve as an excellent instructional aid for an audience at Elmwood jail in Mipitas, California, where sixteen incarcerated men are taking my class, Transforming Literature of the Bible, in which they study the Hebrew Bible and Christian Testament. I chose these particular objects for their relevance to that study area and high potential for interest to the students. Men in jail get very little unfiltered information. They have the televisions and what few books and magazines drift into their controlled environment. Direct access to ancient artifacts could enrich their lives and stimulate their understanding and interest in learning. Security requirements mean that this exhibit would need to take the form of an interactive presentation, not a self-guided tour. After briefly describing the objects, I would present some research I did to prepare their museum labels, connect each artifact with the history of the biblical city of Mizpah, as told in the Book of Jeremiah 40-41, and also link them with the more familiar story of Jesus and the Roman Empire.

	Objects: Three Coins Left: Bronze Prutah. Reverse has a wreath and date LIH “the year 18,” corresponding to 31-32 CE when Pontius Pilate was Procurator of Judea under Tiberius Caesar. Center: Silver Tetradrachm from Tyre, 1st century CE. From a coin hoard at Qumran. Right: Bronze Prutah. Umbrella with fringe encircled by Greek inscription, “King Agrippa.” Dated circa 42-43 CE, during reign of King Herod Agrippa I. From: Tell en-Nasbeh, Israel. Date: 1st century CE, Roman Period.
	Object: Stone Foot Bath Portable stone bath with integrated foot rest. Used in Ancient Near Eastern tradition of foot washing to welcome guests and travelers with an act of hospitality. In Christian scripture, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet in John 13:14-17, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” From: Tell en-Nasbeh, Israel. Date: circa 8th century BCE?
	Object: Bone Box – Stone Ossuary During this period, the Jews of Palestine practiced a custom called “second burial.” Bodies were first placed in tombs and after the flesh decayed, the bones were put into limestone bone boxes or ossuaries. The ossuaries were stored in niches in a special tomb. The Jews were the only people in Roman times to employ second burial. The practice may have been tied to a belief in physical resurrection of the Pharisees. From: Tell en-Nasbeh, Israel. Date: 150 BCE – 200 CE.

 

In presenting this collection of objects to the inmate, I would briefly open with the stories of the Iron Age city of Mizpah, the Tell en-Nasbeh archaeological site northwest of Jerusalem, and of the Badè Museum collection. I would also tell the larger story of the Kingdom of Judah versus the Babylonian Empire, the destruction of the first Temple, and what happened after. I would then read aloud Jeremiah 40-41 in its entirety. With Jerusalem in ruins, Jeremiah 40 tells how the king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah as his governor in the new capital city of Mizpah in the Yehud province. Displaying and describing the Three Coins, I would draw parallels between Mizpah’s history and how much later, the Roman Empire ruled over their Province of Judea. This would include how violent resistance against empires lead to the destruction of the first Temple in 587 BCE by the Babylonians, and the second Temple in 70 CE by the Romans. The current Badè Museum display labels for the Three Coins do not say much about the coins but they were apparently found in tombs at Tell en-Nasbeh. On the left is a Bronze Prutah coin showing a wreath around a date from the time of Pontius Pilate.[1] In the middle is a silver Tetradrachm (also called a Tyrian Shekel) featuring the profile of Melqart, or Tyrian Hercules. This may be the coin mentioned in four stories of the New Testament.[2] One Badè Museum label says this coin was from a hoard at Qumrun (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found) but another seems to indicate that it was found in a tomb at Tell en-Nasbeh. Maybe the coin was from Tell en-Nasbeh but similar to others found at Qumrun? The coin on the right is another Bronze Prutah showing an umbrella with the words “King Agrippa.” After the elemental makeup of the prutah was studied in 2010, this was found to be a coin of King Herod Agrippa I (37-44 CE), not his son, King Herod Agrippa II (49-95 CE).[3] Four King Herods are mentioned in the New Testament and students are often confused between them. Money is always interesting. Ancient money from about the time of Jesus would engage the interest of inmates in artifacts and history.

After the Three Coins, I would then return to the story in Jeremiah 41:1-3 in which Ishmael son of Nethaniah and his men murder the governor Gedaliah during dinner. Turning to the Stone Foot Bath as the next object, I would talk about its use as part of complex hospitality practices in the Ancient Near East. A foot bath is an element of how the guest and host interact formally, not just providing guests with a needed cleanup but also helping to establish a covenantal relationship. As the Badè Museum display says, “Harsh desert life and dangerous travel conditions necessitated the implementation of rules for the protection of both the traveler and the host.”[4] The label for Stone Foot Bath at the Badè Museum does not include a date and I did not find the artifact in the data records listed Open Context’s online Badè Museum archive.[5] However, on the web I found a ceramic foot bath similar in design from Tel Lachish, Israel, dated in the 8^th century, BCE.[6] Perhaps the portable oval design with an integrated raised foot rest in the middle mean that they are of a similar age? (Or, maybe foot bath designs are so basic that they do not change much over time?) The cultural importance of foot washing as part of purification and hospitality is evidenced by many mentions throughout the Bible, including Genesis 18:4, Genesis 24:32, Exodus 30: 17-21, 1 Samuel 25:41, Song of Solomon 5:3, John 13:14-17, 1 Timothy 5:10, and Tobit 6:3. This Stone Foot Bath a part of a traveling exhibit may allow the inmates to connect viscerally with the scripture in John 13:14-17, in which Jesus shows humility by washing his disciples’ feet. Visualizing exactly how this object was used during foot washing may help them think more deeply about the scripture and its meaning. If the audience can touch the object, the connection will be even more powerful. To further engagement, I would ask the audience if they thought Ishmael broke the rules of hospitality by murdering his dinner host, and if the political situation between him and governor Gedaliah justified it.

Finally, I will use the Bone Box to represent how the ceremonies of life were disrupted by the dramatic events described in Jeremiah. The Bone Box is a good choice because it could be particularly meaningful for the Elmwood inmates both for religious and cultural reasons. The connection between the practice of using an ossuary for secondary burial and the Pharisees’ belief in physical, individual resurrection (referred to in Acts 23:6-8) could stimulate thinking about the relationship of ancient Pharisee and modern Christian beliefs. About two thirds of my students in jail are Latino, and many come from Mexico where the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is an annual family celebration featuring cheerful images of skulls and skeletons. This limestone Bone Box with its elegant carvings of stylized geometric flowers and columns is a particularly approachable artifact. It could be interpreted as a way of connecting to friends and family who have died, rather than being morbid.

I would relate the story in Jeremiah to the artifact by getting the audience to think about what is takes to maintain complex burial rituals. For such rituals to be carried through, the community must have stable access to tombs and the safety, time, and materials to do the work. In Jeremiah 40:9-10, Gedaliah tries to reestablish the rhythms of normal life after the Babylonian empire has conquered the kingdom of Judah. Gedaliah says to the people, “Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall go well with you… gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and live in the towns…” However, this attempt to reestablish a stable society and economy is halted by Gedaliah’s murder, and further slaughter of men of Judah and Babylonian soldiers by Ishmael and his followers. In Jeremiah 41:8, Ishmael and his men accept bribes not to kill some of the wealthy of Mizpah, “But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, ‘Do not kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.’ So he refrained, and did not kill them along with their companions.” This is a story of a violently disrupted community using its stored resources to survive in the moment, rather than supporting its long-term ritual and spiritual life. While the Bone Box itself is from an unfamiliar time and place, many in the jail audience have deep experience of violent disruption of community life by gangs and crime. I think they will find this artifact and its story engaging.

Direct access to ancient artifacts like the Three Coins, Stone Foot Bath, and Bone Box has potential to stimulate inmates’ understanding through an interactive presentation connecting each artifact with the history of the biblical city of Mizpah and also with the more familiar story of Jesus and the Roman Empire. Bringing to jail a traveling museum exhibit including objects from ancient Tell en-Nasbeh will serve the Badè Museum’s mission to foster a greater understanding and appreciation for the ancient biblical world and will enrich the experience of the men of Elmwood.[7]

Footnotes

[1] “Ancient Jewish Coins: Coins from the Procurators (6-66 CE),” Jewish Virtual Library – A Project of AICE, Accessed 20 Nov 2019, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/coins-from-the-procurators.

[2] Steve Rudd, “Phoenician coins – Coins of the Bible: Shekel of Tyre,” The Interactive Bible, Accessed 20 Nov 2019, http://www.bible.ca/coins/Jesus-coins-of-the-bible-Phoenician-Tyre-Tyrian-Shekel-official-sancturary-Temple-tax-Peters-fish-money-changers-Judas-30-silver-pieces.htm.

[3] “Figuring Out the Realm for the ‘Coin of the Realm,’” NIST Time Capsule – National Institute of Standards and Technology, 13 Feb 2019, https://www.nist.gov/nist-time-capsule/any-object-any-need-call-nist/figuring-out-realm-coin-realm.

[4] “Hospitality in the Ancient Near East,” Badè Museum informational display, as of 18 Nov 2019.

[5] “Open Context,” Alexandria Archive Institute, accessed 20 Nov 2019, https://opencontext.org/subjects-search/?proj=14-bade-museum.

[6] Robert J. Morgan, “The Israel Museum,” Robert J. Morgan, 2017. https://www.robertjmorgan.com/events-and-travel/the-israel-museum/.

[7] “Welcome!” Badè Museum informational display, as of 18 Nov 2019.

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Happy 1st Anniversary, Stepping Stones!

Happy First Anniversary, Stepping Stones!

Stepping Stone Gathering:
Supporting & Celebrating Reentry & Recovery!
Worship and Celebrate with us: Sundays, 8:15-9:15 am
at Grace Baptist Church, 484 E. San Fernando Street, San Jose.

Led by the Rev. Peggy Bryan and Jackie Fanning.

ALL WELCOME! No Exceptions. Please Spread the Word!

This is a joint ministry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga) and Grace Baptist Church (San Jose).

Contact: The Rev. Dr. Liliana Da Valle, Senior Pastor of Grace, and the Rev. Peggy Bryan, Associate Rector of Saint Andrew’s.
More: Stepping Stone Gathering on Facebook.

Thanks to Crystal for her lovely song!

Letters of Congratulation

From the Right Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real

Dear Friends,

Happy anniversary as a worshiping community! I am thankful for each of you and for the courage you have to make the journey of recovery in the world. Community is a powerful force indeed. We are always better together! I encourage you to continue to gather, to pray, to give thanks to God for each day and for the opportunities that grace offers you.

There are always more gifts than we can see or know, always an abundance of love and power around us that can build us up and give glory to God. May you continue to find ways to serve others as you care for yourselves for “it is in giving that we receive”. Abundance will build upon itself as we trust this truth.

May you know God’s peace in your hearts and respect and love between you. By your presence you will attract others to join you, sharing the good news and power of the grace of Jesus to heal and to strengthen us to live for the glory of God!

Blessings,
Bishop Mary

From the Rev. Channing Smith, Rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Dear Stepping Stones worship service at Grace,

Congratulations on your one-year anniversary and your remarkable success in establishing a truly Christian community where all are welcome and all can lead. Those who join you each Sunday know that they will find a place of belonging and share in a discussion of Jesus’ teachings about how to live your life. It is clear that you are a family and that extends beyond your time together on Sunday. You are there for each other in remarkable and generous
ways.

I also give thanks for The Rev. Peggy Bryan and many other lay leaders who have lived into God’s call to be a church without boundaries. Her energy, humor, creativity and commitment are clearly evident in vitality of your worship together. No doubt your have found the goodness of coming into the awareness of God’s love together and giving thanks.

I celebrate with you the blessing of this community and give God thanks for you and for the actions of God’s spirit among you. Please know that you are very much a part of our identity as a parish. In many ways, you remind all of our ministries that God is with us, and that we reflect God’s love as we welcome one another as fellow human beings on life’s journey together.

May God continue to bless you personally and as a worship service. May you always thrive! I look forward to watching you continue to do this incredible ministry of Jesus together.

God’s peace, love, and blessing,

The Rev. Channing Smith

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Images Copyright 2019 by Katy Dickinson. Thanks to Mary Ann Gee for the group picture!

How Not to Get a Grant

There is much good advice on how to get a grant. This is about how not to.

For the last nine years I have been on the Opportunity Fund Committee for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California). Jerrie Thurman and I are Co-Chairs of the Committee. It is exciting to see how much good work can be done with relatively small grants. Our committee has reviewed hundreds of inspiring grant applications. St. Andrew’s Vestry has generously approved grants of up to $5,000/year to support many of them.

What you need to know about the group who will read your application:

• We want to give away this money. We are on your side!
• We are called to fund only highly qualified programs that make the best use of their resources.
• Committee members are busy volunteers.
• It is far easier to disqualify an application than it is to approve and fund it.

How not to get funded:

• Ignore the grant guidelines. If the guidelines say that the grant giver does not fund staff expenses or rent or political programs, go ahead and ask to fund those because you are special. If the guidelines say that the grant giver prefers to fund programs for at-risk youth, economically challenged adults, and seniors, submit an application to fund a fancy conference table so that your board room looks its best.
• Submit your application late. Insist that the grant giver fund you anyway.
• Do not answer questions on the application. Assume the grant giver will chase you down to fill in the blanks.
• Cut and paste in large amounts of irrelevant text so that application reviewers have to hunt for answers to questions.
• Call the leader of the funding organization and exert pressure to get your application funded even though it is not qualified.
• Instead of sending in a document in .PDF or .DOC format, submit photos of your application form that are so dark they cannot be read.
• Hand write your application illegibly. Write in pencil, then partially erase what you have written.
• Spell badly.
• Make sure your financial statements and funding request do not add up.
• Submit an IRS non-profit letter for a different organization than the one applying for the grant. Offer no clarification of how the two are related.
• Do not reply when the grant giver asks you a follow up question.
• Send your application to the wrong email.
• Be sure you have no website or one that is confusing and out of date. All web links in your application should be broken.
• Call the office and leave confusing messages with different people. Assume their first priority is to figure out what you need and want.

Go and do not do likewise.

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