Artwork from one of the Community of St Dysmas members—a sculpture made from soap.
CAN YOU SPARE A FEW MINUTES?
Artwork from one of the Community of St Dysmas members—a sculpture made from soap.
Soap Sculpture made by a member of St. Dymas
In Matthew 25:44, Jesus says: “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’”
Last Sunday, Rev. Susan Beck filled in for Pastor Karl while he was away on vacation. She is a pastor with the Community of St. Dysmas, the Lutheran congregations within the Maryland State Correctional System.
Pastor Beck has visited Trinity a few times and each time she tells us about the important work these Lutheran congregations are doing to spread the good news within the prison system and to reassure prisoners for God’s love for them.
St. Dysmas looks for volunteers to help in their ministry and one of the easiest and most impactful ways to do this is to write letters that can be given to prisoners as greetings from a fellow Lutheran/Christian.
What a boost to morale for them to know that another Lutheran congregation is thinking of them and writing to them, encouraging them as brothers in Christ!
Please join us in a challenge to write 5 to 10 letters!
If you’ll join us, please take a few minutes to write 5 to 10 letters that can be sent to our fellow Christians who are incarcerated in Maryland prisons. More information explaning the effort and how to do it are included below.
Please email your letters to hello@trinitylutheranboonsboro and we will gather them together to send to Pastor Beck. Or, bring them to Trinity and give them to Kristin Bowl, who will gather them.
For this current batch of letters, please send them to us by Sept 30th.
See instructions St. Dysmas has provided below for letter-writing.
From the Community at St. Dysmas:
We are continuing our mailings ministry to our Community of St. Dysmas “diaspora,” those of our folks who are in a facility where we don’t currently have an active congregation. Though this was originally meant to be a way to minister during the pandemic while we weren’t able to go in person, we have found that these mailed worship and devotional materials, as well as (and especially!) notes from fellow Lutherans, are indeed God’s love sealed and stamped in an envelope!
Congregation members have spoken of the joy they feel knowing that they are not forgotten by their church, and some have said that it’s often the only mail they receive. So please continue to send in notes that we can include to about 40 siblings in Christ that are on our ever-expanding mailing list.
Here are the Department of Corrections guidelines for writing:
- Use only white or plain lined notebook paper. No stationary or greeting cards. Notes can be handwritten or printer generated.
- Blue or black ball point pen, no color or markers. Line drawings are welcome but no color.
- Greeting should be generic such as “Dear friend in faith,” “Hello, my sibling in Christ,” etc.
- Do not give identifiers such as your name, location, etc., but please say what church you are from. This helps our people know they are part of the larger church.
- Generic messages of encouragement, Bible verses or prayers in the body of the note are very much appreciated.
- Sign with a term such as “Your friend in Christ,” “A fellow Lutheran,” A sister/brother in faith,” etc.
On behalf of our Community of St. Dysmas folks, thank you very much!
“When I came to prison it was the most upsetting time of my life—I felt hopeless! I knew I had fallen out of fellowship with God and desired His reconciliation. My prayers were answered when a faithful inmate member of the Community of St. Dysmas shared with me the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
Through my four years with St. Dysmas, I have become strong in my Christian faith and understanding of scripture. I enjoy assisting the volunteers with worship services and spending time mentoring and teaching new believers. I can see my life becoming more conformed to the image of Christ everyday.
I am eternally grateful to the faithful volunteers of the Community of St. Dysmas, which have brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ into this prison to bring men like me hope. Thank you.”
