Devotional
Listening
to the Children
by June Ramage Rogers
"'And when was it that we
saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'" (Matt. 25:39)
 In the September/October
2003 issue of Horizons, Kris Haig proposed that a devotional
is any activity or experience that effectively opens our hearts
and draws our attentiveness to the presence of God in our midst.
Some years ago in Thailand I had such a devotional experience
in a most unlikely place.
As half of the pastoral team at the International Church of
Bangkok, I was responsible for the ministry at Suan Phlu, the
prison for illegal immigrants. Week after week I went---sometimes
alone, sometimes with members of the church---to that stinking,
miserable, steaming hot jail. The service provided was ostensibly
coffee and cookies, eagerly received by the hungry, dispirited
and often ill inmates. Requests multiplied, however---to retrieve
information from embassies, mail letters, take a message to a
friend, buy airline tickets (if the prisoners were fortunate
enough to be released to return to their countries of origin)
or simply stay with prisoners, listening to their stories or
praying with them.
At first, it was difficult to make myself get up on "Suan
Phlu Day," to pick up the cookies and the coffee at the
church and enter that awful place with security guards watching
every move we made. As my relationship with the prisoners deepened
and I learned something about the causes for their detention---often
not of their own making---an amazing thing happened. In the eyes
of the Vietnamese boat women and children, in the desperation
of the men who called out to me, "Mother! Mother!"
in the sweaty hands reaching out through the bars to cling to
me, in the ministrations that the prisoners made to one another,
in the faithful prayers of the Muslims, I began to feel the presence
of God in a special way. I was startled to realize that God had
been there all along.
In deeply moving ways, God was ministering to me through these
new friends. Even though the stench was just as bad and the heat
just as unbearable, I began to look forward to those visits.
I made plans with persons who visited from other churches and
nongovernmental organizations to analyze the related legal and
human rights issues, to solicit help from a famous Thai human
rights lawyer and plan a conference to address the serious and
multifaceted problem of illegal immigrants in Thailand. The Spirit
of God that I met at Suan Phlu, while working among the prisoners,
had called me to a new level of ministry and mission as an advocate.
I no longer felt burdened, but energized and confident. I was
beginning to understand what Jesus meant when he said, "I
was in prison and you visited me" (Matt. 25:36c).
Have you been surprised by the presence of God in an unlikely
place? Where have you seen the face of Christ in the face of
another?
Ever loving God, as we answer the call
of Christ to mission and ministry in our communities and in our
world, may we be open to the surprise of your loving presence
in unexpected places and to the joy of finding your face in the
faces of the most unusual persons. Amen.
June Ramage Rogers is volunteer coordinator of the Ghana
Project, supported by the Women's Ministries Program Area, PC(USA),
and worship coordinator for the coordinating team of Presbyterian
Women in Ohio Valley Presbytery
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