ROLLING AWAY THE STONES

So far, you have been in the “relationship with Lazarus underground” phase of this resurrection journey together.

Jesus was friends with Lazarus, loved him, was moved to tears that his friend was buried, and spoke his name into the tombs.

That’s what you’ve been doing.

You all are embodying this mystery with your letters, phone calls, and visits: entering into Jesus’ kind of open-hearted relationship with those in Hades, the underworld. Hopefully you are learning to not just trust, but also to know and enjoy each other. Maybe you consider your incarcerated partner a friend now. And vice versa. That’s the first part. You’re seeing how this friend of yours, and God’s, is coming to life.

But for Jesus, a relationship and coming to new life was just the beginning of resurrection.

That huge stone was still in the way.

At every Kickoff Orientation, we ask people to imagine if they woke up in the darkness, wrapped up like a mummy, with no one rolling away the stone at the entrance of their tomb. How would they feel?

“Trapped,” some people say.

“Terrified.”

“Stuck.”

“Alone.”

“Confused.”

“I’d rather be dead than awake while sealed down there.”

Bingo. That’s exactly how millions of men and women—whom God has brought to new life while inside jail or prison—feel when they release and none of the reentry barriers are removed. Stuck underground.

Resurrection alone would be cruel without rolling away the stone.

LAZARUS DIDN’T ROLL AWAY HIS OWN STONE

Few people released from prison (the lowest chamber of the underworld) are able to fully break into the land of the living. These barriers—these gates of Hades we’ve put between the incarcerated and the living—are just too overwhelming.

The small community of local folks Jesus called to help roll away the stone, it probably didn’t feel like “spiritual work”: grunting, pushing, stopping and trying a different angle, working together. But today, the barriers are a mountain of fees, fines, requirements, offices, agencies, classes, holds on licenses, and closed doors to housing and employment.

We don’t roll our sleeves up to push a 10-foot boulder. We get out laptops to research resources, pull out our phones to track down offices and set up appointments. We gently push and open new conversations with agencies in our community. We print and sign and scan paperwork. We pick our friend up and drive to appointments, sit in court, and wait our turn together.

This is resurrection work: what every person in prison in America needs when they try to make it out, all the way.

IT TAKES A TEAM

We’ve boiled down years of reentry work into a few essential categories of “stones” to roll away.

You’re going to assign one person to each (maybe you’ll have enough for two team members on a role). The idea is to share the work. Spread it out. Focus on just one area and kick some butt(s).

Your incarcerated friend will lead the work, supervising with each respective role, both through letters and calls before release—then continuing that work together on the outside.

Assigned Roles

Print this page and write down the names of each role—name and signature, if you’re meeting in person. Send this in to your incarcerated friend so they can keep it handy.

FIVE ROLES

For this months’ learning, you get to OPEN and PEEK AT each of the five roles linked below. (The fifth is the Pastoral one, so that one’s probably settled. But everyone still sees what’s involved.) Don’t read the entire Role’s page; each one is the comprehensive How-To for that person to use in the coming months. Just skim and familiarize yourself with each role out, asking:

Which one would be a good fit for you?

This is the month everyone on the team takes on one role—and takes on this specific “stone” set for the next several months.

All hands on deck.

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STONES & LAYERS FORM

At your team meeting this month, look at your incarcerated friend’s most recent “Stones & Layers” form. This is where we start. (If we haven’t posted it to your parish’s page, ask us to do so now: info@undergroundministries.org.)

Check with your incarcerated friend about updates or progress that they made already. Try to figure out which “STONES” they listed would fit under which role.

Now you’re becoming a resurrection & reentry team, not just pen pals!

MUSCLES FLEX

Muscles, like the members of your team, move, adjust, shift weight, help each other.

That is to say, Be flexible.

These roles aren't “set in stone.” (We are about undoing such stony ways!) There’s overlap. For example, the “DOC & HOUSING” person might need to collaborate with the “HEALTH SYSTEMS” person for parole-appointed chemical dependency classes!

You’ve Got This

It’s natural to feel overwhelmed at this point, as you review these. Imagine how most reentering individuals feel! You are entering into the emotions of resurrection, and the hope of the gospel:

We emphasized at the Kickoff Orientation how Jesus founded his “church” (ekklesia), or movement, with this radical confidence: the locked doors and prison walls of hell, of Death, of the underworld, won’t be able to stop us.

Let that encourage you this month.

It’s only good news—and hard to believe—when we see how intimidating these barriers can be.

Jesus recruited a handful of followers to expand this movement of divine Life breaking through barriers of Death in our world. You’re part of this movement. It’s bigger than your small team. But this is the cosmic hope swelling up within us: Jesus saying, “We got this. Do not be afraid. I give you the spiritual keys to break these gates open. Watch me. I’m with you.”

All the social work barriers you’re taking on is also profoundly spiritual work.

It’s what the church is for, if we take Jesus’ purpose statement seriously. This is resurrection work you’re doing.

ACTION STEPS

• Make sure to PRINT this heavy module (with all five Roll Away the Stones Roles) and MAIL it in to your incarcerated friend.

• Glance through all those Roles. Think which one you’d be best at.

• After you decide, in your monthly team meeting, who’s taking which Role, everyone tell your incarcerated friend (in your next letter or call or video visit) which you’ll be taking on. And ask him/her where they’d like to start.

FOR DISCUSSION:

• Who wants to take on which Role? This is the meeting to figure it out together.

• Which of these “Stones” might need to be addressed right away, given your incarcerated friend’s release timeline? Does everyone have a recent copy of your friend’s Stones & Layers form? Help each other as you practice divvying up the various reentry barriers, or stones, your friend identified on that form—so each Role feels clear which ones are their responsibility to work on with your releasing friend in the months ahead.

• Do you feel overwhelmed? It’s ok. It makes sense. Imagine how men and women releasing from prison feel. Let your feelings create KINSHIP with those releasing from prison.

• Use the discussion as well as planning time to encourage each other to leave this meeting with confidence, supported and ready to focus on their Stones To Roll Away. Start by reading your Role’s page more closely and talking it over with your incarcerated friend.

survey question

BONUS

HOW A CRIMINAL RECORD KEEPS SOCIETAL DOORS LOCKED

Just to get a feel for these barriers, let’s try something different. The Marshall Project created an interactive quiz to shed light on some of the hidden gates that many of us never have to face. It takes two minutes to complete. Only you will see how you did!