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Navigate this webpage:
- Introduction to LIS 2023
- Excerpt of Sermon on Demoniac by Rev. Kevin Burns
- Prayer by Rev. Kevin Burns
- LIS 2023 Bundle
- Increase Awareness in your Community
- Join our Locked in Solidarity Network
Introduction to LIS 2023
It’s that time of year again! Locked in Solidarity, CCDA’s awareness & action week on mass incarceration, is February 5-13, 2023. Mark your calendars and rally your community for this important annual focus. We were able to gather with a contingent of our members who helpfully informed us of what’s happening on the ground and what we should highlight.
The theme this year is “Addressing the mental health and trauma from juveniles through reentry.” This theme was based on input from CCDA members who are working in the incarceration space.
We want to equip you with resources, templates, and opportunities to connect, to help you raise awareness in your community! So join us the second week of February to learn, love, and advocate for our loved ones affected by incarceration.
Excerpt of Sermon on Demoniac by Rev. Kevin Burns
Rev. Kevin Burns is a Chaplain on Tennessee’s Death Row.
“Everything about prison is traumatic. Nothing about being behind bars is easy. Every day is a challenge to stay mentally and spiritually strong. Maintaining physical health in prison is difficult but maintaining mental and spiritual health is even more difficult. In prison you are deprived of everything. Your name is replaced by a number. Every moment of every day is scheduled by someone else. There are no liberties. There are only earned privileges that can be stripped from you without cause and without warning. Being arrested is traumatic. Going through a criminal trial is traumatic. Hearing the words, “GUILTY!” is traumatic.
Unfortunately, and for many, stress, trauma, and mental illness started long before being locked up. The prison industrial complex only adds to the trauma. I know many will read these words and say, “That’s what prison is for. You are there to be punished. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” Most people have no idea what it’s like to be incarcerated. Simply put: Prison, by itself, is enough. Once a person is locked up, everything else that goes on is nothing but punishment and an attack on your mental health. The goal of prison is to break you down, making you feel like you are nothing…
…At one time he [the demoniac] was tormented, chained, naked, and suicidal. But then he met Jesus and the next moment he was at peace, freed, clothed, and full of life. Mentally, he went from chaos and oppression to calmness and liberation. Spiritually, he went from despair and despondency to healing and wholeness. Jesus reached him in his prison of death and set him free! Jesus fulfilled His word where He said He came to “proclaim freedom for the prisoners” (Luke 4:18).
Here is the big lesson behind this story…” Read the rest of the sermon, including a call to the church by Rev. Dr. Kevin Riggs, by downloading the LIS bundle below.
2023 LIS Bundle
For 2023, we have a bundle of resources here for you to easily learn, love, and advocate for those affected by incarceration in your community. Download it below to receive all these resources, as well as the entire LIS sermon, for free!
Prayer by Rev. Kevin Burns
Gracious and Eternal God:
You are the God and Father of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus, the Christ.
Lord God, I thank You for Your grace and Your mercies;
And I thank You that Your faithfulness is everlasting;
enduring the tests of trials and tribulations that
we must endure because of life’s challenges,
and the subtle oppositions that we face throughout our lifetimes.
Lord God, and I thank You, that Your love does not vacillate.
Your love remains steadfast, unmovable,
and always abounding,
unchanged by the multitude of our faults.
Father-God, I lift up those among us that are afflicted with mental illness,
and even demonic possession.
Though we ourselves may not be able to discern the difference,
Your Spirit can!
I pray for these, O Lord God,
that You will loose them from these binding and tormenting oppressions,
and that You will deliver them back unto their families and communities,
free and clothed in their right minds.
Father-God, and I pray for men and women, boys and girls,
that are incarcerated everywhere.
That there will be reformations and restorations
and that this mass incarceration machine may be brought down!
And that this wicked industry, and this vile business,
will be stopped!
I pray also, Father, for those of us that are on death row,
the most crucial of this vile business because of politics.
I pray that You will make a full end of it, O God, and bring to pass your own Word,
“…to deliver those that are appointed to death…” (Psalm 79:11)
Finally, Father,
I pray for Your people (the Church)
that You will stir up in us, O God,
a fire and a compassion for the incarcerated,
and those of us on death-row.
That being led by Your Spirit;
the Church and the Pastors,
may take their place, “the lead,”
in the charge for reforms and restorations.
For so have You ordained for us to do.
That Your compassion and Your mercy, and Your glory
may fill the whole earth.
In the name of Your Holy Son, Jesus,
I pray and I thank You Father,
Amen and Amen.
