Mr. Clarke, Let's Make Your Words Come True

Harold Clarke has been the highly respected director of the
Virginia Department of Corrections since 2010, coming with 
years of prior experience in the Nebraska, Washington and
Massachusetts state correction systems.

According to the Virginia Department of Corrections website the DOC operates some 50 prisons housing around 31,000 incarcerated men and women and has a staff of 13,000 employees. 

The DOC also has oversight of 43 Probation and Parole Districts, Diversion Centers, Detention Centers, and Drug Court programs, all under the direction of Harold Clarke, who was recruited as Director in 2010.

The DOC is the largest agency in the Commonwealth, with an annual budget of over $1.5 billion, but is also seen by many as having the least independent oversight of any state agency.

I am inspired by the idealism I sense in Mr. Clarke's written statements, and also recognize the challenges he faces in carrying out the DOC's stated mission. 

Among these, the director has no control over the kinds of extended sentences imposed by Virginia courts that result in overcrowding and overtaxing the system, has no direct control over the budget restrictions set by Virginia legislators in carrying out DOC's stated mission, nor any control over the decisions of the Parole Board that keep hundreds of those eligible for release in his custody. 

Meanwhile, the DOC is plagued with staffing difficulties, outdated warehouse-like facilities, increased numbers of aging men and women requiring ever more intensive healthcare, and more recently, the challenges of dealing with a Covid pandemic.

So Mr. Clark's 2010-2020 Decade of Progress Report feels highly aspirational and idealistic, to say the least, but I support his statements as a worthy description of the dream we all long to see come true, which he prefaces here with the Department's mission, vision and values:

Mission 

We are in the business of helping people to be better by safely providing effective incarceration, supervision and evidence-based re-entry services to inmates and supervisees. 

Vision

A premier correctional organization where all individuals

achieve their full potential.

Values 

Citizenship Commitment Communication Ethics Honesty Learning Support

What a decade it has been! The following Decade of Progress report highlights the many ways in which the Virginia Department of Corrections has progressed from 2011 to 2021. Our agency is in the
business of helping people to be better, and we are constantly advancing. We champion a progressive and healing environment through a commitment to learning and thinking together.

We are a national leader in the field of corrections, with one of the lowest recidivism rates in the country. This has been made possible by a great deal of hard work and purposeful action all across the agency. From security to medical staff, from teachers to administrators, we have come a long way in recent years. We have dedicated our mental and physical energy to improving the lives of our inmates and supervisees, and we are seeing the results of that dedication.

As an agency, we value the differences and the dignity of individuals; embracing diversity, equity, inclusion. We value safety, commitment, communication, ethics, honesty, learning, and support. We are
committed to recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding a diverse workforce of corrections professionals that will enable us to continually improve long-term public safety in the Commonwealth.

Over the past decade, we have trained all employees in the use of Dialogue, giving us all a common language to use in solving problems and moving forward; these communication skills proved to be vital as we faced the COVID-19 pandemic together.

We have been recognized nationally with four STAR (State Transformation in Action) awards from the Southern Legislative Conference and an Excellence in Government Award. We have instituted comprehensive staff surveys in order to hear all voices.

We have learned about and followed the integrated model for reentry and the empowerment model; we have implemented telehealth; we have studied gender responsivity; we have eliminated restrictive housing; we have worked with our communities’ reentry councils to help supervisees successfully reintegrate, and so much more.

The work to improve and progress never ends. I invite you to learn more about where we have been and how far we have come over the past decade, and to join us as we journey forward.

Harold W. Clarke

Director, Virginia Department of Corrections

Note: I have sent the above to some of the incarcerated persons with whom I correspond, inviting their comments on the areas they feel the DOC is succeeding and where they see it failing. I hope to post these at a later time.

Jim Bishop's Two Daughters Offer A Memorable And Heartfelt Tribute

 

Jim Bishop, 1945-2022, was a truly irreplaceable,
one-of-a-kind, unforgettably good man.

I'll always remember Jim Bishop as one of the most positive persons ever, someone who spread lots of encouragement and good humor wherever he went.

In spite of his very active and busy life Jim always had priority time to give to his devoted wife Anna and for his beloved daughters, Jenny and Sara, as well as each of his seven grandchildren.

This is the tribute his daughters wrote for his memorial service last Saturday:

 “How do you say goodbye…” 

- Jenny and Sara

How do you say goodbye to the happiest, kindest soul that we were blessed to have as a father…

How do you say goodbye to a dad that was a role model that showed us what a Christian dad, grandfather and husband should be…

How do you say goodbye to a dad who instilled the love of music in us, especially for the 50’s, 60’s and some of the 70’s until the Bee Gee’s!!!

How do you say goodbye for a father who modeled how to treat and respect our mom with such a fierce love for 54 years…

How do you say goodbye to a father who remembered every birthday, anniversary, graduation, with a card and flowers...

How do you say goodbye to someone who influenced so many lives, lit up the room with his smile, infectious energy, and celebrated every day with his time on earth…

How do you say goodbye to someone that leaves a hole in your heart you’ve never experienced before….

You say goodbye… knowing…
Dad is no longer worrying and is at peace…

You say goodbye knowing dad is already writing a new column in heaven interviewing everyone...

You say goodbye feeling all the love and; prayers of family and friends here today supporting our father and knowing he left a mark in the world...

You say good bye knowing dad can hear again…

You say goodbye knowing our dad is at the dinner table with our grandparents and other loved ones, laughing, telling stories and Grandma Mutti made sure there was a sprig of parsley on the serving platter...

You say goodbye knowing there are seats at that dinner table for you…
till we meet again…

Here's a sample of one of Jim's "Bishop's Mantle" columns that appeared regularly in our local paper: 

https://www.dnronline.com/opinion/viewpoint/some-serious-thoughts-about-humor/article_217d6759-55d3-51b8-aff1-ec4523a96e4a.html 

A Lament For The Forgotten On Valentines Day

Lucas Schrock-Hurst, a thoughtful local songwriter (and a lightning strike survivor!), offers his own take on Valentines Day (below). He hosts a weekly podcast at https://anchor.fm/holdthatnote

I'm sure local songwriter Lucas Schrock-Hurst has nothing against observing an annual Feast of St. Valentine, dedicated to a first century saint who according to tradition performed Christian wedding ceremonies at a time when it was illegal to do so. 

But like so many holidays with religious origins, he sees Valentine's Day as having been coopted by a Mammon-driven marketing machine bent solely on making obscene profits.

According to an official Catholic source there are actually three Christian martyrs named Valentine who are to be officially honored on this day. So while the history of these Valentines may a bit murky, the world needs all the celebrations of good love it can get.

Meanwhile, I share Lucas's regret over the many people who are left out on a day we've dedicated to celebrating love. Here's his lament, which I post with his kind permission:

Valentine’s Day is Terrible        

© Lightning Lucas and Andrew Claassen, 2020

Valentine’s Day is terrible, think of all the people it leaves out

Valentine’s Day is terrible, it’s a holiday that I could live without

Valentine’s Day is terrible, no one wants to buy those roses or those chocolates or those candied hearts

Valentine’s Day please go away, I don’t need any more reminders that I’m single still,

I guess that I will just let you go by and then celebrate cheap candy day.

Valentine’s Day is terrible, I said no one wants to buy those roses,

Valentine’s Day is terrible, I hope that this supermarket closes,

Valentine’s Day is terrible, think of all the people it leaves out

Like single people and priests and married people who are broke, and people who misspoke and got their butts dumped, and divorcees and widows and widowers, and little kids who's parents are poor, and time travelers, and stormtroopers and communist revolutionaries, 

Valentine’s Day is terrible

Valentine’s Day please go away, I don’t need any more reminders that I’m single still,

I guess that I will just let you go by and then celebrate cheap candy day.

[Guitar solo on chorus chords]

Valentine’s Day is terrible, think of all the people it leaves out

Valentine’s Day is terrible, consumerism is what it’s all about

Valentine’s Day is terrible, even if you have someone special do something special for you special someone without a special day. 

Valentine’s Day please go away, I don’t need any more reminders that I’m single still,

I guess that I will just let you go by and then celebrate cheap candy day.

[Guitar for first 2 lines]

What’s that you say, let’s go on a date, have I told you how much I love Valentine’s Day?

Here's the link to access and support Lucas's podcast 

https://anchor.fm/holdthatnote. Or you can find and subscribe to 'Hold That Note' wherever you get your podcasts.

If You Cherish Freedom Of Religion, You Should Thank Some Baptists, Anabaptists And Quakers

Roger Wlliams promoted religious freedom,
separation of church and state, and fair
dealings with Native Americans.

The seventeenth century founder of the Baptist Church in North America, Roger Williams, shared many convictions of his free-church Anabaptist counterparts in western Europes. 

Like them, he also experienced a lot of persecution for his beliefs. The General Court of Boston stripped him of his ordination and ordered him banished from the colony for spreading "diverse, new and dangerous opinions" that today would be considered mainstream.

In our own colony of Virginia every colonist was to be a baptized member of the church of England. Adult members who failed to show up for Sunday services without an allowable excuse were subject to a fine of a pound of tobacco, and for missing a whole month, 50 pounds. Those who disagreed with or disobeyed church rules were subject to censure. Taxes or "tithes" were levied on all citizens to  support members of the clergy and to cover church expenses.

Quakers were specifically targeted for having unlawful assemblies and for teaching and propagating "lies, miracles, false visions, prophecies and doctrines... attempting thereby to destroy religion, laws, ceremonies and all bonds of civil societies." Until Virginia adopted the English Edict of Toleration in 1699, any Quaker landing at Jamestown was to be held in prison without bail, then banished and forever forbidden to return. And attendance at some place of worship recognized by the 1699 act of parliament continued to be required by law.

In the early 1700's Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists were attracting so many converts among the common people in Virginia that in 1747 the governor issued an order that all "itinerant preachers" were to be restrained. Some were tried and fined for "unlawful assembly," casting doubt on what the Edict of Toleration really tolerated.

After the American Revolution the Act of Toleration was amended to read "all men shall enjoy the free exercise of religion," and members of dissenting groups were longer required to pay the church tax. But it was not until 1786, and after contentious debate, that Thomas Jefferson's "Act for Establishing Religious Freedom" was finally passed, resulting in the officially established Anglican Church becoming incorporated as an independent Protestant Episcopal Church. In the meantime, the book of Common Prayer had been amended to remove all prayers for members of the English crown.

Religious freedom has come with a price, not one primarily fought and paid for on the battlefield, but through the heroic sacrifice and martyrdom of thousands of brave men and women who insisted that the church was to be made up of those who freely chose to follow the life-giving and liberating Prince of Peace.

In addition to Wikipedia articles I gleaned some of the above information from extensive footnotes in Anne Frysinger Shifflet's 2002 self-published book "Of Time and Place" about her Virginia ancestors.

Some Big Lies I Was Taught In Public School

"Virginia: History, Government, Geography” by Francis Butler
Simkins and others was a required textbook for Virginia public
schools when I was a student.

I grew up in a racially segregated state known to have had the largest enslaved population of any state in the Union. The public school in which I was enrolled from 1946 to 1951 was still strictly segregated, and I grew up in a virtually all white world,

The required 7th grade history text in  our school, Virginia: History, Government, Geography, was authored by Francis Butler Simpkins, a professor  at Longwood College. According a Wikipedia article about him, Simpkins was once known as a progressive on matters of race but became markedly more conservative over time. His views may have been influenced by his wife being a teacher in a Prince Edward County public school, which became the infamous focus of Virginia's Massive Resistance after the 1954 Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling that segregated schools were unconstitutional,

In a recent column in the Washington Post, Dana Milbank included quotes from this textbook that was a required part of the curriculum of every school in the Commonwealth. While I have no memory of the details, its view of slavery aligns with impressions I gained in school about this part of our state's history. 

(I also clearly remember often singing what was then our state song, "Carry Me Back To Old Virginia" in music classes, with its  nostalgic and whitewashed version of black slave history, along with such Stephen Foster ballads as "My Old Kentucky Home," and "Old Black Joe" with similar themes.)

Here are some quotes in Milbank's column from chapter 29 of Simkins' text:

“A feeling of strong affection existed between masters and slaves in a majority of Virginia homes. … It was to [the master’s] own interest to keep his slaves contented and in good health. If he treated them well, he could win their loyalty and cooperation. … The intelligent master found it profitable to discover and develop the talents and abilities of each slave. … The more progressive planters tried to promote loyalty and love of work by gifts and awards.”

“Many Negroes were taught to read and write. Many of them were allowed to meet in groups for preaching, for funerals, and for singing and dancing. They went visiting at night and sometimes owned guns. … Most of them were treated with kindness.”

“The tasks of each [house slave] were light. … They learned much about the finer things of life. The house servants took a great deal of pride in their comfortable positions. …The field hands … were given a rest period at noon, usually from one to three hours. Those who were too old or too sick to work in the fields were not forced to do so. … The ‘task system’ … gave them free hours after they finished their daily tasks. … The planter often kept a close eye upon [the overseer] to see that the slaves were not overworked or badly treated.”

“Male field hands received each year two summer suits, two winter suits, a straw hat, a wool hat, and two pairs of shoes. … Often the members of the master’s family would hand down to their favorite slaves clothing which they no longer needed. … [The slaves] loved finery.”

“Every effort was made to protect the health of the slaves. … It was the duty of all mistresses to give sick slaves the same care they gave their own children.”

“The house servants became almost as much a part of the planter’s family circle as its white members. … A strong tie existed between slave and master because each was dependent on the other. … The regard that master and slaves had for each other made plantation life happy and prosperous.”

"[The slaves] liked Virginia food, Virginia climate, and Virginia ways of living. Those Negroes who went to Liberia … were homesick. Many longed to get back to the plantations. … It must be remembered that Virginia was a home as much beloved by most of its Negroes as by its white people. Negroes did not wish to leave their old masters.”

“Life among the Negroes of Virginia in slavery times was generally happy. The Negroes went about in a cheerful manner making a living for themselves and for those for whom they worked. … They were not worried by the furious arguments going on between Northerners and Southerners over what should be done with them. … The negroes remained loyal to their white mistresses even after President Lincoln promised in his Emancipation Proclamation that the slaves would be freed.”

I find the above examples especially telling in light of current debates over how issues of race should be taught in our nation's schools.

Just one example of the stark contrast between actual history and the version I was taught in school.

On A Dark Night A Single Candle Can Be Seen From Well Over A Mile Away

I know it's become a cliche, but it truly is better to light a candle
than to curse the darkness.

A good friend of mine, noting some of my recent posts, wondered whether I was becoming depressed by taking on too many of the world's problems. 

I truly appreciated his concern, and have sometimes asked myself the same question. 

After some reflection, however, I felt  I could honestly say I generally feel more over-blessed than I do overburdened, more often energized than emotionally depleted. 

This is not because I am a better or stronger person than others, but because I've come to see myself as a small but vital part of a whole community of others who together help shed light on a dark world, who together are a million points of light, a God-illumined city on a hill.

"This little light of mine" may be of little consequence by itself, and I certainly can't claim to be a perfect source of it by any stretch,  but the world needs all the light it can get, and each of us should be sure to let ours shine rather than hide whatever light we have from view. For on the darkest night, even a single candle, I'm told, can be seen from as far away as 1.6 miles, at about the same clarity as the bright star Vega, which is over 25 million light years away in the constellation Lyra.

So together with other constellations that light up the heavens, we can each be a small but not insignificant part of a divine "light show" that offers inspiration, constancy and beauty in what would otherwise be a universe of darkness. 

Light is a metaphor for the good influence, the much needed encouragement, the kind of wisdom and enlightenment we all need to first experience ourselves and then share with everyone around us.

Letting our God-given light shine, whether in the form of a flickering candle or a flaming torch, is the least we can do.

Love is a candle whose light makes a circle,

Where every face is the face of a friend.

Widen the circle by sharing and giving--

God's holy dare: love everywhere.

- verse three of Richard Leach's Hope is a Candle

Here's a song by Chris Rice I really like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpkwBkHq3n8

What Joins Our VMC Family Together, A Shared Constitution And Bylaws Or A Sacred Covenant?

What God has joined together, let no one separate. Mark 10:9

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you... I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."  - John 17:20-23 (NIV)

I've lost count of how many times Virginia Mennonite Conference Assembly delegates have been asked to release and bless the decision of a member congregation to withdraw from VMC and Mennonite Church USA. Dissident congregations make their request to their District Council, which becomes involved in their process of decision making and discernment, after which the request is forwarded to Conference leadership, after which the resolution is presented at the next Conference Assembly for approval.

I always feel a profound sadness whenever this happens in the fellowship of believers that has long been a cherished part of my extended spiritual family. 

I also wonder what it says about our understanding of the nature of the church itself. Are we primarily a "Gemeinschaft," the German word for community that is associated with the word "Gemeinde" (church), or have we become too much like just another"Gesellschaft," the German word for an organization? In other words, are we intimately bonded together as sibling members of a family, or are have we become more like a business or a charitable institution with an agreed on set of policies and membership guidelines? 

While there are numerous metaphors used for God's people in the Bible, none of them even remotely resembles that of an incorporated business enterprise. None. The church may sometimes need to take care of some mundane business, but they are not a business, other than being about their Father's business, that of redeeming, restoring and caring for the whole world as Jesus did.

One New Testament metaphor for the church is that of precious and living stones being built together to form a holy temple for God, one that is established on the solid foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as its chief Cornerstone. As pictured in the Revelation, it is a beautiful habitation of light and life, with walls for safety but with gates forever open in each direction, inviting people in from every tribe, language and nation.

Another familiar metaphor for the church is that of a Body, with many diverse parts miraculously functioning together as a living organism under the direction of one Head. Every part of this body recognizes its need for, and its vital connection with, every part of the whole.

A third image of the church is that of a beautiful Bride being prepared for its eternal wedding celebration and for a future in which nothing can never separate her from her beloved Bridegroom. In this present age of the church's engagement period we are rehearsing not only for our ultimate wedding, but are practicing being a living demonstration of God's shalom here on earth as it will be forever in heaven.

In no case is the church ever described in the Bible as a having a human origin, or operating by human design or direction. God is the designer and builder, the loving head, the eternal lover, the forever Lord. It is only by God's grace that we are privileged to be members of it. 

In the meantime we do need human "under shepherds" who with their flock practice prayerful discernment regarding the care and maintenance of this new creation. So God's people are to exercise prayerful discipline in cases where individual members are openly dishonest, greedy, hateful, violent, abusive, or promiscuous.

This must always be done in the spirit of first focusing on removing the beams from our own eyes, then practicing the rule of Christ as outlined in Matthew 18:15-20, urging willfully sinning members to come to repentance. Only if such individuals refuse to listen to our heartfelt entreaties, first in private meetings and then to a public appeal from the whole congregation, are they to be released from the status of insider to that of an outsider. Then as outsiders they become among the church's "most wanted," and are actively and repeatedly re-invited to their former place of belonging.

But I find no instructions in the New Testament for having congregation censuring or excommunicating other whole congregations or groups of congregations. Not even in the case of a church such as the one at Corinth, which was openly tolerating scandalous behavior, or the wealthy and complacent church at Laodicea, a lukewarm congregation in serious need of repentance. 

In the case of removing an individual, it should never be done until we are convinced that their names are clearly no longer in the Lamb's Book of Life, and that what we are binding or loosing on earth is already bound or loosed in heaven.

Meanwhile, we are to remain in earnest prayer, sustained worship, careful discernment and serious study together as we work toward the ultimate goal of achieving an ever greater "unity of the faith," while continually maintaining a heaven-blessed "unity of the Spirit" by every means possible, for as long as it takes.

And that might mean keeping on working at it until death do us part, knowing that in the next life there will be no humanly defined doctrinal or denominational barriers separating us from each other.