As we headed out for a game of kickball at a state prison one Friday evening, we navigated through a crowd of men who were out on the main yard. It was pleasant weather, and there were many people outside enjoying it. We paused to talk to people we knew or answer questions, but our group of volunteers kept moving alongside our staff escort. Passing by the prisoner garden plots, we stepped out onto the softball field to meet the men who were waiting to play. We divided up into teams, and it wasn’t long before the laughter and banter started.
The clattering of men lifting weights in a different area echoed across the yard. Other men were doing push-ups, while still others walked and chatted on the track that circles the yard. A soccer ball flew past us. The prisoner worship team had gathered around a picnic table behind the backstop, and the strumming of their guitars drifted in and out above the laughter and cheering from the ball field. They worked through familiar worship songs, stopping when someone missed a chord or sang off-key. They laughed, talked for a moment, and started again.
In those moments, it almost felt like a neighborhood gathering.
Perhaps that moment carried extra meaning for me because, many years earlier, I had walked into a similar prison yard as someone who was incarcerated. This time, I walked past the garden plots and onto the yard with a group of non-incarcerated volunteers, invited to share an evening of conversation, laughter, and fellowship.
As I reflected on the evening, I found myself thinking about the question an expert in the law asked Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25–37). Walking onto that prison yard reminded me that being a neighbor has little to do with geography. It has everything to do with how you choose to see another person.
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer” (2 Corinthians 5:16).
We kept score during the game, but in the end, the score did not matter. If a prison yard can feel like a neighborhood park for an evening, perhaps it’s worthwhile to consider who Jesus says our neighbors are.
Jesus reminds us that our neighbors aren’t defined by where they live or the circumstances of their lives. They’re the people God places in our path.
Whom might God be calling you to see differently? Discover how Crossroads connects people in prison with caring Christian mentors who walk alongside them through the study of God’s Word.