How does the CLF feed your spirit?
2021-03-01
In the Fall 2020 issue of the Worthy Now newsletter, we asked for responses on a simple question: How does the CLF feed your spirit?
We’re so grateful for all of your beautiful responses — hearing from you truly feeds our spirits! Here are excerpts from just a few of the responses we received.
GARY
CLF member, incarcerated in NC
Growing up as a Christian in the South meant church on Sunday, fried chicken for lunch, and youth group that night. We never questioned the “rightness” of it all or ventured to think there just may be another road available. Doctrine, ritual, dogma rules our lives, often crushing the very spirit it was meant to uplift.
Enter CLF. Coming to prison has strangely been a liberating experience. Formerly having to live a life in secret, being gay, and worries about a reputation and name, prison opened doors for my spirit. CLF-UU has given my spirit the wings to see that church does not have to be a stodgy, dry experience. It can be uplifting!
As my poem [on the next page] says, stripped of my armor, incarceration has laid me bare, and removed the trappings I once hid behind. Replacing beliefs no longer my own, CLF-UU has provided the spiritual communion every person seeks, whether openly or without even realizing it, as we all ponder the mysterious and wonderful thing called life.
AUGUST
CLF member, incarcerated in WI
Focus is often directed toward growing physically and mentally. The problem is a person can be physically and mentally to their capacity and still experience a sense of emptiness. This begins to point to bread alone not being what sustains life. CLF has helped me reframe my mindset so growth is viewed in a more holistic way. No longer do I confine growth to the physical and mental domain. The spiritual growth CLF has produced within me not only allowed me to recognize my worth and dignity, but more importantly the worth and dignity of every person. CLF so far has highlighted the importance of feeding the spirit. This has forced me to wrestle with how something so valuable (i.e. feeding the spirit) can ever be considered invaluable.
SCOTT
CLF member, incarcerated in CA
The CLF is one of the few windows I have into the uplifting and inspiring parts of the world. When surrounded by bleakness, it is easy to forget that there is plenty of good happening all over the world. In the Worthy Now newsletter, I am reminded that there are strangers who care about me even if they can not comfort me on my darkest days. Reading the Quest Monthly enlightens me with viewpoints I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise. The free books and courses are essential tools I use in my own rehabilitation. I share them with those who attend self-help groups with me, and I even introduce some of the materials in workshops I design.
There are plenty of mainstream Christians around who simply want to save my soul. Yet, the CLF is helping save me from the hell that is life in prison. Thank you for empowering me and being a welcoming community. Your compassion feeds my spirit in ways that help me stay resilient in the face of daily hardship.