Reflections of a Prison Chaplain: Narratives of Transformation

By Mr Jerry H Welborn

The major theme in Reflections of a Prison Chaplain addresses the unexpected. These uncanny experiences concern the importance of human subjectivity. If glimpsed, these moments can be transforming; they take into account imagination and the power of imagination that drives our choices.Entering into the executions of Sedley Alley and Cecil Johnson is to experience a place where, at first, you think that there is no way out. Moving through the maze we discovered threads, objective threads or crumbs, that suggested a way out: Sedley Alley's dream, a skunk, a pigeon, a football game, a phone call, a rejection, a winning touchdown and finally, the faith of an inmate.People recognize this thread but keep it at a distance. An administrative captain, most likely the executioner, who smells the skunk in prison air after the execution of Sedley Alley catches the thread, but lets it go. There is the woman who participates in an execution and loses her baby or the man who goes into the death chamber alone to work on the sound system and falls through the ceiling. This employee hangs upside down just long enough to lose his sight. "Urban legends are not real threads," so it is said. "Such legends are turns of a collective imagination gone amok."Events that come together in an uncanny fashion beg the question: "What does one do with such experiences?" Do you call in a coincidence squad to identify it as such and then move on? What one does with that event or experience is a subjective move.An important task in life is acquiring the wisdom, the skill and the ability to discern right from wrong and have the courage act on it. This is a subjective move. This move is a choice. It is at the heart of a narrative adventure. It is also at the heart of Christian faith.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1091888566
• ISBN13: 9781091888562
• Release Date: May 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"