“I have been locked up for almost 30 years and I have never been moved or touched so much as I was at your service I attended! I was most impressed with the way you guys interacted with us like you did…. Just for a little while I experienced freedom. All of you people actually seemed to care and I could see the love. You touched my heart like I’ve never been touched before.” –LW
What is it about Hope Revival concerts in Higher Love tours that elicits responses like this? What is the power of 90 minutes spent together? Perhaps you will get a sense of that if you imagine yourself being one of those men or women coming to the concert as they do. As you read this, put yourself there.
They walk into the room in their prison blues where the concert is beginning soon – a chapel or a large meeting room. They see the stage set up with all the instruments, microphones, speakers, monitors and amplifiers along with a banner stating “Hope Revival presents…. Emmanuel, A Christmas Concert” and a Christmas tree. The sound techs are in the back, the musicians on the stage. All of this is for them. Other team members greet them as they enter and find their seats. Some are clearly excited and enthusiastic. Some show no expression. A few seem like they are not sure what they are getting into.
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” opens the show and creates smiles and some sing along, some stand. (Except in one concert where about 1/3 of the attendees were juvenile women (up to 24 years old) who were mostly stone-faced and closed off. Such protective walls they had! What did they absorb into their hearts behind those walls?)
As the program continues with two Christmas songs, people loosen up and enjoy being taken away from their daily existence – the regimentation, the close quarters, the isolation from family, the regrets, feeling like a number not a person, the lack of control over much of anything.
The team members are introduced, and when those attending are asked to introduce themselves there is a shift. A shift from being an audience to being individuals with names and hometowns. There’s not enough time for each person to speak, but the message is clear. We see you as people. When “Happy Birthday” is sung to those who have a birthday that day (or within a few days) the message goes to another level – your life is worth celebrating.
The explicitly stated messages, the words “You are loved. You have great worth. God is with you. You are not forgotten” are experienced.
Then the fun begins. “Drummer Boy” with rap inserts takes the energy to another level. A few volunteers are brought to the stage and given Christmas headgear – antlers, lighted headbands, Santa hats – to lead a Christmas Sing Along with the band.
They feel like kids again, free to have fun and express their uniqueness. Everyone is on their feet, enthusiastically singing those familiar fun Christmas songs including “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Feliz Navidad.” Then the traditional carols, “Joy to the World” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” are sung with strength and conviction. The final lines are sung a cappella and the room is filled with voices – “O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”
After the singalong, the musicians shift to spiritual/faith Christmas songs and some words of inspiration from the musicians. Leading into Communion, “Love Me” (JJ Heller) ends with these words:
“I will love you for you
Not for what you have done or what you will become
I will love you for you
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew.”
All are invited to place their hands on their hearts and declare “I am loved. I have great worth. God is with me. I am not forgotten.” Claiming the message, not just receiving it.
All are welcomed and encouraged to participate in Communion. A combination of team members and inmates share the bread and juice with words for them and with eye contact to connect personally.
After Communion, “It is Well With My Soul” draws in many to sing along with hands on their hearts. “It is well, it is well with my soul.” And then the words of “Orphans of God” are an added benediction: “there are no strangers, there are no outcasts, there are no orphans of God.”
After remarks by a chaplain or warden which express their gratitude and enthusiasm for the experience, they ask if those present would like 1 more song. Of course, the answer is yes and a lively interactive rendition of Kirk Franklin’s “I Smile” brings everyone to their feet to enthusiastically close out the concert, fully involved in the experience.
‘I smile, even though I’m hurt see I smile,
I know God is working so I smile,
Even though I’ve been here for a while
I smile, smile.
it’s so hard to look up when you look down.
Sure would hate to see you give up now.
You look so much better when you smile.
Smile. for me
Can you just smile… for me.
Smile.”
That is the spirit they carry with them as they leave the room, receiving a Christmas card from Higher Love to take with them and warm handshakes from team members.
One added feature at a few of the concerts this time was especially enthusiastic participation of wardens and/or chaplains. In these places, they sang along and had some moves; a couple of them even joined the band on stage to sing. They too were lifted up and encouraged. Imagine how this demonstrated to the inmates their humanity and connection to them at a deeper level! And how it gave hope for the days ahead.
I hope putting yourself in the space of those attending one of our 9 concerts on this tour gives you a sense of why the impact is so profound for so many.
90 sacred minutes can have impacts that persist far, far beyond that time frame. We hear how individuals and the atmosphere in the institution are changed but we will never know all the personal stories. We continue in the belief that the Spirit is moving in ways we cannot even imagine.
To read about another of these tours, go to TIMOTHY’S GIFT 2023 CHRISTMAS TOUR – ANOTHER EXPERIENCE OF ‘HOLY MAGIC’ – The Best is Yet to Come and “Holy Magic” Visiting Inmates Before Christmas – The Best is Yet to Come
and How the Pandemic is Changing a Holiday Outreach to Prison Inmates – The Best is Yet to Come
To learn more about this unique ministry: https://www.higher-love.org
