When I was Chaplain in the Remand Centre people used to ask me what I did in there. When I reflected on what I was actually doing in this ministry I developed a standard answer, “I don’t do anything. I just watch the Holy Spirit at work.”

A bit of a flippant answer but I found that every day men would approach me with serious gospel questions; “Tell me about the resurrection”, “Why isn’t God answering my prayers?”, “How can you know God cares for you?” “My aunt says she prays for me every day. Do think it makes any difference?” Clearly God had already been working in these men’s lives long before I got there. Take the example of George.

George is from a communist country. He had never heard anything about the Christian God. George was the “sweeper” (cleaner) in a small restricted unit in this maximum security jail. I used to run chapel in the day room of this wing once a fortnight for two or three men while the other inmates were locked in their cells. George was always about, doing his work.

I noticed George getting a little closer to our Church gathering each time we met. Then one day he asked if it was OK for him to join in. As the weeks and months went by George started to join in the singing as the songs became more familiar. He opened his Bible enthusiastically for the readings and the sermon. As we were reading through John’s Gospel and eventually came to the time when Jesus was at Lazarus’ grave saying, “Lazarus, come out”, George looked up from the page with wide eyes and as the words, “the man who had died came out”, were read, George yelled with surprise and joy, “He raised him!” Then in a much lower voice he said, “I wish he had been there when I killed that girl.” The Holy Spirit was sure doing an amazing work of change in George’s life.

At the same time I realised how familiar I had become with the amazing fact that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. I saw in George an innocence, not of a horrible crime, but of trust in God. There was a freshness in George’s surprise that told me that we who are familiar with the old old story can become too familiar and lose the joy and wonder of it.

I saw in George the simple trust of a man who had never heard of Jesus, drawn to salvation by the Spirit as he heard the word of God. The Holy Spirit had grabbed George and spoken to him of forgiveness and hope, and in shear joy he yelled out at the new life Jesus had given him.