Friday, March 8, Lent, day 21
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison as an anti-apartheid political prisoner, 18 years of which was spent on Robben Island. He was imprisoned in a concrete cell that was 8 feet wide and 7 feet long. I visited the prison on Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town and stood outside that dark cell with its one small and very high window. From there I remember you could only see the sky, but you could see the sky. I wonder if that helped in the 18 years he was there. We were given a tour by a former prisoner and taken to visit the rock mine where inmates spent days splitting rocks, it was a somber experience. The end of our tour was to leave the prison gates and walk to the dock to get our boat back to the mainland. They asked us to walk it in silence and to think about our freedom. I don’t often cry, but I did on that walk.
Mandela knew what it was to be imprisoned and so it is important to listen to him talk about what it means to be free.
‘For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.’ Nelson Mandela
Let’s pray
For the freedom that we have we are grateful and do not take it for granted.
May we live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
Amen.