Tuesday, February 10, 2026
In the profound New Testament Letter to the Hebrews, correspondence perhaps not receiving the high profile it deserves in our thinking, the writer, having set out the great achievement of Jesus Christ, writes: " Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers . . .remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated." (13:3).
This week we heard of the draconian sentence given to the 78 year-old pro-democracy advocate, Jimmy Lai, in Hong Kong. Twenty years in prison for speaking for the cause of democracy. Without international intervention (he is, note, a British citizen), which is something we can reasonably pray for, he will likely die in prison. Across the globe, and in our own country, there is mistreatment, too.
So our hearts go out to those in prison and ill-treated, as have the hearts of Christians in every age, for those punished unjustly for dissenting from the regimes they live under. We pray for them. We pray for their families. And we pray, as many English bishops did in the years when their kings ruled with a heavy-hand "send good thoughts to his heart." And, though I don't know what effect letter writing has, we might try that, too.