Families of Nine

Learning what it means to serve.

We sat at tables of nine at assigned seats—the same three volunteers and the same six men in white* for the duration of the four-day retreat.  Each table family had a name.  I was in the family of Paul. 

Every family also had a table servant**—a man in white who had attended a prior retreat and who was there to serve.  The table servants decorated our table, paper plates with our names and Bible verses, coffee cups, again with names and verses.  Lots of fruit, nuts, cookies.

I’m serious when I say table servants are there to serve.  If you attempted to get anything for yourself, like a glass of water or whatever, you might get tackled.  Once during clean up, I tried to help.  A table servant came over to me and said, “Here’s how you can help.”  He took my chair, moved it to the center of the room, put it down and said, “You sit here.”

During the four days, there were instruction, presentations, singing, prayers, scripture, activities, eating, lots of eating, sharing and sitting, sitting, sitting.  There was time for reflection. We started early in the morning and finished around 8 or 8:30pm.  Exhausting.

The retreat concluded with men in white sharing their experiences with everybody. 

*In Texas prisons, all inmates wear white.

** A table servant is a men in white who attended a prior retreat as a participant.