Talks with the Chaplain

Whether it’s an actual prison or the prison of your own life making you feel hopeless or angry, Talks with the Chaplain brings you comfort. Retired corrections chaplain Sandra Reid knows how to reach into the corners of the minds, hearts, and souls of humans experiencing extreme emotions. Direct and personal, her voice exhibits empathy that is both encouraging and inspiring for all readers both in and out of jail, a place where “it seems like anger is the only legitimate emotion.”

Talks with the Chaplain is a year’s worth of weekly, Christian-themed readings for male inmates—or for anyone—based on real-life stories and anecdotes from two decades of experience in Saskatchewan’s corrections service. Each weekly reading is supplemented by seven daily scriptural passages—one per day—that contemplate the theme of that week.

The readings shed new light on biblical passages that may already be familiar by framing them in stories from prison environments where the author spent her career counselling and ministering to men grappling with the worst trauma and grief. By allowing non-incarcerated readers a look at the emotional plight of an inmate, it gives each person a fresh view of scripture.

Talks with the Chaplain are messages of hope and guidance for those dealing with emotions and experiences common to inmates, like shame, remorse, anger, aggression, grief, and despair. The book provides a lifeline to contemplation, reflection, forgiveness, courage, and freedom.