The notion of mental “bondage” is a hard concept for the modern mind.  When we hear or read the word “bondage,” what initially comes to mind are images of imprisonment; complete with bars, guards, fences, and alarm systems, all designed to deny a person’s freedom. 

Yet mental bondage is much deeper than what one can perceive with the physical eye. This type of bondage does not incarcerate a person’s body; rather it incarcerates the mind, and if it not confronted or challenged, it will become a scourge on the very soul.  The body may be free, but the mind is held captive.     

Pastorally speaking, bondage has always been typified or symbolized, not with a lock and a key, but rather with a much older symbol:  a chain. The chain is a much more oppressive taskmaster than any other form of bondage.

There is no bondage so complete, so personal, and even so intimate to our community as the chain.

The Warren County Jail does not house everyone who is in bondage. This type of bondage is not the result of being a law-breaker. This mental bondage is birthed through parental neglect.

We cannot discount the many mental and emotional benefits that are enjoyed by the recipients of good parenting. Neither can we deny the mental and emotional deficits of those who experienced its lack.

Many in our community were born without parents who loved, nurtured, and protected them. There is a whole generation of young men and young women whose minds are held captive.

They do what they do (e.g. put others and themselves in danger) because they have a different kind of hurt.

Outwardly, it is difficult to discern that these young men and young women are hurting.  They walk among us with their chains in tow.

  Humans are not the products of asexual reproduction, and neither are they born in isolation. We were born in community, reflecting the nature of our Creator.

Each child in our community needs a strong, nurturing presence. When we miss this, we are adding another link in the chain of mental and emotional bondage that is a scourge on any community.   

This bondage, or rather this different kind of hurt, does not fade away with age. Time truly does not heal all emotional wounds — especially those that concern our origins.

This chain is more effective at keeping people in bondage than bars and fences.   All of us are born physically free, but some of us are born into situations that breed mental and emotional chains.   

Chains are fashioned as children are born into homes whose occupants are disinterested in parenting. If there are not any parenting surrogates, or super-supportive spouses, that chain will remain in place until death sets the wearer free.   

It ties its recipient, link by link, back to his or her early existence. Each negative episode in a community is another link in our collective chain.   

Accordingly, only the collective response of a community will be sufficient to address the chain that keeps us all in bondage. Without this collective response, we simply hand the chain of bondage down to the next generation.

Please join me and a panel of our community leaders this Saturday evening at 7, 180 Oak Ridge Road, as we take the first step in addressing the chain of urban violence that holds our community hostage. 

Rev. R. D. Bernard is pastor at King Solomon Baptist Church.