In D&C 128:22, Joseph Smith declares: “Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.” Indeed, it is a core part of our doctrine that in the space between his crucifixion and resurrection, Christ descended into the Spirit Prison to liberate the captives, and (per D&C 138) organized the missionary efforts in the next life–that indeed, His entire mission on this earth was to set the prisoners free, both spiritually and literally. We, too, are taught to look forward to working among the captives in Spirit Prison in the next life.

But then, we are not to wait till the next life to visit the prisoners, but to begin here; “I was in prison, and ye came unto me,” says Christ in Matt. 25, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” And as John Prine here reminds us (in this characteristically-depressing old ballad), there are more than enough people in prison right now, physically, in this life, on this earth, to visit during this Christmas season—or indeed, in any season. It is the spiritually dead in this life who need reason to rejoice as much as the actual dead in the next life.

Besides, given how we’ve all sinned and fall far short of the grace of God, are we not all in need of being freed from prison? Are we not all prisoners, the least of these? In a sense, we are all having Christmas in Prison.