Justice and Mercy

At tonight's session we talked about Justice and Mercy. We started with asking the group how they defined the words "justice" and "mercy". Generally, the group agreed that Justice meant getting what one deserves, while Mercy means getting something good one does not deserve.

I asked the group if they wanted the court to be just or merciful in their cases. Good discussion followed, as everyone could participate in the question and consider it.

I shared with the group a recent experience I had with a young nephew of mine. He got mad after getting into some river mud (we were kayaking) and started calling me names as a way to express his anger at getting muddy.

He said, among other things, that he hated me and wished I were dead and then he spit on me several times. I responded, nicely, that it was odd that he was saying these things to me just days before his birthday. I was on the riverbank, so I just hopped in the river and washed off.

I asked the group what they thought I should do with the birthday gifts I got him. It was a good discussion question, everyone seemed to have an idea and an opinion. Some guys said I should give gifts anyway, some said take the gifts back to the store, one fellow suggested showing him the gifts, THEN taking them back to the store.

Then I asked them if they had ever treated God the way that my nephew had done to me. Silence.

Note: Silence is sometimes a good thing to have, even seek, in a small discussion group. Leaders should not feel that every space in time need to be filled with talking. It's good to allow time for thinking, too.

Yes, the group agreed, they had shown God plenty of disrepect and then still wanted the gifts he has. We talked about this quite a bit. We used the text at Matthew 23:26 about justice and mercy.

The session ended, and us four Yokefellow volunteers stood around outside the prison doors discussing the session. It was a warm June evening, and it is nice to dissect sessions sometimes, in order to improve future ones.

Another volunteer suggested that we could've read the story of the prodigal son with this lesson. Yes, that would have been a better text to use.

This was actually the first in prison session for one new volunteer. We asked him if he had any questions, or if anything surprised him about the session. He asked if this was a typical session and if we thought it was good, bad or average.

His question was a good one, I wasn't ready for it. What is a good Yokefellow session? I think a good session centers on the hope of Christ, caring for ones neighbor, acceptance for all in the group and (importantly) good discussion with participation by most if not all people in the room.

Some volunteers try (maybe subconciously) to get everyone sort of "happy". I don't see that path. People in jail are working through major issues. There are times when they are going to be depressed, lonely, sad and afraid. My task is not to get them to be happy, as if not being happy is a sin.

I do like to bring forth real laughter, usually by telling a self-deprecating story about something that happened in my life.

I'm overwight. I'll often ask the guys what advice they have for me to lose weight. Oh, how the advice comes forth. Then I'll ask them what they want to change in their lives and are having trouble with. How easy it is to tell someone else how to fix their lives and problems.

Sometimes expressing our advice to someone else can be healthy if we then quickly look in the mirror and see if we need that advice ourselves.

We have next week off from prison service. I know it sounds odd, but the one week per month that we don't go in the prison is strangly missing something. The discussion group session helps keep life real somehow. It seems to help keep us grounded in what's important and what's just fluff.

Peace.