Following Jesus: Slight adjustment or radical change?

We started the small group session with prayer around the circle, asking God to join us. This helps get our eyes off of ourselves, and onto God. The inmate's prayers range from simple to complex. Some were beautiful.

Through the 10+ years of prison ministry it becomes obvious to me that the word of another inmate is worth much more than my words. I am a white, middle aged, middle class woman with almost nothing in common with the male inmates that we minister to. If, in the course of a session, I can facilitate an older inmate telling a younger inmate how to go straight, his words will mean much more than they would coming from me. He's walked that path and knows a lot of things I don't know.

So, the inmates opening prayers have the added benefit of showing the newcomers, right from the beginning of the session, that the inmates' are serious about this God stuff.

We then went around the circle, each person saying their first name and saying how they are doing. We had several new people join us tonight, making for a large group. This means the group leader (tonight - me) has to really stay aware of group dynamics and keep their eye open for signs someone wants to contribute something to the group (talk).

We then sang 3 songs; Amazing Grace, What a Friend we have in Jesus and Just a Closer Walk with Thee. The guys didn't want to stop singing. They went back and repeated a verse again in Just Closer Walk. I started laughing pretty hard, but I finally started playing the guitar again to the finish of the verse. We all had a good laugh about it.

We read Psalm 27 then 127, around the circle, each person reading a verse. I asked the group what we talked about last week. That helps them remember the thread and direction of the teaching. One of the questions for thinking on last week was "Is following Jesus a slight adjustment or radical change?" I asked the group that question, gave time for a good discussion, then we went to the readings for the lesson.

Matthew 18:1-9 "unless you change and become like little children"
Matthew 5:21-45 "But I say"

As the scriptures were read, we discussed what we thought they meant. Does this sound like a minor adjustment or a major change? Hmmm. The guys thought it through. Some said that for someone raised Christian in a Christian home that following Jesus was a minor change, but if a person came to Christ at an older stage, it would be a radical change. While disappointed at this answer, it told me where the some of the guys were at.

The 4 Yokefellow volunteers suggested that following Jesus is a radical change from following self. We talked about how hard is it to die to self everyday. We shared personal stories that showed the difference. One example is saying the Lord's prayer when you are mad at someone. You get to "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" and you see that you can't go on in the prayer without forgiving that person. Everyone. It's awesome for spouses (and families) to pray the Lord's prayer together. You can't stay mad or hold a grudge and say that prayer truthfully. It's a wonderful prayer.

Some of the guys still wanted to hold on to their anger. Some of them said people's lies had put them in jail, cost them their jobs and caused their families serious hardships.

This is serious stuff.

I asked the group what the difference is between the sun and the moon. Turns out there are a lot of differences, but finally we got to the one that I was looking for. The Sun creates light, the moon reflects the sun's light. It has no light of its own. It can only "shine" when part of it is exposed to the Sun.

We went around the group with the question: Are you more of a "Sun" or a "Moon" - do you shine of yourself or do you reflect God's love through you to others? Hmmm. Quite a good bit of discussion on this one. Since I ask the question, I'm usually the last person to answer. I'm a sun more often than I want to be.