All Restorative Justice weeks are the same.
All Restorative Justice weeks are different.
Every time the Hope Prison Ministry RJ team arrives at a Correctional Centre we know we're going to hear heartbreaking accounts of childhood neglect, abuse, wrong choices and horrendous actions. We're going to see men who are now incarcerated and weighed down by the deeds they have done, the crimes they've committed. They put on the personna of a hard man, tough gangster, but often they can't sleep at night and when no one is listening, sob into their pillows because of how far astray their lives have gone. There is so much pain, so many lies.
Every time the Hope Prison Ministry RJ team arrives at a Correctional Centre we know we're going to experience the amazing way that God reaches into the lives of these men, individually. Not all of them see the truth by day one but by day five it is a rare man who has not been affected. Respect, patience and truth pierce the barriers erected by fear and ignorance. We "shine the light inside" as one man said this week. We show them things they'd never thought of before and so many of them respond by committing to change their own lives and spread the lessons they've learned in their families and communities.
Many of the men had pleaded "not guilty" in court to a crime they knew they had committed. After listening to some very courageous women who spoke openly about the effects of the crimes committed upon them, many confessed that they were guilty of crimes that no one knew about (apart from the victims). They had come to the point where they realised the lasting pain their actions caused, that victims want to hear the truth and that telling the truth would also set them free. Now they wanted to proclaim the truth and be free, despite still being behind bars.
This is the way restoration starts. The "friends" that encouraged inconsiderate and criminal behaviour were nowhere to be seen. The families who had been hurt again and again by selfishness, theft and violence were the ones who visited and declared their continuing love and forgiveness for the offender. They were given the truth at last and despite the tears they could recognise this was the offer of a new beginning.
One of the speakers who came in to speak about the devastating and wide-ranging effects of the murder of her father compared the RJ course and incarceration to the half-time talk in a game of rugby or football. The mistakes of the first half are acknowledged and analysed; a new strategy is developed which should lead to a better second half if implemented. The men are at their half-time and all were grateful for the chance to have a better second half.
They showed their gratitude at the Family Restoration Day on Saturday, not only by speaking the truth but by presenting a song to their families and the ministry team which they'd prepared by themselves. Every single man took part as they began by singing "Hallelujah" then "Thank you Jesus" then humming an accompaniment as one man rapped, acknowledging on behalf of them all the pain and heartbreak each had caused by his evil deeds and bad choices, how sorry each man was and how much he had learned in the past week about the need for repentance, change and restoration.
The change is heartfelt, the intentions are real. We pray that God will guide and give strength and courage to each man as he tries to make amends and better choices in the future.
Please click on the video below to hear the men.
