I usually think of this as the lion and the lamb together. Isn't it an amazing analogy. I also noted that this is the logo for the police in the Kitchener/Waterloo region.
It's actually reminding me of Restorative Justice. A victim and offender working things out to the point where there is healing.
God gave me a taste of this years ago before I had the delight of running Alpha in the women's prison.
One day a car was blocking my driveway so I couldn't leave so I went to my neighbours to see if someone could move it. They sent a teen out and he hit my car!!! I was in a rush so I asked him for his name and phone number and in behind the scenes I wrote down the license. When I was ready to deal with the issue I called the number and discovered he had given me a bogus phone #. I then called the cops to track down his number. He and the car owner showed up at my door. The owner told me that he had just come from Mom in BC to Dad in Cambridge and when Dad found out he beat him up! Well for me, the victim, this wasn't helpful and I can't see how it was helpful for this teen. I told him I didn't know how long it would take but he needed to pay for the damages (I think it cost around $150 years ago). He told he had no money to which I said "wrong answer". He then told me maybe he could use the money his Dad gave him for smokes and I said "right answer". Every week he faithfully came to my door and gave me $10 until the debt was paid off! During this time we formed relationship and he was the happiest person around when he managed to pay off the last $ of the debt! I too was happy. The debt got paid and I believe God allowed me to make a difference in this individual's life!
The problem is this situation can't be copied. For each situation, and each victim and offender, they need to work out what works for them. A murder actually told me one day "just praying and asking for forgiveness doesn't seem like enough" and they're right. As humans God does forgive us but then He forms a relationship with us such that we can work on bringing healing to those who have been hurt.
I heard a woman speak who's child was murdered. Her faith background made her think of automatic forgiveness but when she went to the papers with this statement the city wasn't happy because they were scared and didn't want to forgive and ultimately she was honest with her friend...she wanted to "kill 10 of them". As God allowed, she enter into a Restorative Justice program and one day she had the opportunity to sit down with a group of lifers. She didn't want their justification but she wanted to understand how they got to where they got. As she entered the room where they were waiting to dialog with her she sat down and looked around and discovered there was 10 of them...
Lion and Lamb opportunities.
Jesus said
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:15-20
I use to understand the value of this but be too scared to actually approach the person who has offended me, or when I did I felt unheard (and they probably thought I didn't hear either). My prayer today is that God reveals to us the actual problem that needs solving as opposed to the symptoms, and then once this has been revealed that we have the courage and faith to hear how God wants us to solve it.
My other learning experience this week is that others do what I do...they solve the problem but I don't recognize that they've solved the problem, all I see is they have a different solution than mine. I too, solve the problem but others don't recognize that the problem has already been solved and then we have a huge communication gap. In addition to this, I think each of us have different problems that need solving. At work we have a decider protocol. Someone writes a statement on the board that they want the team to agree to. You put your thumb up if you agree to it, thumb sideways if you will go along with it if the majority says yes and thumbs down if you disagree with it. If you disagree with it and the majority say yes you have to say how the statement needs to change for you to get to at least a thumbs sideways. 1/2 our challenge is getting the statement down and then the voting just polishes the statement for us. The key to this method is everyone is involved in the decision making process.
