God Desires Restorative Justice

February 14, 2021 • Sixth Sunday after Epiphany • Transfiguration Sunday
Reading: Galatians 6:1-5, 9-10 and Revelation 21:1-7
Pastor Jeff Wells

In our faith community, we strive to practice and promote both love and justice – however imperfectly. Today, we focus a concept so very crucial to our stated purpose: restorative justice. We have to begin with God because it would be hard to conceive of restorative justice without the God we know from the Bible and the God we experience in our lives. 

As one activist and scholar put it, “Justice is not simply a product of social consensus. It is a divine attribute.” [1] In numerous places in the scriptures, we are told that “God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” That’s a description of the very character of God. Jesus demonstrated that same divine character in everything he taught and did. We have the possibility – only the possibility – of practicing restorative justice only because God’s Spirit is present with us and God’s divine attributes of love and justice are available to us in our very beings in what we call “the image of God” in us. God desires restorative justice and I believe God wants us – calls us – to put it into practice in every area of our lives. God’s longs for us to be in “right relationship” with each other, within our communities, and with the earth and all that is in it. That’s is the ultimate goal of restorative justice.

The modern movement for restorative justice was born in the 1970s as a handful of faith-based attempts to bring together victims and offenders in a new way. Over the past forty years, it has grown into a world-wide movement. Many cities around the world are working toward being “restorative” cities. Several countries have incorporated restorative practices in their criminal justice systems. While it originated mainly out of a desire to transform criminal justice systems, restorative justice practices are now used in families, schools, workplaces, faith communities, prisons, and other arenas. Since 1999, restorative justice practices have been promoted in the United Methodist Church by the JustPeace Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation. [2]

There is no one model of restorative justice that fits every circumstance. As one writer puts it, “Restorative justice is a compass, not a map.” [3] It points us in the right direction. Restorative justice is a complex set of principles and practices that is further complicated by concerns around care for victims as well as offenders and the interests of communities. It also addresses the impact on justice efforts of racial and economic disparities and diverse cultural perspectives.

This morning, I can only give you a taste from this very deep well. But I hope it will make all of us want to drink more from this well and learn and grow together in the process. There are many good introductory books on restorative justice as well as other online resources. [4]

At its most basic level, restorative justice is about individuals, groups, and communities coming together to transform conflict or harm. The word “restorative” can be misleading. In many, situations in which harm has been done, one cannot conceive of “restoring” a relationship to what existed before. A better term might be “transformative justice.” Thus, Howard Zehr, one of the founders of the movement, writes this: 

“Restorative justice often involves movement toward a new sense of identity and health or new, healthier relationships…. Restorative justice practitioner and attorney Fania Davis put it like this: 

‘It’s not about returning to the pre-conflict status quo but about returning to one’s best self that’s always been there. When well facilitated, [restorative justice] processes create the possibility for transformation of people, relationships, and communities. This is often a radical departure from the pre-conflict status quo. So what are we restoring? For me it’s about returning to the part of us that really wants to be connected to one another in a good way. Returning to the goodness inherent in all of us. One might say returning to the divinity present in all of us. Or as indigenous elders put it, returning to that part of us which is related to all things’.” [5]

The dominant adversarial justice system excludes everyone except the government and the offender from any meaningful involvement. Even victims rarely have a role in seeking restitution or even in learning what motivated the harm that was done. The system actually discourages offenders from acknowledging responsibility, telling the truth, making restitution to victims, or learning the impact their actions have had.

Restorative justice, on the other hand, expands the circle of stakeholders. It focuses on the needs and roles of all those affected. That may include not only offenders and victims, but family and friends of both as well as community members. I don’t have the time to detail all of the needs and roles and possibilities for transformation. I do want to explore just one aspect – four possible steps offenders can take or be encouraged to take in moving toward transformation. Then, we will see how these play out in the ministry of Jesus. These four steps can help both offenders and victims to “return to the divinity present in all of us.” The steps are: 

1.  To recognize and show remorse for the harm done

2.  To repent – that is, turn away from the harming behavior and commit not to repeat it

3.  To provide some measure of restitution, where possible, and

4.  To seek reconciliation of the relationship – again, where possible. 

Obviously, restitution is not always possible. An offender cannot bring back a life they have taken nor completely reverse the effect of an assault they committed. Moreover, some argue that seeking reconciliation and forgiveness should not even be included as part of restorative justice, although they may result from those processes. Certainly, we should never require victims to forgive or seek reconciliation. Yet, even in cases where the harm has led to death, both are reconciliation and forgiveness are possible. 

Now, let’s think of the four steps I outlined in relation to the story of Zacchaeus, a wealthy and corrupt chief tax collector Jesus encounters in the Gospel of Luke. You remember Zacchaeus – he joined the crowd that came out to see Jesus traveling through town, but he was too short to see Jesus over the people in front of him, so he climbed a tree. Jesus saw him and said, “Come down, Zacchaeus. I need to stay at your house tonight.” Well, Jesus’ presence seems to have caused Zacchaeus to feel remorse for cheating his neighbors because he responded, “Look, Rabbi! Right here and now, I commit to give half of my possessions to the poor, and for each person I have cheated out of anything, I will pay them back four times the amount.” [6] In this very short story, we’ve got recognition, repentance, and restitution.

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the son expresses recognition, repents of his wayward ways, attempts to make things right by offering to work for room and board as a laborer in his father’s fields, and the story ends with him being reconciled with his father. A similar pattern appears in the story of Jesus’ encounter with a crowd of men about to stone a woman to death for adultery. Also, that story hints at of how oppression and power imbalances can muddy the waters in attempts to find justice.

Now, I want to share a small contemporary illustration that I experienced personally. In 2014 and 2015, Community United Methodist Church, where I served as pastor for 10 years, went through a long and careful process of discernment about becoming a congregation that was fully welcoming and affirming of LGBTQI+ persons. As part of that, we used a restorative justice practice called the Circle Process or “talking circles” as portrayed in the beautiful image you see on the slide. This image is by a First Nations artist from Canada. Talking Circles are part of many indigenous traditions, but the restorative justice movement owes special thanks to communities in Canada and New Zealand for their inspiration. Talking Circles provide an opportunity for everyone to speak and be heard while minimizing, as much as possible, a confrontational atmosphere. 

Over a few months in 2014, Community UMC held 10 Talking Circles at various days and times so that everyone who wanted to participate could and, by the end, a majority of members did. They were very successful and had a big impact on the overall process. We did not conceive of our broader effort as a restorative justice process but, in hindsight, it was. There were direct victims in those persons who had grown up in this church later “come out” – one of whom returned to participate in the process – as well as those members who remained in the closet. The offenders were all those who failed for decades to take a stand for radical welcome even as the denomination fought publicly and repeatedly over this issue. By the time the congregation voted to become a welcoming church and sign the Covenant of Conscience, there was a large measure of recognition and repentance, some restitution, reconciliation, and definitely transformation in this congregation’s perspective and connections to the wider LGBTQI+ community on Long Island. 

Restorative justice is not likely to work in every circumstance and probably cannot completely replace criminal justice systems or eliminate the need for prisons, for example. Yet, if we had a society and culture and politics that valued restoration over retribution, it would dramatically transform the way we think about and practice justice in this country. It would drastically reduce the use of prisons and transform their purpose and the way they function. 

Imagine what our society could look like if restorative justice practices imbued every aspect of our life together. When a dispute arose between neighbors, the representatives of the community would organize a talking circle and get the disputants to talk it out. What if every village and town and city had mediators trained in conflict transformation? In every locale, justice systems, while pursuing accountability, would also focus on healing harm and building relationships. Maybe we could even rename the Justice Department in Washington, DC as the “Restorative Justice Department” or even the “Love and Justice Department”? God invites us to work for restoration and transformation in our interpersonal relationships, in congregation and other communities, and also to dream big and imagine the whole world transformed.  

(c) 2021 Jeff Wells
All rights reserved.

[1] Chris Marshall, “Divine Justice as Restorative Justice” (Center for Christian Ethics). https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/163072.pdf

[2] https://justpeaceumc.org

[3] Howard Zehr, Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, et al., The Big Book of Restorative Justice: Four Classic Justice & Peacebuilding Books in One Volume (pp. 16-17). Good Books. Kindle Edition.

[4]  The Big Book of Restorative Justice:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016HBYSLM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Healing, and US Social Transformation:
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Race-Restorative-Justice-ebook/dp/B01N5XNCL4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=fania+davis&qid=1613158489&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

[5] Howard Zehr, Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, et al., The Big Book of Restorative Justice: Four Classic Justice & Peacebuilding Books in One Volume (pp. 16-17). Good Books. Kindle Edition.

[6] Luke 19:1-10 (NRSV)

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