Most of you would have heard about the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector who climbed up the sycamore tree to see Jesus. I’m not sure if you have heard of the Sycamore tree programme delivered by Prison Fellowship in prisons across UK. I thank God for the privilege that I can take part as a facilitator of the course last September in a local Prison.
The Sycamore tree programme is a Restorative Justice course. The course involves offenders, victims of crime and community representatives, and seeks to work in a way that encourages offender responsibility. Although it does not involve an offender’s actual victim, nonetheless the course seeks to encourage an offender to respond as if they had been involved, to consider how crime has affected victims and to think about what form of reparation they can make.
Sycamore Tree is a faith based but not faith promoting programme. However, as all of us who volunteer in Prison Fellowship are Christians and PRAYER is our main strategy, so we believe through prayer the Lord will bring in the right people and through prayer He will touch the heart of the attenders. We pray that not only they will follow Zacchaeus who repented of his sins and took responsibility to put things right, they will meet Jesus in whom they can receive forgiveness of their sins.
In my local Prison, there were 3 prisoners baptised in May and 3 in June. The Lord is gracious and merciful. Please pray with me.