What I’ve been listening to lately

By Rebecca Stoltzfus, president for “President’s Blog: Distinctively Goshen”

 

I am happily following two new podcasts, both part of Goshen College’s More Than Just Stories project, a collaboration between our Communication Department and our Religion, Justice and Society Department. One of them is The Gratitude Letters, hosted by Campus Pastor Jen Shenk. The other is Just Stories, hosted by professors Rob Brenneman and Regina Shands Stoltzfus.

 

These are well-crafted, intimate conversations. Listening, I feel like I’m in the room with them, and I never know how the conversation is going to stick with me. The Just Stories Podcast episode from two weeks ago definitely stuck (click this image to go to it). 

 

It was a conversation between Rob and Judge Kristine Osterday of Elkhart County’s Superior Court. Now, civic trust is low these days, and I easily slip into cynicism, especially about the criminal justice system. But as I listened to Judge Osterday talk about her work, gratitude seeped into me. 

Judge Osterday is a lifelong civil servant who daily rises to the challenge of seeking the best outcomes for people who harm and are hurt in the most intimate ways – the felony domestic battery cases. Both the offenders and the victims in these cases are our neighbors here in Elkhart County. She reflects deeply on her care for her work and the dignity that she brings to each person who comes before her. In the interview, she explains:

 

So I have a sticky note on my bench that says, “For every person who comes before you, even those with whom we disagree, is a person for whom Christ died.”

 

That phrase stuck with me. I expected the judge to say that every person is a child of God, which is true. But she went further – each one is a person for whom Christ died. As she said this, I was struck by the image of Christ reaching out a reconciling hand to each person coming before the county’s Superior Court for involvement in a domestic violence case. 

In some immediately relevant way, Judge Osterday believes that Christ died for this very person. Her compassion became material to me. She views both victim and offender through this worldview, with safety and accountability as goals for both persons. 

Judge Osterday’s evangelical language caught me by surprise and moved me. She sees herself as part of Christ’s reconciling work. I glimpsed the body of Christ in action through our local justice systems, even in the midst of their very real flaws. I am deeply grateful that she serves my neighbors and all of us in Elkhart County in this way, and also to Rob and Regina for bringing conversations like this into our living rooms.

There is much more in the conversation, and I hope that when you listen to the podcast it will expand your imagination, as it did mine. Start with the beginning episode to understand Regina and Rob’s journeys to their own faith-based justice work. And while you’re there, subscribe. Because you won’t want to miss the third one either: a conversation between Regina and the grandfather of restorative justice himself. Wondering who that is? Listen here.

 

P.S. I’ll write about a sticky Gratitude Letters episode soon.