judgment

1’s & 2’s

Yesterday’s Bible In A Year New Testament reading was in Romans. Not that you asked, but I think, probably, Romans 2 is one of the most difficult and important passages in the Bible. And the consequence of continuing to ignore it is seen everywhere we look. It’s the cause of nearly all of the division we are experiencing and have experienced, from the garden to today.

Paul begins Romans like we would, like we do on Facebook. Look around, look at how bad these people are! They do this and this, they are like this and this. Can you believe how dumb, immoral, deceptive, how awful they are? There are Psalms that detail prayers asking God to destroy “the wicked.” Romans 1 reminds me of those prayers, the righteous passing their judgment on the wicked…“us” passing our judgment on “them.” It also reminds me of the Pharisee, who said of Jesus, “If this Man were a Prophet, He would know who was touching Him. He would know what kind of woman she is.” You can hear his condescension and disdain, she’s not even human. Neither are those “wicked” people. Nor the “others” of Romans 1. We stand here pointing…them…they’re the problem.

But then, in a brilliant twist, after we’re all on his side, feeling very superior talking about what’s wrong with the world, Paul says, “yeah, you ARE them!” (That’s my translation. Actually, he says, “You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? 5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself.”

Now, what if I make it a bit more personal, to reduce the narrative distance of reading something someone wrote to someone else 2,000 years ago? I’m just as bad, with no excuse. I condemn myself, with each cutting remark. I’m stubborn, refuse to turn from my sin, and am storing up terrible punishment for myself. God is kind and patient with me, and I do not extend those same qualities to others, it means nothing to me.

Ouch. We like Romans 1 much more than Romans 2. It makes us feel good, better than, it makes us feel right, but this is a delusion that we sometimes never expose. We like pointing. But this means we are also standing outside of the party.  

This is a reference to the Prodigal Son parable, where the King welcomes the son, who has been away squandering his inheritance, and throws a party. The older brother of the prodigal, who has always been there, is indignant at his brother’s welcome, and the parable ends with him standing outside with choices to make. The older brother likes to point at the “bad” brother, feeling like the “good” one, the one who listens and behaves. He is the one missing the party, too. He’s classic Romans 1, lying to himself while the King knows everybody is Romans 2 and has a great big eternal party for those 2’s.

If we think we’re so awesome, The King can’t really do too much for us, we won’t allow it. Step 1 is admitting we have a problem, admitting we’re the 2’s. We can’t accept the rescue as Romans 1 because Romans 1’s believe they can do it themselves, looking down incredulously on those pathetic 2’s inside at the party.

When Paul pulls that rug from under our feet, we are shaken into finally seeing that we are all 2’s. That is the reality we don’t want to face. But once we do, everything changes. There’s only 1 kind of woman/man: loved, forgiven, redeemed, accepted. There’s no one less than because there’s no one better than (well, there’s only One better than, and in Him, we live and move and have our being, in Him we find ourselves and our tremendous worth), so we can stop being so scared thinking we have to prove our value and earn the space we take up by knocking another down. We can just live into the divine economy of grace and love, and we can start to truly give the overflow of that grace and love to everybody else.

In other words, we can all come into the party.

Super Soldier Serum

The site prompt is, “What would you do if you won the lottery?” And that makes me think of a line from the Marvel TV show The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. There’s a guy who is supposed to be the new Captain America, and he’s debating about whether or not he should take a super soldier serum (which sounds silly to write here, but it is a superhero show), and his buddy, Lamar, tells him, “power just makes you more of what you are.” That applies to money, too, obviously. I don’t necessarily ascribe to the theory that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The full quote (from Lord Acton, the 13th Marquess of Groppoli – full disclosure, I don’t have any idea what a Marquess is or what/where/who Groppoli is, but I love that I could use it in real life) is, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.” Power does tend to corrupt, but I can’t go with ‘absolute/always’ of the rest. But again, speaking of words, I’m using “superadd” immediately and often.

And this makes me think of Sunday morning, and our discussion on character and judgment. We could talk forever about these 2 topics, right?

Character is the x-factor that disproves the 13th Marquess of Groppoli, and reinforces Lamar’s comments. If a man has the kind of character traits Paul is listing to Titus, maybe that’s exactly the kind of person who should have power, who would use it in service, to help, to build, to defend, to give, to love. Maybe that’s exactly the kind of person who should take a super soldier serum.

But what if we don’t have that kind of character? You know I wanted to add, “…kind of character now, today?” That’s why judgment is so linked in my mind to character. Christ makes us new, so this very moment is the perfect opportunity to begin to superadd this kind of integrity.

Judgment is making decisions about someone’s essence. For instance, to use our terms from the message, when that boy/girl that behaves violently, full of bitterness, with anger, rage and hatred, he/she IS, in the deepest parts of themselves, that kind of person, and worse, will always be that kind of person. We lock them in a box they can never escape. When Jesus says, “Do not judge,” I think He means to open that box. Whether they climb out of the box built from their own actions, or not, is up to them and Jesus Christ, certainly not me. I can hope & pray they do. And maybe that box involves the consequences of those actions or our boundaries. But we no longer hold the key to another’s cell.

And then Jesus brilliantly turns our spotlight into a mirror. “Take the plank out of your own eye.” So, we no longer have the key to another’s cell, but we do have the key to our own. We can leave. We can start anew, and write a beautiful new story. We can allow and encourage others to do the same. We can become the people who can take the super soldier serum or win the lottery and use it to bless everyone, everywhere.

New Look

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The world looks very different in the context of a global pandemic, right? Our community is no different. As we open physically on Sunday, July 19 at 10:30am, there will be some new precautions in place. (In no particular order)

1. Physical Contact. We have been a very physical community (hugs, holding hands, etc) and that will have to change, to a certain extent. There will be no prayer circle to close the service, for the time being. On a personal level, each person will decide for themselves: we will have stickers immediately inside the front doors (red = no contact, yellow = talking, but little/no touching, green = touching ok) for each person to pick up and wear. That way, you don’t have to ask or answer a million times, we all can see.

2. Physical Distance. We have a large enough space that we can sit a comfortable distance apart. There will be people in orange Bridge t-shirts to help you find a seat if you are new or would like some assistance.

3. Singing. We will sing. Gisy will be in the front, so we can space accordingly.

4. Masks. Masks are required by PA state mandate. We understand there are exceptions – we are not an enforcement agency – but we do value compliance with the governmental authorities over a rebellious spirit.

5. Children. For the time being, there will be no separate children’s ministry. There will, however, be individual activities available for kids during the message. (The pastor has a tendency to go on FOREVER!!!)

6. Food/Drink. There will be no food/drink/coffee provided, with 1 exception: there will be individual water bottles for you. You are welcome to bring your own, we’re simply trying to avoid (as much as we can) shared handles, utensils, etc. and small spaces to congregate.

7. Cleaning. There are a variety of new cleaning procedures. If you want to know what they are, specifically, you can ask me and I would be happy to give details. The only one we will ask is that if you use the bathroom, please use the provided materials to wipe down any places you contact.

8. The Narthex. We love to hang out in the Narthex and talk, but for now, the doors to the sanctuary will be open at 10am. Again, for the time being, small spaces to congregate are not the greatest idea and we will do our best to avoid them.

Last: Planet Fitness brands itself a “Judgment Free Zone“ and so will we. Each one of us has decisions to make, in regard to this pandemic and the level of caution we choose. We have no idea why each one of us is making the decisions we do, we don’t know what their individual concerns are, we don’t know their motivations, so we will not project our ideas onto them. We are each making informed, careful decisions based on our information, values, priorities and individual risk factors. We are opening with the precautions we’ve decided upon using the same criteria. Let’s give each other some grace as we all are navigating terrain none of us have faced before. We might make mistakes, and maybe we’ll change our minds, but I assure you, (corporately and individually) it is not because of a lack of love, prayer, thought, or care.

If you will not be with us, in person (for whatever reason), we will remain on Facebook Live at 10:30am in Sunday mornings. The Bridge is much more than the building, it is all who call it home.

With all of that said, I welcome you back to the Bridge. I can’t think of anything more important in uncertain times like these than a faith community, and I really can’t think of a better one than you. I’ll see you Sunday!!!!