April 21, 2022

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1)

I met a recently appointed judge at our coffee hour the other day and I asked her where she was a judge. She responded,“Everywhere, all the time.” It’s astonishing how quickly and how thoroughly judgment springs into being.

I was behind a car with North Carolina plates at a stoplight, feeling quite peaceful, when the driver flicked his cigarette out the window onto the median. Immediately I judged all smokers (sorry smokers!), the state of North Carolina (sorry N.C. readers – I actually love your state – “a valley of humility between two mountains (VA and SC) of conceit”, people who drive the kind of car he was driving (not telling), and litterers (no apologies there, although, of course, I do my share of littering too, routinely putting things in the wrong bins – compost in the recycling, recycling in the trash, etc.)

For me, it’s hopeless. What do we make of Jesus’ command? We will be judged, but the Judge has taken my judgment onto Himself.  I really do pray the prayer below, but all my hope, and I mean ALL of it, is on Him and in Him.

“Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Thursday in Easter Week – BCP)