JUDGE NOT (JC)

From my recent sermon...

(Matthew 7) "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.”

This scripture was preserved for us by a writer who was a Jewish reformer and his central character, Jesus, is just that.  In the story, this Reformer is taking the ancient laws preserved by the ancient Israelites and giving them a modern twist.  Essentially the message, which is apropos then and now, is that the law can be quite hypocritical.  That is, the leaders, the ones who set the laws and tell us how to live often-times do other inappropriate or even immoral acts.  DO AS I SAY BUT NOT AS I DO.  We can infer that he wonder where compassion and love are.

 

His message is not saying you should never judge--that would be a misinterpretation.  Fact is we judge all the time about people, places and things.  To judge is “to form an estimate or evaluation of; to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises."  We all do this.  We form opinions, evaluations, estimations everyday.  To judge is not the great evil.  The problem--the great evil arises with hypocrisy.  Hypocrisy defined is:  “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue.”   The writer is suggesting that those standing in judgment are potentially guilty of even worse offenses.  They are “feigning to be what they aren’t”. 

 

To sit in judgment when you KNOW you are just as guilty or even MORE is a moral failure in your personal life and in society at large; too many innocents have suffered.  The lesson is we must examine our life first before we decide to over-examine another. 

Judging is human.  We will make judgments but be careful.   The writer warns that we will be judged by others at some point and the situation(s) will use the same compassion or apathy we’ve shown toward others’.  Because of the cosmic law of reaping and sowing, more than likely, as you judge "so shall YOU be judged." Careful! 

 

I believe we project so much about ourselves when we harshly or hypocritically judge, whether we are judging ourselves or others.  We are showing a deep-seated insecurity about who and what we are.  Whether in school, at work, or in our relationship, we all, if we are not careful, project our issues on to others.  What manifests is their need to judge us in return.  The war begins.    

 

The only cure is forgiving and practicing non-judgment.  Making sure the logs are out of your eyes.

 

Make forgiving and non-judgement your spiritual practice. I fail every week at it but I keep trying!  It's not about perfection but practice; about being cognizant of your thoughts and words.   Here is your lesson for this week.  Begin a spiritual practice that will help you to be more at-ease and in less dis-ease with yourself and others.

 

Prayer/Thought/Meditation:

 Spirit, let every breath I breathe be sacred.  Let every word I speak be true.  Let everything I do be holy and may it leave me fresh and renewed.  

Amen.

Sifting Through Disappointment (DG)

Today is Ash Wednesday. And, I am not anticipating many of us coming to the church today to receive ashes in the ancient Christian tradition, but we are open. If you do come you might leave disappointed, because we stopped doing that rite 5 or so hundred years ago.

Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season, a 40 day time period of sacrifice, abstinence and contemplation in preparation for Easter --another holiday many of us look forward to with great excitement. At Easter we will celebrate renewal, the return of spring, and maybe even the resurrection of… hope or a savior.

You should know I have mixed feelings about Easter. For now, suffice it to say, through my ambivalence I recognize in the holiday a chance to connect with history and traditions, (Perhaps even great music. Easter is made for Bach after all).

Easter is down a long road of embodied memories that might not be my own personal memories, but pieces of collective consciousness. All of these things are part and parcel of the religious experience, and by extension—the human experience. I recognize in the austerities of Lent too, a certain opportunity to connect with a history that is absolutely not my own. I am, after all, a dyed in the wool 21^st century, Unitarian Universalist. But the memories of Lent might include me all the same. The memories are irresistible and they might even suck you into them too!

Embodied memories? Collective memories? At first, it all sounds strange and impossible; like a post-modernist excursus gone over one bridge too far. Is there anything that we can collectively remember? And, how might we recall it, if we needed to? Especially, if we needed it to save our own lives? This is something that transcends heritage. It’s not American or French memory, Victorian or 22^nd century memory, but human memory. It’s transcendent in that way.

I think that transcendent human memory might be disappointment, a collective human remembrance of unmet expectations. We have all been disappointed about something:

Disappointed about ourselves or our abilities.

Our lack of ability.

By our failures and sometimes even disappointed about our successful accomplishments. (L'Embarras des richesses)  Perhaps we did it “too” well, or too fast, or too slow, or not at all.

Disappointed by loved ones who weren’t there, who are here. Or the children whose personal ambitions contradicted our own, more robust ambitions for them.

Perhaps we are disappointed that human lives are short and filled with uncertainties and dreams and reversals of fortune.

And, we might be disappointed that in the end a hero will not come to save us from ourselves? Mission “not” accomplished.

Whatever, the specific disappointment, we all share in the experience of disappointment and its memory.

Our culture provides us with many anodynes to distract us from the pains of disappointment and a host of fancy drugs to avoid the memory. However, if we want to overcome our disappointment, we must pass with full consciousness through them.

I recommend in the days and weeks leading up the celebration of Easter we consider passing through our own Lenten period to contemplate the memory of life’s shortcomings, reflecting and sifting through the disappointments that are our human heritage. We may draw on tradition, ritual and memories—our own or the memories of others. (The Christian mythos might be useful) As we do this, let us look real hard for lessons and other buried treasure; new opportunities hidden in the old ones. We will have to make sacrifices, perhaps the first of which will need to be our pride, and the second our guilt and third –shame. Let’s also look for forgiveness, our theme for the month, it might be the hardest thing to find, but it is worth the search. If we can find forgiveness in the muck of disappointments use it on yourself first and then on others.

We can always talk about the experience, our triumphs and our set-backs. See you in church. Daniel.