What I Like About a Judge, Part 1

Labels are scary and painful things. In today's culture, the label of "judge" is one of the scariest, especially for a people who are called to speak the truth (and witness to the Truth). Biblical prophets had no problems lifting up the injustices of the world, although they rarely pointed the finger at one person and said "you are to blame," but invited the people to reflect on themselves and their participation in injustice. Still, it's hard to know where the line between "judge not, lest you be judged" and speaking uncomfortable truth.

And here's the danger for pastors. We have the capacity to speak for 30 minutes at a time without interruption. In my tradition, preaching is a one-way flow of information and thoughts (which may have its own pitfalls...) and not necessarily a conversation. And so, despite my best efforts to bring in other voice, invariably you get uninterrupted Andy for 30 minutes. If I haven't thought of something, or if the Spirit moves in a 1 Corinthians kind of way, there isn't really space for that in my tradition's worship service. And therefore, whether this format still rings true or not, having those thirty minutes is an incredible responsibility. It's a powerful time; that is, I have a lot of power in those moments. The temptation to settle a personal dispute by addressing it with finality from the pulpit can be great. The temptation to simplify complex issues can be great.

And so when I watched, with horror, a video of a pastor suggesting a "Final Solution" for the LGBTQ community involving electric fences, I was shaken by the power of a person speaking. The crowd was riled up, "amening" the pastor's words. And then I realized, "I am a bad day away from committing the same verbal violence every week." I could be the next YouTube infamy (except that our services aren't video-recorded). So how do I (and you) keep from this kind of violence?

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." - Proverbs 15:22

What I like about judges is that you never talk to an individual judge. Every judge stands (or sits) with all that has gone before. Prior cases, the work of other judges, the work of the attorneys and the counsel of higher courts. True judges are not people who make arbitrary decisions based on emotions, but are careful and thoughtful learners who examine themselves and hear from other people. And it's in this learning community that we can have the capacity to speak without committing acts of spiritual violence. It's in the act of learning and discerning from the Spirit, the great teacher, that we can avoid emotional reactions and instead seek the peaceful way of God. May we all find ourselves here today.