"To Judge the Quick and the Dead"

 “From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead,” my friend said, quoting The Creed, and then asked: “What does that judgment look like?”

His question caught my attention, but I held my piece for a moment and envisioned the creed, “looking” at it for a moment, and then, boom, the third part of The Creed came into focus. It doesn’t stand alone, or independent of what precedes it - but actually answers the question: “What does judgment look like?” 

For me, at least, God’s judgment is not retribution, but restoration; repairing what has been broken; undoing the damages of sin; restoring the lost to community, healing the broken hearted, and rebalancing, retuning, the earth, and the universe.

In this context, for me at least, the restorative justice of God, the judgment of God, which is never to be feared, but rather welcomed with grateful praise, is outlined in the third element of The Creed: “I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

Here’s is the judgement of God - the work of the Holy Spirit, consistent with Genesis 1 - that which brings life into being, deals with light and fecundity, ordains the trees and fish to make a go of it, reproduce, replicate themselves, create and recreate in their own ways and purposes.

The Holy Spirit initiates the work of Christ from the get-go, from creating community, forgiving sins, giving death a run for the money, to wrapping it up with life undying.

I don’t know what any of that will actually look like, but at least, for me, the third part of The Creed maps out the program - with evidence already at hand - evidence consist with Creation, and then the New Creation. 

When someone raises a question of justice and welcome, it’s the work of the Holy Spirit. When someone offers a cup of cold water to the thirsty, a ham sandwich to the hungry, a jacket to keep a child warm, and a political program to keep in check the hideous forces of greed, it’s the work of the Holy Spirit.

From the moment of creation, to the moment of recreation, and with and through and in every moment of time, the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing to bear upon creation the judgment/justice of God.

This is what it looks like: “I believe in the Holy Ghost….”

God be praised!

"It will end badly," I said four years ago, and so it is ... the depths of his narcissism, his spite, his immorality, and cruelty, are running unchecked, and in the next thirty days, who knows what evil will yet emerge from his tormented soul.

Yet, 70 millions Americans voted for him ... which says a great deal about our nation, and our own spiritual deformation. Our own blood-soaked history, our love of violence, our racism, our growing inability to care for our neighbor.

I hope that the unvarnished Tr--- gives pause to some who voted for him, and to some of the GOP who stood by him as he destroyed one thing after another. Sadly, there are very few Republicans left - the GOP has, in fact, become the POT, the Party of Trump.

Yes, the man has a base in this nation, and that ought to frightened the daylights out of anyone who yet cares about the larger issues of justice, climate, equality, immigration, and healthcare.

As always, I write as Christian, lest anyone write me off as a silly liberal. YES, I'M A LIBERAL BECAUSE I'M A CHRISTIAN! The life of Christ, what he said, and did, and died for, shape my being. The witness of the Prophets, the Song of Mary, the Book of James, and Paul's ethics, are the bedrock of my thinking, my values, my politics.

To all who look to the Star for hope, who know full well that even now Herod is at work to destroy the work of God, may there be an abundance of grace, mercy, and peace.

We have our work cut out for us, so let us put our hand to the plow and not look back. Let us sing with heart and soul:

Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.