Judgement

A friend and I were having what we jokingly call our works' dinner. We are both freelance ie out of work most of the time and not being part of a firm we get together at Christmas and have dinner just the two of us. We were talking about our weaknesses and we both agreed how judgmental we could be. I said it might be because we are both a bit prudish deep down. Who knows. In Matthew 7 our Lord talks about the same type of judgement that we use being applied to us.

We can all be very good at missing the specks in our own eyes.

I have recently moved to a tradition that practices the right of reconciliation ie confession. To be honest I am still getting used to it. It is one thing to be aware of your wickedness and another thing to have to spell it out. In my tradition you do this literally on your knees. I have to say though confession is good for the soul and the conscience. I come away with a much lighter heart. I feel sorry for the priest who has to listen to all this muck.

After confession I wandered through the City of London. It was Friday night and Christmas is not far off. The decorations were splendid and there were folks spilling out of the pub onto the street drinks in hand. Almost as an automatic reaction I started to be judgmental imagining all sorts of debauchery that might ensue from this drinking. It is prudery I swear. I then remembered what I had to spell out in the confessional just a short while ago. I was judging people I did not know of the same things I got up to.

The only one who does have the right to judge says this: God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.