First, I want to be clear that I deeply respect my Unitarian Universalist brothers and sisters; the congregations I have been connected to over the years have been full of thoughtful, kind, compassionate, and deeply theological people. Today, I want to look at universalism as a spiritual flavor that is not denominational. The idea that nobody goes to hell, or, at least, I (and people like me) won’t be judged harshly because God will forgive everything, is rampant. Universalism comes in the form of the erroneous idea that we aren’t allowed to make any kinds of judgments. It comes in the form of “well, he’s only human” or “she’s flawed, just like everyone else.” This fear of judging others – and it is a good thing to be concerned about – allows for a lot of evil to happen without consequences.
Jesus told His disciples that they would be judged the way they judge others, just like they would be forgiven the way they forgive others. It is a form of Karma – what you do will come back on you. And it is foolish to never judge anything; every time we walk down the street, we make judgments about our surroundings, including the people walking near us. We consider whether someplace is sketchy or looks nice – we consider the way people act – how they are dressed. Those judgments might be wrong – that whole “book by its cover” thing – but we do it regularly. I think Jesus really wants us to be very careful about our judgments, whether they are good or bad. I also think that universalism can lead us to an “anything goes” kind of thinking; one that believes that once we explain why we did something terrible, God will let us slide. I don’t think of hell in a traditional sense, but I do believe that there are some – maybe even just a few – people who will not make the cut to heaven. Whatever that is. None of knows, so we need to tread carefully.
1 Peter 4 tells us that “above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.” We all make mistakes and we all do things we know are wrong, so maybe the question should be whether or not our lives are filled with love. Not for family and friends, Jesus tells us, but for neighbor and enemy. I won’t even try to define what a damnable offense might be, but if the writer of 1 Peter is correct, a life filled with love in the form of doing good and working for justice can make up for a lot of mistakes. And if every person does this, then every person can find their way to heaven. All of us, however, know at least one person who isn’t like that, so maybe that is where our outreach should be. Not to the non-Christians we know, but to the “Christians in Name Only” in our lives. First, though, we need to check ourselves – take the logs from our own eyes before we help others with the specks in theirs. That seems to be plenty, for now.
Prayer – Holy God, may our lives be acceptable to You, and may our words and actions please You. Amen.
Today’s art is Workshop of Master of the Biberach Holy Kinship, The Last Judgment, 1520.
