Currents of Faith: Open and Unfolding Reflections

I have decided to take pity on my readers and use a different medium to discuss the important area of judgment: a power point presentation. But first, a personal introduction   Judgment is clearly a part of my religious tradition. I had to come to terms with it, even though the idea is not attractive to me. Believing in a fully gracious God meant that I had trouble with a judging God. In my professional life, my clients had serious troubles but for a different reason. They wondered whether those hurtful, abusive and violent people who deeply offended them would ever have any consequences. They could not accept that these persons who caused them serious injury and pain would simply get away with it and go “scot-free.” They wanted judgment! I agreed with their wanting consequences, but could not agree with God as judging. Both personally and professionally, I needed to find answers.

With that brief introduction, let me turn to my power point presentation which illustrates my search. I hope that you can see the image on the screen of this first frame. If not, please feel free to choose a different chair or move your chair to a slightly different position. My microphone should suffice for you to hear my accompanying words. At the beginning I wish to acknowledge my debt to Dr. Don Smith who taught me the methods of such a presentation. His presentation at Wenatchee North Rotary years ago has continued to provide inspiration.

In my search I found three images of judgment in Christian tradition. The first frame is now before you. It was created by the early church and finalized in the 4th century Nicene Creed. They believed in a future Day of Resurrection and Judgment. Notice the dead arising from their graves. Those who died are awakened by the trumpet and resurrected at which time Christ will judge them. In the upper left hand corner you will see Christ descending in glory on the clouds above the graves.

This next frame illustrates in words what you just viewed in a picture. The Nicene creed states: “He…sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead.” You will note below this creed a slight variation in the Apostles’ Creed: “He …sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” I should note that the word “quick” was an ancient way of saying living or alive. Not only those arising from the grave but those living will be judged.

This image shows the Son leaving the Father to descend to earth. John of Patmos in his Revelation is more detailed. This next frame shows vividly the lake of fire into which those judged to be evil are cast. It is a medieval depiction of the agony of those damned people. Note now a variation on the judgment theme from the gospel writer Matthew. [Mt 25.32]   See Jesus separating the sheep from the goats. This scene is also the product of the medieval era when many artists were consumed with fear and suffering.

We turn now to Dante Alighieri in the 14th century. His dramatic words in the Inferno provided the subject for many painters. He creatively fashioned a multitude of punishments for those judged evil. Each eternal punishment was symbolically related to their ungodly behaviors. In this frame note the Florentine elders who are up to their necks in molasses because during their life time they could not keep their sticky fingers off  public money. During this period, life was seen as a testing ground which would determine whether one would enter heaven or hell. People lived in fear and sought security in rigidly following the dictates of the church.

A more modern image is the individual being judged immediately following death rather than at a later time of general resurrection. I thought I would offer a little humor to this presentation by bringing in the cartoonists. They love this subject and portray it often. I must admit their drawings make the scene delightfully clear. Here it is. St. Peter is stationed at the Pearly Gates with the Book of Life opened before him. Naturally the setting is within the clouds. See the halo around St. Peter’s head. The newly deceased person stands in fear and trembling before the lecturn. The cartoonists use this scene to place many humorous words on the lips of St. Peter and the newly deceased.

The judgment is simple. If your name is in the book certifying that you have lived a good life, you are ushered into heaven; if not you are refused entrance. Implicit in this picture is that the name had been written after one’s death but before one’s arrival. It was never clear to me who did the writing.

A slight variation of the judgment theme is present in this next image. Rather than meeting a representative of God, the deceased “meets your Maker.” I am sure that you have heard this old adage usually spoken angrily of someone the speaker wants to assign to hell.

Those denied entrance go to hell, leaving the clouds and entering the bowels of the earth. The cartoonists love this scene also, varying between the icy and the fiery, and fill newspaper comics and magazine cartoons with their take on this moment. I included only one of the many I have in my files. Later in history a new destination was created beyond the gates of heaven and the dismal entrance to hell. Yes, you guessed it: purgatory. Notice the angels guiding this departed soul to this way station. The Council of Florence in 1439 and the Council of Trent, 1563 declared that some of the deceased may be assigned to purgatory where they will be purified and gain the qualifications for entering the heavenly sphere.

The rapture is a recent image of judgment. I have several frames to illustrate this form of judgment. This shows the sinners “left behind,” on a gray and devastated earth. Some of you may have read one or more of the popular book series bearing that title. In contrast, see the saved who in the twinkling of an eye rise with Christ into heaven. Note here that cars and airplanes suddenly lose passengers and even drivers and pilots. Piles of rumpled clothing are all that remains. The judgment is performed quickly leaving unsaved persons on the earth while the saved fly upward through the sky toward heaven with Christ. You are gone or you stay behind.

Here in this frame I have pictured two common threads running through these descriptions of judgment: the permanent loss of sinners and the end of history. Judgment is final! The good enter some form of eternal paradise, the evil suffer great agonies forever. There is no chance following death to repent, seek forgiveness, or transform, except for those fortunate enough to be assigned temporarily to purgatory.

Most often the created earth gets a bum deal in judgment. See this scene. The burning lake brimming with all those bad people agonizing within it is not exactly a scene from Nature Conservancy. And see this one. Piles of wrecked cars, trains, airplanes surrounded by innumerable mounds of rumpled clothes covering the country side do not exactly provide a pastoral scene. These are not inviting attractive images. They show no creative transformation of the earth. No paradise, no utopia to be had, just abandoned clothes and burning lakes.

But wait, this image from the book of Revelation offers a slight glimmer of hope to the earth. See the “holy city Jerusalem coming down out our heaven from God.” It is awesome, a river of life flowing from the throne of God, the tree of life near the river. The city itself is constructed from precious stones. I say slight hope because the new gleaming city comes from above, not from an outgrowth of the present earth. In literature this action is called a “deus ex machina.”

I pause now to offer an editorial comment. Frankly, none of these visions are appealing to me. They present an understanding which violates my reason, a God who is less than gracious, a system that ends with winners and losers, and a fearful way of living. People are lost forever with no chance of being redeemed. No second chance here! Most distressing, I do not find in these scenes those qualities present in the commonwealth of God of which Jesus spoke.

It was with great pleasure that I discovered a new image from my chosen theology which is deeply satisfying. Dr. Marjorie Suchocki offers this vision in The End of Evil, in which the emphasis is upon transformation as the underlying process in judgment. I am so appreciative that she expanded and extrapolated process theology in a direction which had not been traveled before. Now back to our visual presentation. In this frame I want to introduce Marjorie. Notice how she is literally dancing as she lectures to an audience and see her wonderful facial expressions as she speaks with excitement and passion.

I need to say that all of the following slides are of my making, since we do not have centuries of artistic work illustrating this new approach. We are talking 1988. So, please bear with me as I had to develop simple graphics. This frame is simply numbers, a comparison. Note the numbers of persons lost forever in the previous images of judgment as compared with those in the new image. Rather striking, many and none!

After death, no one is lost. All enter into the life of God. Universal salvation is the technical name of this proposal, and one who embraces this is thereby a universalist. Christians are divided today on this new vision, some appalled that one could believe such a heresy, others finding it a welcome relief to the harshness of the tradition.

This frame shows a center of creativity which has concluded and is now entering into God’s life. You will see that it is conscious, which allows it to be both aware and empathic, both qualities will be widely expanded. I have colored this center blue. I did not show the center which remains in the world as an entity which is over and not conscious, available for all future persons to know and recall. You will notice that this conscious center no longer has the influence of a body or a world in each new moment. Only the center’s past, the present “I” and God’s potential now exist. This sets the stage for what will happen as this center, this particular occasion of experience, proceeds into God’s life.

Next is a diagram of a center which is continuing to live in the world. The subject, colored blue, enters God’s life, while the object, colored green, remains in the world. The body and world continue as active participants in the next moment. This is a contrast with the next diagram, the center at death experiencing its last moment. Both the blue subject and the green object continue. The difference is that the body, colored brown, is entering into decay and transformation. The world, colored beige, is moving ahead minus one subject in its midst.

This frame illustrates the center as it both becomes aware of and feels God’s most recent possibility for it. You will notice that I have drawn the center with wide open receptive lines outward toward God. Its awareness is opened to great clarity about God and God’s desires for it. It may not have been aware of the possibilities that God was continually bringing during its life time and less likely aware that it was God bringing them. Now both are as clear as a bell.

The center will feel itself measured against the divine possibility. Now these next two frames will show the feelings of the center as it knows that measure. In the first it is pleased and smiling that it so closely approximated God’s wish for it. See the delight! In the second there is remorse and sadness that it missed the mark so far.

Also, both will be aware of God’s response to their choices. They will feel this divine response. I express it in this manner in this frame: I came so close, I feel God’s pleasure, I am delighted. Or, I missed it by a mile, I feel God’s sadness, I feel regret.

This is judgment. This is the beginning of the creative transformation of the center. Note that for both of the centers, God does not withdraw. God stays intimately close with them. Nor does God consider this judgment to be the end.

There is another stage, which this frame illustrates. We see the vast number of centers of that particular person which have already entered into God’s life and are no longer a series of creation but formed into a unity. All the moments of that life are present in God as a composite person. Now note in this next slide that the newly entered center is coming closer to that unity of parts who went before, its predecessors. See the one approach the many.

I have displayed the many and the one by different colors, the wholeness as red, the new entry as blue. The present judgment is a measure of the degree to which the new one has enriched or detracted from the whole. To what degree did this most recent occasion further develop hope for beauty and graciousness in this person? Awareness is now accompanied by empathy as the center feels how the composite whole is responding to its new presence.

It is also aware of and feels the response of God to this coming together, possibly with disappointment or with joy. This first frame shows the center expressing disappointment, the second the feeling of joy. Simply, the judgment is, did this center of creativity enrich the wholeness of its personhood and God? Feelings emerge as this question is answered.

This is a second judgment.    

Now we come to an illustration which I think would warm the hearts of my clients who cried out for justice after being harmed by another. Those worried that the offender would suffer no consequences. See in this frame all the whole persons surrounding this newly entering center. Its awareness expands to the increasing width of community within God’s life. The center knows fully that “I am not the only one here.” It experiences the circle as ever expanding. Awareness opens, yet empathy looms large in this picture. See in this next frame a person who was abused and beaten by the newly entering center. The center, now in the other’s presence, feels just what that abused person felt as those tearing words ripped her heart strings and the harsh blows crashed into her body. The center experiences the pain of the other. At the same time it feels the feelings of God when the abuse occurred. Double pain is felt, from the offended, from God.

Lest I give the impression that regret, pain and remorse are the only feelings of the new center, let me show this slide in which the person was treated with caring, compassion and love. See the gratitude being expressed and that feeling being savored by the center. Note also the feelings of God as felt when this compassion, this cup of cold water, was given.

This is a third judgment. It may, indeed, be blessing!

If divine time were measured by our earthly measures, it would surely take a long time for this center of creativity to engage with all the persons with whom it had related during a life time. I doubt that wrist watches are important in God’s community. We may gain some appreciation for the traditional images of heaven and hell as we consider how for some centers it will be heavenly and for others hellish. Our forebears thought there to be two locations. Transformation is a single location which contains both agony and ecstasy   It would appear difficult for the newly entering center to avoid either.

These final frames will show a crucial process of change which will occur for all centers. Note here how the borders of the center are becoming blurred and beginning to intermingle with other centers and most importantly, with God. I want to point out how the background of this blurring center is constantly changing with the entry of multitudes of other centers. A swirling, blending, dancing kaleidoscope emerges. That boundary  which was clearly drawn around an individual self is now fading, blending into an ever changing and increasingly complex surrounding.

I included this next image because it shows some of those entering as largely evil, others good, most a mix of both. The gray objects represent evil. Each will experience judgment as its awareness and empathy are expanded. No center is excluded because of the values or destruction of values it has created, the joy it has created or the suffering it has caused. No evil ones are banned to another realm or destroyed. Evil is placed in a process of transformation, not excluded. You will notice in this next image that colors are blending, earlier blue and red centers are gradually becoming purple. Each single center while retaining a selfhood gradually is incorporated into the selfhood of God, being one, being many, a strand in a colorful tapestry of God’s life.

As I noted earlier, the center has now only two sources of influence, its past and God’s possibilities, but even its own past is different. See in this frame that the past was a series, one following the other during earthly existence. I have drawn pictures of ants hurrying along in a row, hikers roped together ascending a mountain, persons walking in single file. Such was the past form of influence. Now, the past which has already experienced degrees of transformation into God offers a different form of influence. Consider this next image of the past within the life of God. There is not a series but see now a cluster of grapes. Past moments are becoming integrated and forming a unity. In this next illustration note how the surfaces of the grapes are becoming less distinct and beginning to blend.

I recall reading Waiting for Godot some years ago. In the discussions held while they were waiting,  Pozo, the donkey speaks finally: …qua…qua…qua…qua…qua…qua…qua….” The translation is  …like…like…like…like…like…like…like.” I include this frame partly as a comic relief, but mostly to illustrate that when we talk about ethereal matters we do so with “metaphors.”

These next three frames are metaphors which speak of mystery. The transformation of the past is like a cocoon gradually moving toward becoming a butterfly. The transformation is like the image of Jesus calling forth Lazarus from the grave, with grave clothes falling from his body as he comes stumbling forth. In both, metaphors change occurs in which significant features are no longer central, the cocoon and the grave clothes, or in this next image, like the skin and seeds of grapes as they become wine. Thus it is with evil within the life of God. New life comes to that which was limited or empty.

Note in this picture that all centers of creativity are intertwined and interconnected with one another within God. They are blended into the awesome and ever changing harmony of God’s life. Each takes on a new meaning and a new sense of worth during each moment of this constant change. They are now fully participating in the passion of God, now offering their unique values, like the special flavor and texture of wine, which contribute to the new possibilities God offers to all who live on the earth. As the ever changing life of God expands, the centers incorporated into that life provide new qualities for God’s possibilities. These centers of creativity which during life received God as one of many influences now become influences in God’s new potential for the world.

In this last frame note a new metaphor, one of music, which simply presents the words you see written on the colorful background of that ever growing complexly beautiful life of God: “In the Divine harmony, history determines the notes and God their order and arrangement.” I only wish that this image had a musical accompaniment. Thank you for your attention to these pictorial images which point toward an awesome mystery! Thanks to Marjorie for providing the material for this power point!

Now, a few concluding words. The theology I have presented here offers me a relevant, realistic and satisfying understanding of judgment. Nothing is lost! No one is lost! It does not end like so many B Western movies where the bad guys are gunned down and the good guys blow the smoke off their revolvers and ride off into the sunset. The theme of killing off evil is ever present as I sit in the movie theater watching the previews of coming attractions.

“Ding Dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead!” is gleefully sung in the Wizard of Oz. God does not write the script for such movies and stage plays. God’s dramas are continually transforming evil rather than destroying it. God does not change character, earlier graceful later judging. I find no satisfaction in evil doers roasting in hell, burning in the lake of fire, stuck in a vat of molasses, or banned to remain on a gray lifeless earth. I cannot join with family members in the courtroom shouting at the sentenced criminal standing in chains, “I hope you burn in Hell!” Consequences, yes, brutality, and destruction, no!

I affirm Marjorie’s vision in which God never gives up on anyone no matter what they have done. Patiently and graciously over time any value in that person is intertwined into the life of God while evil aspects are gradually moved to the outer regions of God’s being. I have described in Eight Paths to Forgiveness the entry of two persons into God’s life: Adolph Hitler and Mother Teresa. The process of their expanding awareness and empathy are radically different, one overwhelmingly filled with suffering, the other with unspeakable joy. Just as God is patiently and gracefully inviting us during our lifetime, so this same patience and grace is gifted to each completed moment of a living person and the final moment at that person’s death. Although Jesus did not emphasize life after death, judgment through transformation sounds very much like the response of the waiting father to his prodigal son.

I have invited you to join me on an imaginary adventure. It is based upon the assumptions which I make about God, assumptions that I affirm and which cannot be proven. While I may be presumptuous to speak of this adventure, our forebears did the same. They took risks. I am doing what they did, speaking about that which grows from a basic affirmation about God. What is life without risks? I echo Dr. Martin Luther: “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me!”

You have been a responsive audience. I thank you for your attention and your listening. Now, I want to listen to you. I wonder what has been happening in you as I have been making this presentation. Let’s talk.