Preparation
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been holding hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U. S. Supreme Court. You know the drill: The Senators interrogate Judge Barrett about her judicial philosophy, based on her legal writings and rulings in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit . . . sort of. Mostly the Senators grandstand and pontificate and occasionally slip in a question to which they already know the answer.
I am among the 60% of Americans who think that this Supreme Court vacancy should have been filled by whoever is elected president on November 3. And I do not agree with Judge Barrett’s judicial philosophy. Though I’m not a lawyer – and haven’t even played one on TV – it has always seemed to me that originalists like Ms. Barrett and her mentor, Antonin Scalia, have too much reverence for the framers and text of the Constitution, exegeting it as though it were Holy Scripture. The Constitution is comprised of (mostly) good words, but it’s not God’s Word. And about those Founding Fathers . . . what do you think was their “original intent” in Article 1, Section 2, paragraph 3?
With those caveats, I have found Amy Coney Barrett to be a compelling figure. She is, by all accounts, a brilliant jurist, with impeccable credentials and a sterling reputation. And I love her family and her family’s values. She is a genuine, committed follower of Jesus; it’s an honor to count such a person as a sister in Christ.
But who am I to judge the judge?
Do you realize that some Christian sects have prohibited their members from ever serving as a jurist or even on a jury? Jesus said, after all, “Do not judge . . . ” (7:1) Thankfully, Ms. Barrett does not belong to such a sect, because that’s not what Jesus meant. N. T. Wright explains: “Jesus is referring, not to official law-courts, but to the judgments and condemnations that occur within ordinary lives, as people set themselves up as moral guardians and critics of one another.”
Yes, we do set ourselves up as moral guardians and critics. I did it subtly in the first paragraph, that sentence about Senators who “grandstand and pontificate.”
Who am I, a sometimes long-winded preacher, to judge others about grandstanding and pontificating?
Read: Matthew 7:1-14This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been holding hearings on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U. S. Supreme Court. You know the drill: The Senators interrogate Judge Barrett about her judicial philosophy, based on her legal writings and rulings in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit . . . sort of. Mostly the Senators grandstand and pontificate and occasionally slip in a question to which they already know the answer.
I am among the 60% of Americans who think that this Supreme Court vacancy should have been filled by whoever is elected president on November 3. And I do not agree with Judge Barrett’s judicial philosophy. Though I’m not a lawyer – and haven’t even played one on TV – it has always seemed to me that originalists like Ms. Barrett and her mentor, Antonin Scalia, have too much reverence for the framers and text of the Constitution, exegeting it as though it were Holy Scripture. The Constitution is comprised of (mostly) good words, but it’s not God’s Word. And about those Founding Fathers . . . what do you think was their “original intent” in Article 1, Section 2, paragraph 3?
With those caveats, I have found Amy Coney Barrett to be a compelling figure. She is, by all accounts, a brilliant jurist, with impeccable credentials and a sterling reputation. And I love her family and her family’s values. She is a genuine, committed follower of Jesus; it’s an honor to count such a person as a sister in Christ.
But who am I to judge the judge?
Do you realize that some Christian sects have prohibited their members from ever serving as a jurist or even on a jury? Jesus said, after all, “Do not judge . . . ” (7:1) Thankfully, Ms. Barrett does not belong to such a sect, because that’s not what Jesus meant. N. T. Wright explains: “Jesus is referring, not to official law-courts, but to the judgments and condemnations that occur within ordinary lives, as people set themselves up as moral guardians and critics of one another.”
Yes, we do set ourselves up as moral guardians and critics. I did it subtly in the first paragraph, that sentence about Senators who “grandstand and pontificate.”
Who am I, a sometimes long-winded preacher, to judge others about grandstanding and pontificating?
– Pastor Dave
