In the days before Nike was a sneaker, Nike was worshiped as the Greek goddess of victory. Thus, with an understanding of churchly abbreviations, it was not much of a jump for me to decipher the Greek on an Orthodox bread-stamp. IS XT NIKA meant (more or less) "Jesus Christ is victorious." And with that, mentally connecting "victory" with "conquest," I finally understood the message I first read on a lapel pin.

The Rev. Scott Axford, the pastor of the First Universalist Church, Providence, Rhode Island, had some lapel pins made up with the old Universalist General Convention logo. Loyal to the cause, I bought one, but I was not happy with the Convention motto: "Christ will conquer." It hardly sat well with my own idea of liberal Christianity, or what I expected my own spiritual ancestors would value. Why not "God is love" as I have seen on Universalist church communion tables and the reredos (altar wall carvings) in our own church, and -- thanks to information from Rose Dennis -- the motto of the Iowa Universalist Convention?

One need not be too tender of heart to be appalled by conquerors. Think of pre- and post-Columbian Latin America, and the difference a wave a conquerors can make to a people. Conquest goes against our democratic ideals, and has the power to destroy lives and the benefits of our hard labor. What then did the General Convention hope to proclaim?

The motto "Christ will conquer" is a reference to Revelation 17:13-14. This is the same chapter that has lurid images of seven angels with seven bowls (depicted in stained glass at the Church of the Holy City down at 16th and Corcoran) and a scarlet woman riding a hornéd beast, and the rulers (probably Roman emperors) who do the work of the anti-Christ. The verses read: "These are united in yielding their power and authority to the beast; they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful." This is heavy Hollywood material, or would be if were left uninterpreted, for this story is also the stuff on which Easter is built.

What then will Christ conquer? The Rev. William Tucker, D.D. in his 1893 Atonement wrote: "Christ was appointed mediator between God and man that he might conquer evil, subdue sin, destroy death, and establish the universal reign of righteousness, peace, and love."

"To save man from sin and consequences of this spiritual act of disobedience," he continues, "Christ is promised in inspired prophecy. He came to conquer a spiritual foe, to subdue a spiritual rebellion, to free man from spiritual bondage, and to make him morally and spiritually a free son of God. This was the object of the advent of Christ. It was his work and mission according to his own teaching and the teaching of the Apostles."

Today we know the Christ chiefly through the teachings his first followers passed along, through the living image conveyed in the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and Baptism, and through his unseen Spirit which speaks comfort to the hurt and disheartened and courage to the cowed and troubled. In brief, the presence of Christ comes to bring peace and wholeness through love. This is not a faint metaphor for kindliness. Instead, God's goal through Christ was, is, and shall be the "complete"-ness of all that has being. What will be lost is the subject of the Lamb's conquest. These are cruelty, unrestrained power, conspiracy, infamous passions, and all the laundry list that sits under the heading of evil. Rather than a magical elimination of evil, we share in God's victory each time we heed our identity as those who are "called and chosen and faithful." Of our desire to hand ourselves, our souls, our wills, and our might to evil: deliver us, from evil, O Lord! And if God is good, it shall be done. Thus we can affirm, "Christ will conquer."