Courageously Bear the Cross

Courageously Bear the Cross.

Those were the words the seminary dean said as he placed my graduation cross over my neck at our final Eucharist. Of course, since it was the dean, it was in Latin!  Had it only been three years ago that I stood in the same place on Holy Cross Day and entered my name in the Bexley Hall Matriculation Book?   “Am I really through with this scholastic endeavor?” I thought to myself.  It went so fast. 

The Feast of the Holy Cross – September 14 -  was our patronal feast at Bexley Hall.  It was begun to honor the work of Helena, the mother of Constantine, who led the effort to clear the debris from atop the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and in so doing unearthed the True Cross – nails and all.  The remembrance started innocently enough, but of course, became more and more ornate as time went along.  At seminary, we pulled out all the stops on Holy Cross Day.  Incense, sung liturgy, much bowing and scraping, and (of course) we had to sing our College Fight Song: Lift High the Cross.

It was great at the time.  But, right now I just want to close my eyes and shudder.  I just don’t think this was what Jesus had in mind. I’ve been thinking about this all week – the Feast of the Holy Cross coming so close upon these propers where Jesus asks us to take up our cross and follow him. With these words Jesus admonished his apostles; with these words he admonishes us. Courageously Bear the Cross.

Okay, but what does that mean?

Jesus is pretty darn clear:  It’s not about us.  His rebuke of Peter tells us that. We are to deny, forego, and ignore the devices and desires of our own hearts so that they might break open and spill out the love of God in our homes and communities.  We are to be willing to march into the messiest, smelliest, most unpleasant, and sometimes deadliest situations on behalf of Christ because that is exactly what Christ did for us.

As much as I hate the thought of Jesus being ashamed of me, I know I’ve made too many decisions about faith and ministry based on my own needs and not the needs of the reign of God.  Jesus asks “Who do you think that I am” and I am caught standing at a jewelry counter examining some gem-encrusted pendant and wondering if it will go with my paisley clergy shirt.  It’s a wonder that a large hand hasn’t appeared from the ether and slapped me upside the head. It does make you wonder about us, doesn’t it.

·         We toss around words like ministry and ‘bearing the cross’ like Tinker Toys. They sound pious but we really don’t have much attachment to them.

·         We forget that liturgy is to be more than esthetically pleasing. We come to church only for comfort and not for inspiration or strength.

·         We buy crosses to wear as bling, not as a declaration of our faith.

·         We volunteer only when activities are convenient or fit into our secular schedules.

·         We forget how privileged we are to be able to worship freely in this country.

You and I distract ourselves so easily from the kingdom of God. As some of my Facebook friends like to post: “We have so many first-world problems.”  

The relative ease of our lives makes us forget that ministry requires serious commitment….it’s not for the faint of heart.  I heard two stories this week to remind me of this.

A friend told me that one year he received one of those ubiquitous Christmas letters.  You know the kind, everything is wonderful, hope you’re well, I probably won’t think about you much over the next 11 months, but happy holidays anyway.  The one he received though had a bit of tragedy.  “They said that they’d experienced some financial hardship and because of that they weren’t able to refurnish their house at the shore,” my friend explained.  “I wish I’d had their tragedy. I was still grieving the loss of my mother.”

Another friend related an experience on a trip to Africa.  It was a story told by one of the priests he’d met there…a true story…a horrendous story.  It was a story of two church pews. In one, a woman sat alone. She was a Hutu woman and her entire family had been killed in the Rwandan genocide.  Behind her sat a man, a Tutsi man, with his family.  He and his people had been responsible for the woman’s solitary presence. It was the priest’s charge to foster a climate of reconciliation so that they could both share that holy space. Now that’s a story to remember when I think I’m having a bad day at the office!

This week has been full of grief and in need of reconciliation.  We remembered those who lost their lives in the tragedy of September 11th. Then, we watched as our embassies were attacked and innocent people killed because a few people are unable and unwilling to set their egos and agendas aside long enough to honor the dignity of others different from themselves.

Do you think that Jesus is here for our salvation only?  He may be your personal savior, and mine, but salvation is not only for us in our privileged bubbles but for the whole, messy, screwed up world.  If we don’t proclaim that salvation through our day-to-day living we are wasting the gift.

Do you think that religion is just about showing up once a week, saying the right prayers, and not engaging in activities that help heal the world?  If you are, then heed well the words of Jesus to Peter. You are about earthly things, not heavenly ones.  It takes more than an hour a week to feed your soul with scripture, study, prayer, and action. It takes more than an hour a week to center yourself in Christian community.

The disciples found it hard to understand that the Messiah was to suffer and die on an instrument of shame.  They expected something more majestic, something more defiant.  But, if the Messiah walked into Jerusalem knowing that what horror awaited him, how can we dare think that our walk with Jesus will be a stroll through a lamb-filled meadow on a spring morning?  We are told to follow him into the horrors that life often brings.  But we are FOLLOWING HIM; he has gone before us and will not abandon us. 

Today, Jesus invites us to begin again, to be reconciled one to another, and be strengthened to bear the cross in whatever path we are led.  Pray for steadfastness, that our privilege not distract us from ministering to the people who are hurting, from seeking forgiveness from those whom we have hurt, or from centering our whole lives on the Gospel and thereby living in God’s kingdom every day.

To be honest, Frederick Buechner said it so much more eloquently:

(The Cross) is the place where such a mighty heart was broken that the healing power of God himself could flow through it into a sick and broken world.”

Courageously Bear the Cross. Amen.

(c) 2012 C. B. Park, all rights reserved.