The "Gorgeous" Cross

Yesterday, I was in a doctor's office...

I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting, when a woman walks in and stops at the receptionist's desk.  I immediately hear from the receptionist, "Oh, what a gorgeous cross you're wearing!"  And my thoughts immediately turned theological.

Saying "gorgeous" as an adjective modifying the noun "cross" makes as much sense as putting together the words "delightful" and "electric chair."  A cross is an ancient instrument of brutal and grotesque torture and death.  One does not wear a cross around one's neck because it is beautiful.  One wears a cross around one's neck because of the Son of God's brutal death upon it in your place.  Even we Christians have sanitized, cleaned-up, and dressed up an instrument of death - in order to insulate ourselves from the brutal reality of death.

The beauty of the cross is not the material beauty of its structure.  The beauty of the cross is the beauty and glory of the story of the work Jesus of Nazareth did upon that cross for you and me and the whole world - and emerged victoriously living the resurrected life as a first fruits of your resurrection.  It's an incredible, divine irony.  As Paul writes in 1st Corinthians:

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

And

"For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and follow to Gentiles."

Next time you wear a cross around your neck, think not of it's beauty, but of the beautiful irony of the work of God in Christ.

Note: An excellent recent article on this topic by a Seminary professor of mine can be found here.

Why Baby Jesus in the Stable?

 Why was our Lord born in a stable - the place for the animals?  Why was he not born in a more suitable place, like a proper room in the inn, or better yet, a king's bedchamber - a place befitting a king?

It totally makes sense for our Lord to be born among the animals.  Here we have the Lord of all creation born incarnate in the world.  Is it not good, right, and salutary that he be born among his creation?  There, present for his birth are creatures; yes, his mother and the one appointed to serve as his earthly father.  But also present are his creatures: the animals, who like Mary and Joseph are also part of creation.  It is proper that they also be present to welcome their Lord.  because their Creator has come.  How fitting that he be placed in a manger - the place where those animals receive the gift of food from the hand of their Lord to provide for their needs. And they worship their Creator - not by bowing in worship or singing his praises. No they praise him by simply being the creatures they've been created to be - quietly watching these amazing events unfold.

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!

Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the LORD!
For he commanded and they were created.
And he established them forever and ever;
he have a decree and it shall not pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy wind fulfilling his word!

Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Beasts and all livestock,
creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and maidens together,
old men and children!

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his saints.
for the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the LORD!

And to think it took reading an Arch book and looking at the pictures for me to finally get it.

Defining Your Relationship With Christ

I was thumbing through a catalog from a Christian Bookseller today.  You know, the catalogs they just send to you regardless if you've ever ordered from them.  I suppose I get them because they've found out I'm a pastor.
Regardless, I was thumbing through the catalog and a particular book description hit me.  It started, "How would you define your relationship with Christ?  Are you a die-hard fan? Devoted follower? Don't know?"
How does one define their relationship with Christ?  I posit that this question is invalid.  According to the totality of the Holy Scriptures, you don't get to define your relationship with Christ.

Christ is the one who has defined his relationship with you.

Does anyone, any character in the Bible, Old or New, do the defining of the relationship?  Or is it that God is the one doing the defining, the choosing, the sending?  Christ has defined His relationship with you.  His definition is Himself.

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

                                                                                                 - Romans 6:3-11

Jesus has defined his relationship with you in your baptism.  In Baptism, God has claimed you as His own and has attached you to the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.  He molds and shapes you into who He intends for you to be through His Word, and ultimately, at your resurrection.  In Word and Sacrament, Christ defines you with himself as he binds himself to you.  

So rejoice and take heart.  You don't have to busy yourself with worrying how you are or aren't defining yourself and your relationship with Christ - buying the latest "how to" book about what YOU need to do to improve your relationship with Jesus.  He has done that heavy lifting for you.  Christ has forgiven you through the cross and empty tomb.  You are His through water and the Spirit.  And your life as a Christian is defined by Jesus.  

You are "in Christ."  Go and be who you already are! 

Youth Group Video for Gathering

Our youth put together a video for "consideration" at the National Youth Gathering in San Antonio.  (At the time of this writing, the Gathering is underway.)  Each Youth group could put together a short video reflecting  something about their hometown. Our youth chose a "Hunger Games" sort of theme to tell their story.  James Prince was the director and Sam Prince was on the camera and did the editing.

For your consideration:

"My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"

44 Days ago on Ash Wednesday we heard about pride.  And we heard that repentance is the death of pride.  That pride must be forsaken and die.  But, at the same time, the payment for that pride – that sin – must still be made.  To kill it requires death – of course.  Tonight we will hear the story once more of how that took place.  Tonight, all our sinful pride is placed on THE once-for-all, life-and-blood sacrifice for our pride.  Jesus Christ.  Tonight, we rehearse once again how all our sinful pride is placed on the Lamb of God who will die shamefully with that pride.  All your sin and my sin and all the sin of all people of all time is placed on Jesus.  And like all sacrifices, he is left there on the altar – on the cross – to die.  The sacrifice is always left and abandoned by both parties involved – us sinners, and our God who offers payment for us sinners.  Jesus cries out in horror because he has been abandoned, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  These words are not recorded by John – whose account we hear tonight.  They are written in Matthew and Mark’s Gospels.  But these words of Jesus have been considered by the Church to be the 4^th of Jesus’ 7 words from the cross.   

We watch the abandonment happen slowly and viscerally tonight – lights, candles, darkness and abandonment becoming more ominous as we progress.  As we participate and experience it visually and in our hearing, one might ask the question asked by God’s people for millennia.  “Why him and not me?”  “I’m the one who God should abandon.”  “If, in the mystery of the Trinity God could abandon his own Son, maybe he has abandoned me as well?”  The one abandoned and dying on the cross is quoting a psalm – Psalm 22 - of his royal line – King David.  How often have we felt like David felt when he wrote that psalm?  So many times it feels and looks like our God has forsaken us, like there really is no God with me to help and guide me.  He forsook his own Son.  Has he forsaken me too?

            Yet through history, God has given signs to His people that he has not abandoned him.  God provided the sacrifice – a ram – the moment before Abraham was about to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, as instructed by God.  The provided ram pointed to God’s providing his own son in sacrifice.  In Egypt, the night before they were freed, the Israelite families sacrificed and ate a lamb, and painted the lamb’s blood on their doorposts – so that the angel of death would pass over their house.  The blood of the lamb pointed forward to the blood of the Lamb of God given and shed for you and me to forgive us, so that the sting of death might pass over us as well.  In the Tabernacle and later the Temple, sacrifices for sin were made as lambs and bulls and oxen were killed for payment of sin, and left to burn on the altar.  Those sacrifices for sin pointed forward to Jesus - sacrificed for all sin and left to die on the cross.  And on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would lay his hands on a goat and confess the sins of all the people – placing those sins on the goat.  And then that goat was abandoned in the wilderness.  The “scapegoat” pointed forward to Jesus – our scapegoat – abandoned outside of Jerusalem on our Day of Atonement with all our sin placed upon him.

            All these signs and more pointed forward to Jesus.  Jesus physically embodies our sin – becoming sin for us.  The innocent Jesus becomes the greatest sinner in all history.  And because all our pride and sin is on him, he must be forsaken.  He must be abandoned by the most holy God who will not tolerate it.  “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  Jesus, you are forsaken because you are sin, and you cannot be accepted, or loved.  You must be abandoned and killed.  And Jesus even does this willingly.  He lays down his life.  Why?  Love for you.  And God is merciful to you and does not forsake you and me, sinners that we are, precisely because he has shown his Son no mercy.  God the Father forsakes and rejects his Son saying, “You are not mine” so that he can say to you through this good, yes, good news on this Good Friday – “You are mine.”

            At the end of tonight’s service, when this Sanctuary is dark and looks abandoned, a single light – the Christ candle returns.  Because the Father does not abandon Jesus forever.  He raises him from the dead.  And precisely because Jesus was forsaken - in the end, the Father does precisely the same for you – raise you from the dead.  So what about you?  What is YOUR sign that God has not forsaken you?  Look at that man - crying out on that cross – the one who yells in horror, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”  Look to the one risen from the dead 3 days later.  He is your sign.  So when you question if God is really with you like David did, look at the cross – look at what God the Father did to his Son.  Because of Jesus, you are not and will never be forsaken.  

“In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.”

Invitation Into Holy Week

All the many worship services of Holy Week are not just an odd collection of old liturgies.  They are a series of opportunities for the follower of Jesus to be incorporated into the narrative of Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection.  And each one is dependent upon the other. 

Palm Sunday sets the stage as we carry palms like they did in Jerusalem and welcome Jesus as our King.  On Maundy Thursday, we participate with Jesus in his new testament to his people - He is to be the sacrifice for our sins and we receive the benefits of his sacrifice tasting Christ himself in the meal he offers as both host and meal.  Good Friday we slowly hear the account of what Christ has done as darkness increases - a reenactment of that terrible, but most blessed day.  During the Easter Vigil, all the history of God's mercy for his people come together along with darkness and light, fire and water as we viscerally dive into the narrative.  And Easter morning we hear the cosmos-shattering, life-changing news: "Christ is Risen!"  And we ourselves are changed in the hearing of those amazing words after a whole week of incorporation into the story.
The Church will rehearse this story again and again every year until Christ returns and all things come to fruition and fulfillment.  So I invite you to dive into this story together with God's people and be forever blessed in your hearing and eating and drinking and mourning and rejoicing once again.