Pastor Jeff Wild
he Circle in the Cross Luke 14 Sept. 5, 2010
Jesus’ tough talk about hating family members, hating our own lives, counting the costs of discipleship, and taking up our cross and following him is confrontational. We are confronted to examine our loyalty and commitments. Is our deepest allegiance to Christ, or to ourselves, our peer group or our relatives? Do we truly bear the cross of discipleship in our daily lives?
Some weeks I struggle to craft a meaningful sermon and this past week was one of them. One thing I often do when I am struggling is. pull the ELW off my shelf, turn to the topical index at the back of the hymnal and read lyrics of hymns. I checked out a couple of topics on Thursday afternoon. I started with cross and was encouraged to see a listing for cross-bearing. I paged through cross bearing hymns, but nothing grabbed me. I turned back to the index and looked under another topic related to this Gospel reading; discipleship. The index listing for discipleship refers you to the listing under commitment. Great hymns, yet I did not find a phrase that jumped out and captured the meaning of this Gospel reading. I left my office frustrated by this lack of progress and inspiration.
At home, I checked on the stew cooking in the oven and grabbed the dog leash on the stair railing to take Titus for a walk. I realized while walking the dog that I had been looking under the wrong topics for this Gospel reading. Rather than searching under cross-bearing and commitment, I should have been looking at hymns related to baptism.
Baptism is when we receive the cross that Christ calls us to bear. The pastor baptizing a child or adult speaks a declaration after the climatic moment when three handfuls of water are poured on the head of the person being baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The declaration is, “child of God you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” The pastor traces a wet finger on the forehead of the newly baptized child of God as he or she speaks these words.
You and I are marked men, women and children. We are marked with the cross of Christ forever. We are at a different starting point than the crowd of people that Jesus is addressing in the Gospel. How can they possibly know that the cross of crucifixion would be the defining symbol of Jesus’ death and resurrection? They could not have known what Jesus was saying until they saw for themselves that Jesus’ path was leading to the cross. We are also at a different point of those who were members of the earliest Christian community for whom Luke’s Gospel is written. Their understanding of bearing the cross was undoubtedly literalistic. For them, bearing the cross was the real thing, suffering persecution and the same possibility of being crucified on a cross. And we are also at a different starting point than many people today who understand the cross as personal struggles and burdens that are unexpected and unwanted but nevertheless, come our way, and tell us, “We all have our cross to bear.”
The first thing I did when I got to my office on Friday morning was grab my ELW and page to the selection of hymns about baptism. I found what I was searching for in an unfamiliar hymn, Remember and Rejoice by Ruth Duck. The first verse is, “Remember and rejoice, renewed by floods of grace, we bear the sign of Jesus Christ, that time cannot erase.” The second verse says, “In life, in death, we trust in God’s most holy name, for ever traced by water sign, and sealed by Spirit flame.” For us, when it comes to taking up the cross of discipleship we begin by remembering and rejoicing that our lives are flooded by God’s grace.
Even though I don’t collect crosses as a hobby, I have accumulated a modest collection of them through the years. I guess people give me crosses rather than beer and wine because I am a pastor. Each of them holds special meaning because of the person who gave me a cross as an expression of appreciation or thoughtfulness, or a gift of love. The silver cross I wear on Sunday was a gift from my deceased grandmother who gave it to me when I was ordained thirty years ago. Several months ago I received this cross in the mail from my colleague Michael Rehak and his wife, Pera. This cross is made unique because there is a circle in the middle. A small labyrinth is etched into the circle.
My meditation on the Gospel reading and this particular cross with a circle at the center led me to deeper insights about being marked with the cross of Christ. We are marked by the cross outwardly, on our foreheads. This marking is intended to be more than skin deep. What begins on the surface, on our skin is intended to be absorbed through our skin and into our system, like a patch that someone who is trying to quit smoking puts on her back. The mark of this cross is intended to seep into the blood supply that travels through our bodies.
The mark of the cross on our foreheads is intended to seep to the center of our being to a place where Paul’s words echo this truth. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” The sign of the cross, when it reaches the center of our being is more than a symbol. Rather, it becomes our reality. The Holy Spirit brings Christ to life within us. The mark of this cross provides a way of seeing, feeling, thinking, dreaming, loving, eating, walking, sitting, and sleeping. When the cross by which we are marked reaches life’s center, the over-arching theme of our lives is that we are united with Christ in life and death, and resurrection from the dead.
The circle at the center of the cross reminds me of God’s gift of love that flows into our lives in countless way every day. It also reminds me of Christ’s call to become a vehicle of grace for the sake of others and the world. God’s grace and Christ’s call as disciples flow in circular fashion.
A couple of weeks ago I received a call from the person who schedules appointments at the Red Cross to make an appointment to give blood. She explained that I was due to give blood and the blood supply for A negative was severely low. I scheduled my appointment for late Thursday morning. They weren’t busy when showed up at the site and I thought I would be back to my office in no time. But I ran it a minor complication. The woman assigned to take my blood pushed the needle into the vein of my arm. For some reason the blood would not flow through the needle down the tubing and into the bag. She turned and wiggled the needle a little; still the blood did not flow. She called over to another nurse who appeared to be about the same age as Florence Nightingale. Florence also jiggled the needle and told me to squeeze the ball. I was thinking maybe I should have them pull the needle out and come back another day. I said, “its fine with me if you want to pull the needle out and try my other arm.” Florence told me, “We can’t do that after we have already started the bag. Squeeze the ball.”
Another nurse appeared from the background. She asked, “How are you doing?” “I’m doing fine,” I answered. She asked, “Would you like some water.” “Yes, I would appreciate that.” She returned with the water and I drank it immediately. I told her, “I have been feeling thirsty. I worked out hard this morning and have had a few cups of coffee and I was thirsty when I came in. She said, “You might be dehydrated. Let me get you some more water.” I had a few more cups of water and it helped. The blood freely flowed from my arm into the bag. I am glad this small donation will be helpful to another person with my blood type.
Life with the cross at the center is circulatory. We are marked with the cross as a gift. “Remember and rejoice, renewed by floods of grace, we bear the sign of Jesus Christ, that time cannot erase.” We receive God’s grace like cold glasses of water, bread and wine, and our life’s blood flows out as glad disciples.
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