SERMON. Lift High the Cross. September 13, Rev. George Anastos

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1 SERMON Lift High the Cross September 13, 2015 Rev. George Anastos

2 Sermon Part I Lift High the Cross Seven and one half years ago, on a Palm Sunday, I told the story of the first time I saw Dali s painting The Crucifixion of Christ of Saint John of the Cross. A photo of this painting is in your orders of service. The painting is at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland. The time I first saw it I was walking from one gallery to another when I glanced to my right down a long corridor and I froze in midstride. The painting was at the far end of the corridor. It was as if the painting drew me to it. I do not remember walking those 25 or 30 yards; I found myself standing alone in front of it, transfixed. The painting is roughly 4 feet wide and 7 feet high. At that time it was hung in such a way that the bottom of the painting was at eyelevel, as if it was inviting you to stand on the lakeshore with the fisherman. As I oriented myself in the painting standing by the boat, I looked up; it was a spiritually vertiginous moment. Look at the photo in your hands. Imagine standing in front of large this painting looking up, with a human view, at the crucified Christ, while at the same time, because of how Dali painted it, you are also looking down at Christ, as if from God s view. All the while you are standing on the seashore where Jesus, both pre- and post-resurrection, invited his disciples to, Follow me. First Lesson Mark 8:27-30 Who Do People Say That He Is? From the Cotton Patch Version of Bible. In this translation, the villages of Caesarea Philippi are referred to as the region of Augusta (Georgia). Jesus went on with his students to the region of Augusta; and on the way he put this question to them, Who do the people think I am? They replied, Some think you re John the Baptiser; and others think you re Elijah; and still others believe that one of the old-time men of God has arisen. He then asked, How about you all who do you say I am? Rock spoke up, God s appointed Leader, he said. At this Jesus told them that they absolutely must not spread this word around. Sermon Part II In Each Hand I am often told that many people love the sermon style of preaching with the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Well, we just heard from the bible so here is the news. This past week has seen the completion of the capital murder trial of Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr. Working on the principle that we should kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong, Mr. Miller was sentenced to death for murdering three people outside two different Jewish centers in Kansas City. Mr. Miller freely admitted that he killed the people. He said, and I quote, "I had no criminal intent. I had a patriotic intent to stop genocide against my people" (by which he meant white people). When prosecutors said that he wanted to kill as many people as possible he denied that saying, "I wanted to kill Jews, not people." He did express remorse that all three of the people he killed, ironically enough, were white Christians, including a 14-year-old boy. When learning that none of his victims were Jewish he said, "Of course, I was devastated." But he said that he believed his adult victims, at least, were accomplices of Jews by associating with them, so it was okay. Years ago this same man was discharged from the US military for racism, and shortly thereafter he published a typewritten letter titled "Declaration of War". Addressing "Dear White Patriots", the text "declare[s] war against Niggers, Jews, Queers, assorted Mongrels, White Race traitors, and despicable informants." (It helps emotionally to say despicable like Daffy Duck does.) While reading about this I came upon white supremacist websites extolling Miller s, um, activism. Many of these, such as the Church of Israel and Kingdom Identity Ministries are Christian. They say they follow Jesus. And who do they say Jesus is? The Messiah. God s appointed leader. Page 1

3 Also this past week a big news story has been the ongoing saga, or perhaps I should say soap opera, of a county clerk in Kentucky who refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Ms. Davis, citing her Apostolic Christian faith, defied the federal courts and refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples to women and men created in the image of God, trying to live responsible and moral lives. Ms. Davis makes claim to a biblical high ground, condemning people who actually are trying to live moral lives on loving foundations. This is her statement: I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage, she said. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience. It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision. What is odd is that she has not read the bible: her understanding of marriage is NOT a central teaching of scripture; Jesus certainly never said anything about this. There is no divinely given definition of marriage in the bible. And the only thing Jesus said about marriage is that you should not divorce. And who does she say Jesus is? The Messiah. God s appointed leader. I don t know about any of you, but I am so tired of all this. People falsely claiming biblical high ground to hate others. People falsely claiming biblical high ground to discriminate against others. People who clearly don t read the bible claiming a biblical justification, which doesn t exist, to behave in ways that sunder the fabric of a community and which deny the image of God in each and every person. It is no surprise, then, that other people who do not go to church watch as religious folks, particularly Christians, hate, discriminate against, and shamefully treat others. That is the voice of religion that people outside the church hear. And people like us on the inside of religion, we in mainline churches, have become cynically removed. In our confusion we have become silent because we do not know how to respond to this, and maybe even because of such rhetoric, we are ashamed of the name Christian. If I may paraphrase the words of Bonhoeffer that we heard earlier: We are silent witnesses of evil deeds; we are being drenched by many storms; we are learning the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience is making us suspicious of others and keeps us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts are wearing us down and even make us cynical. Are we still of any use? Second Lesson Mark 8:31-33 Get Behind Me, Satan! From the Cotton Patch Version of Bible. In this translation Jerusalem is referred to as Atlanta and the apostle Peter is Rock. From then on Leader Jesus began to make clear to his students that he had to go to Atlanta and to go through terrible things at the hands of the leading church people to be killed, and three days later to be raised! But Rock collared him and began to take him to task. Not on your life, sir, he said, Be dadblamed if this will ever happen to you. Jesus whirled on Rock and said, Get away from here, you devil; you are gumming up the works for me, because you re not following God s ideas but human reasoning! Sermon Part III Distorted Images Speaking of human reasoning, someone sent me a photo of a sign which read: If you don t like gay marriage, blame straight people. They re the ones who keep having gay babies. The bible must be read in context. Two thousand years ago the government and institutional religion rejected Jesus and killed him. As we watch what is being done in Jesus name today it can be Page 2

4 argued that such is happening in today s context; they are just killing him in a different way tearing the fabric of his message and distorting it with hate. The attention therefore is drawn to the hate, not to the gospel message. As I silently stood in front of the Dali painting that day seven and a half years ago in my near trance-like state I was interrupted by a female voice speaking not far from my right ear. Don t you just hate what they did to it, she intensely asked. Being in the UK I responded as any proper Brit, Sorry? Don t you hate what they did to it, she asked again. I am sure I looked mighty perplexed because she went on to explain, Don t you remember that this painting was vandalized by somebody who smashed it with a big stone who then tore the canvas? Ah, some vague recollection was trying to push its way out of a memory bank that has been fading at the same rate as my hair color. And sure enough, she showed me where the painting had been restored. She then explained, as if to a two year old, the painting should never have been restored. Its vandalized and torn state was now part of its story and it should be left that way. The vandalism was part of its story and should be left that way: the torn canvas and disrupted image, pulling the eye away from the artist s vision and drawing it instead to the vandal s rage. It can be argued that the same is happening to the Gospel of Jesus: the torn canvas and disrupted image of the Gospel, pulling the mind away from divine things and focusing it on human fear, rage and prejudice, trying to make it say what it does not. Third Lesson Mark 8:34-38 Pick Up Your Cross and Follow From the Cotton Patch Version of Bible. In this translation Jesus admonition to take up our cross and follow him is changed to a distinctly American image. Jesus then said to his students, Any who want to walk my way must abandon themselves, accept their lynching, and share my life. For those who aim to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for my cause will find them. What s people s advantage if in getting the whole world they lose their lives? Indeed, what shall they trade their lives for? Sermon Part IV Lift High the Noose Two months ago I was in Scotland again and was eager to see Dali s painting. I went to the beginning of the corridor to look at the painting down at the end of that hall as I had that first time. The painting was gone. The curators had moved the painting to its own small room. In the intervening seven years the painting has become so popular that it draws large crowds. The small room was packed with jostling people. Spotlights reflected off the glass; flashbulbs popped. Due to the reflections and the crowds it was impossible to see the painting as a whole, impossible to stand and simply be with it any longer and use it as a spiritual guide; its physical setting and its astounding popularity prevent it. Rather than hear Jesus call me to follow, I simply saw a work of art that has passed into popular culture. Once a spiritual practice or path passes into popular culture it shifts on a fundamental level, becoming a thing to do rather than a way to be. The picture I am painting is of a Christian Church that is badly wounded. Either the Church is so popular that is just a hip thing to do, or it is so distorted that it leads its followers down paths of anger and fear and prejudice. I suggest to you that therefore we can no longer watch this happen without speaking up. We have to speak of the way of the cross to be the Church that walks in the way of God s incarnate love in the world and make no bones about it. We have to take back the name Christian. Page 3

5 In the 1940s a German pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer tried to take back the name Christian from Hitler and Nazism; he stood up to a national church that fully supported Hitler and its treatment of Jews and homosexuals and anyone they simply didn t like. For his efforts Bonhoeffer was imprisoned. While incarcerated he wrote many letters from prison to encourage other Christians to follow the way of Jesus. Shortly before he was executed he wrote this: We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, and straightforward people. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness? 1 Are we still of any use? Can the Church take up its cross and follow Jesus and say no to those who steal Jesus name to pursue hateful ends? Are we still of any use? Can the Church be such a presence and witness that it shines a loving light on the hateful darkness of white supremacists, homophobic supremacists, and any others who promulgate hate? Are we still of any use? Can the church deny its own self, take up its cross and follow Jesus? Are we still of any use? The answer is, Yes, because we are the Church the Body of Christ, and we have a voice, and a mission, and an image of God into which we grow and in which live. Amen. 1 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich; Letters from Prison; Page 4

1 Kings 27-30, August 26, 2018

1 Kings 27-30, August 26, 2018 1 Kings 27-30, 40-43 August 26, 2018 Ephesians 6:10-20 Rev. David Pierce Paul is gathering the troops this morning. He s issuing a loud, clear rally cry: Put on your armor so that you can make your stand.