Stephen Waller
Sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:22-30
Romans 4:13_25
Mark 8: 32-38
“He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’”
I possess no less than 50 crosses at last count. Most of them are on my bedroom wall. Some hang in windows. A couple stand on my mantel and my bathtub counter. One hangs over the kneeler which my Dad made for me when I was ordained….it is a cross which I have owned since I was a teen. One, I bought while on sabbatical in Iona…a cross made from what appears to be slate carved in a Celtic motif.
Some of you have given me one or more of these crosses. Members of St. Alban’s Monroe, Louisiana gave me several. The preacher at my ordination to the priesthood gave me one he had had carved for the occasion. A member of Redeemer, Irving gave me a cross (to get rid of it because it brought her painful memories). A child, now a young woman, once a member of this parish, made a lovely cross for me from beads. Some of them were given by people who actively disliked me…and I knew it…getting a cross from them caused me to have to do some soul searching. Some were given me by people whom I disliked at some point along the way. Again, more soul searching. Some were gifts from clergy…Father Ball gave me one on my retirement that focuses on the value of community…Ray knew me well. The former Archdeacon of the Diocese, Diana Luck, gave me one from her trip following the journeys of St. Paul. One, which I treasure, was a gift from a seminary friend who no longer speaks with me because I hurt him and he cannot seem to forgive the hurt. One was the gift of two men who caused me to seriously question my presence as Rector of the parish…serious enough that I left for a month to “think about things.” One is the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Cross which I have had since joining that organization in Seminary….while wearing it at my first curacy, a person grabbed it and pulled me toward him and told me he ought to slug me for wearing such a cross. Another is my profession cross which members of the Third Order of Saint Francis are given on their profession in the Order. Some are from family members…one from my gay uncle, Michael….several from my mother….and my sister…and my niece. A couple are gifts from a close neighbor where I now live. And one was designed by a member of St. Thomas the Apostle and made available to members of this parish to wear as a pendant. Some of you may still have yours. That cross is open to reveal the flesh of the wearer…
All of you have crosses…if not in wood or precious metal, then in the cross put on your forehead at baptism or with ashes on Ash Wednesday.
I certainly still have my crosses, in many variations, telling different parts of the story of the Man of the Cross…some painful, some full of joy, some beautiful, others difficult to behold.
We Christians all have our crosses. Jesus states very clearly that if we want to become his follower, we have to deny ourselves, and take up our cross and follow him.
It is not a matter of which Cross one needs to take up having as many as some of us may own. It is simply a matter of being willing to follow Him on the Way of the Cross.
What does that following on the Way of the Cross mean to people alive in 2021 who claim to follow Jesus?
What it does not mean is that you and I are to mimic Jesus in dragging our crosses behind us and trudging up some imaginary Calvary, faking suffering so that we might be “like our Lord.”
We are like are Lord when we do what Our Lord did with his life and death. We are like our Lord when we live for others and not for ourselves. We are like Our Lord when, at whatever it may cost, we champion all of God’s Creation, striving to love all of God’s people, working tirelessly to do mercy, and create justice and bind up what has become broken.
In other words, to follow Jesus carrying your cross means you will do what He did: Give your life away. Live for others, not for yourself. Learn what sacrificial living means. A Nun friend of mine likes to say: “It is not easy being a Living Sacrifice” all the time.
My sister, Melinda, used to ask me why I thought that both of us had “chosen” lives dedicated to serving others….Sis was a passionate educator for whom her students were her work and life’s joy. As she lay dying hundreds of those students who had learned she was close to death sent her daughter long emails about how much Sis had meant to them as students and as adults. Their testimonies were amazing. I have tried to be as passionate being a priest and understanding that I exist to serve whomever God puts in my path as my Sister was with her students.
If we Christians do that…if we Christians serve others, then we will be carrying our Cross as Jesus asks his followers to do. I do pray and will pray that you will carry your Cross to your life’s end, giving yourself away for others. AMEN
