The Festival of the Holy Cross

September 14, 2003

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Lessons: Numbers 21:4b-9; I Corinthians 1:18-24; St. John 3:13-17

Make no mistake about it, everything today is about the Church being "user-friendly". Just look at the titles of many of the books being published, and you can see that clearly. Books like, A Step-By-Step Guide to Church Marketing; Marketing for Congregations, and User-Friendly Churches, are just a few of the more blatant examples of the drive to understand ministry as delivery of a product, and the product as something shaped by people's felt needs. In this market-driven theology of the Church, you, the average worshiper, are supposedly, the customer--and as we all have learned, the customer is always right--so, if you want to be a user-friendly congregation, you have to give the customer what they want. You have to make the Sunday gathering of the congregation, satisfying and comfortable, but above all, the gathering has to be about meeting people's needs--it has to be about meeting your needs, above everything else. Otherwise, you'll take your business elsewhere! That's why the market-driven approach to ministry puts you in the driver's-seat. That's why the primary goal in this approach, is to make everything in the church--from the worship folder, to the location of the restrooms, to the décor of the nursery, to the church web-site, "user-friendly"--so that you will come back again, and, to put it crassly, "give us your continued business".

And then you, the consumer--the customer--come to a church like Saint Luke's some Sunday morning, and, you are shocked and maybe offended to see what may be the least "user-friendly" article ever--a cross! And not just one, but two--one big huge one overhead, where you can't miss it, and another one, with what appears to be a dead body nailed to it, right there by the pulpit, distracting you while you're trying to listen to the speaker give the message! Oh, the church marketers and the seekers and the "user-friendly" advocates would have a field day here at Saint Luke's! They would tell us the first thing we have to do, in order to grow, is to get rid of those crosses! They would ask, incredulously, "Don't you know the cross is no longer a relevant image to people today? Don't you know that it's a negative--a turn-off for most folks in our culture? It's a symbol of death, for gosh sakes…and you have them right there in front of everyone, every Sunday? What could be less--user-friendly than that?"

And I would have to answer, "Well, nothing, I guess." Because truthfully, there is nothing "user-friendly" about the cross. Unless you mean, the cross is user-friendly, because someone else nails you to it. Unless you mean the cross is user-friendly, because historically, it was a device someone used to execute you. But I don't think that's what "user-friendly" really means. User-friendly, as I understand it, means, easy to use, comfortable to use, something you can use with little or no effort. In that regard, we've tried to make our worship-folder user-friendly, to make it easier for non-Lutherans to join us in worship. In that regard, we've tried to make our building user-friendly, so that you can see right away, where the nursery is, or the restrooms, or the main entrances. There's a sense in which we're not opposed to user-friendliness. But, how can you make the cross--user-friendly? The cross is, or was, a cruel method of humiliation, and capital punishment. The cross was used to punish criminals and to make an example of them for others. So, you came to church today, and we're celebrating--yes, celebrating, the Festival of the Holy Cross! We've made a holy day, around this instrument of humiliation and death. And what would they church marketers say about that? One of the foremost "marketers" of Christianity, Pastor Rick Warren, of Saddleback Community Church in California, warns, "Be careful not to overdo mystical, religious symbols in your facilities…they confuse the unchurched." In George Barna's book, "User-Friendly Churches", it is suggested that churches conduct regular surveys of it's members about whether people like what the church looks like, like what the church is offering, find the church to be meeting people's needs. Then, Barna suggests, if there are negatives, the church can substitute something more "upbeat" and "affirming". I've heard of many churches which are doing just that--removing crosses from their sanctuaries, and replacing them with modern art--fabric swatches showing life-movement; abstract paintings on the chancel wall that are calming; and then, of course, some just fill the space with plants! Plants that project life and living and--that don't carry any kind of an un-friendly message. Church marketers frown on the cross, and so, some pastors and congregations seem all too ready to throw the cross out in the dumpster, all in the hope of being more, user-friendly. But, can a church without the cross, be the Church?

You hear the lessons for today, and you wouldn't think so. Our first lesson, and gospel reading, both point to the connection, between God saving the Israelites at the foot of Mount Hor, having Moses fashion a bronze pole, lifting it up, and everyone who simply looks at it is saved, and God saving the world, by having his Son, offered as a perfect sacrifice for sin, lifted up on the cross, again, so that everyone who looks to him, will be saved--for God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. God's plan for salvation, involved Jesus being lifted up, just as the bronze serpent was lifted up--and Jesus was lifted up, on the cross--so that the cross became, indeed, the means of our salvation. And St. Paul, writing to the Corinthian congregation, anticipates and addresses the fact that there would be some, then and now, who would consider the cross folly--foolishness--a stumbling block to Jews and Greeks. But St. Paul reminds us--before you would think about discarding the cross; before you dismiss the cross as a outdated and useless; before you remove the cross from your churches as not really "user-friendly", upbeat, or affirming--remember--the message of the cross is the power of God, to us who are being saved! It's for this reason that we proclaim, Christ crucified--Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. It doesn't appear Holy Scripture could abide the removal of the cross from the Church--even if it is a stumbling block to some! And Dr. Martin Luther says just that, as well.

In his treatise "On the Councils and the Church", Luther describes Seven Marks of the Body of Christ, seven signs by which all could know, as Luther says, "what, where, and who the holy Christian church is, that is, the holy Christian people of God; and we can be certain that it cannot fail us." These include the Word of God; Holy Baptism; the Sacrament of the Altar; the Office of the Keys--confession and forgiveness; the Office of the Ministry; prayer, praise and thanksgiving; and seventh and finally, the cross. Luther writes, "Seventh, the holy Christian people are externally recognized by the holy possession of the sacred cross. This is a holy possession whereby the Holy Spirit not only sanctifies his people, but also blesses them." Ponder that for a minute. Luther says, not only is the holy cross, one of the essential marks of the Body of Christ--but through the cross, the Holy Spirit sanctifies his people, and blesses them. We have so-called Christians today who would do away with the cross, as too negative, too un-friendly, no longer useful, yet, according to St. Paul, it is the power of God for salvation, according to Luther, it is through the cross that the Holy Spirit sanctifies his people and ALSO, blesses them! How does this sanctification, this blessing through the cross take place?

Well, the cross is about self-denial, self-discipline and yielding to the will of God the Father. The cross of Jesus Christ teaches us that salvation was won for us, because Jesus submitted himself to the Father's will, denied his own desire for safety, security, and success, and gave himself in sacrifice and service, for the sake of the world, and for the sake of you and me. Jesus calls us to a life of discipleship, shaped by his cross, when he says, "If any would be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Thus, the Christian life, is one of denying oneself; it involves a radical obedience to the will of God which takes precedence over one's own personal desires and interests; it involves suffering the opposition and resistance of the world, if need be, to the point of death. Remembering back to our lessons the last few weeks, we learned that self-denial includes, resisting the evil intentions of the human heart: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. Radical obedience to the will of God is nothing other than, as St. Paul writes in Ephesians, "leading lives worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…no longer children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but speaking the truth in love, growing up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." That's what we are preaching, when we, with St. Paul, "preach Christ crucified". That's why, normally, we have our cross with Christ crucified, right here at the pulpit, to remind me, and whoever is preaching, that we are to preach nothing but--Christ, and Him crucified. And that Christ crucified calls us, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. And as we look to Christ, lifted up on the cross, we see that cross-bearing is a tall order. We see why some might want to pad the cross, to soften it, if not remove it altogether. But I'm reminded of the experience of the pagan Roman Emperor, Constantine in the 4th century, when, against great odds, he set out for battle--and some say it was in the sky, others record that it was in a dream, that Constantine saw the cross of Christ, in a symbol we call the Chi-Rho, a stylized cross that includes the first two letters of the name "Christ" in Greek--Chi--Rho; and Constantine heard the words, "By this, conquer." And Constantine did, indeed, conquer. And when we look to the Holy Cross of our Lord and Savior Christ, let us also hear these words, "By this, conquer!" When we make the sign of the cross, let us also hear these words, "By this, conquer!" By this cross, is conquered, sin, death and the devil. By this cross, is conquered fear, shame, and despair. By this cross, is conquered the effects of abuse and neglect. By this cross is conquered marital difficulties, challenges in raising our kids, struggles in our job situation. By this cross, is conquered drug and alcohol abuse. By this cross is conquered our sinful selves, and our disobedience. By this cross, is conquered--all that needs to be put to death in us--so that we may then, have new life, abundant life, eternal life--in and through, Jesus Christ, crucified, and risen. In and through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sent into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.