“The
storm ceased and there was great calm. Then Jesus asked them, ‘Why are you
terrified? Do you not yet have faith?’”
Mark 4:
39 - 41
If you enter our church between Easter Sunday and
Pentecost Sunday you'll see a very different image above the altar. Instead of the cross with the image of the Crucified Christ, beaten and
broken and in the arms of death, you'll see the Risen Christ, triumphant and
ascending in all his glory.
For many years I preferred that image of the Risen
Christ. I wished that we would keep it up
there all year long. But as I grew in my faith I came to see and appreciate the
powerful message of the cross.
It tells us that we are not
alone; that God is by our side through every storm, just like he was for his
friends in the boat in Sunday’s Gospel. And yet, like those friends, we
sometimes get terrified and our faith is tested.
Some times life doesn’t make sense. There is chaos, there is darkness; bad things, inexplicable things
happen. As an individual, as a family, maybe even as a parish community, we
suffer great losses, deep wounds, even contradictions to our faith. The
symbol of our Christian faith is itself a contradiction: the cross, two opposing beams of wood made from the tree of life, yet
used to torture and destroy life. And in the center of the contradiction, we
find God in human form.
But the message of the cross is hope. It tells us that we are not alone; that God is with us in the chaos and
the darkness; he is present in the pain, the loss, the suffering; he is there
at the center of the contradiction, at the center of the cross.
And some day once we are free of the constraints of
human existence and the limits of human understanding, it will all make sense. There will be no more loss, no more wounds, no more contradictions; just God’s love for all eternity.
The cross with the image of the Crucified Christ is
a love letter from God. As we go through the
storms of life, let us keep reading that love letter and listening to the
message it contains. With the cross God is saying to us:
“I am with
you in the chaos and the darkness.
I am here at the center of your cross.
I love you and am with you for always.”
………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday
Life
Synchronicity as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for
Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Ministry