Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

September 14 is Holy Cross Day. This is a remarkable day on the Church's calendar for two reasons. First of all, this is the only festival day to venerate an object - all other festival days remember a significant person or event in the story of salvation. This goes to show how significant the cross is to our Christian faith. The second reason that this is so remarkable is because of what this object is. The cross is an instrument of execution.

Human beings have used come up with a lot of different ways to carry out capital punishment. The Hebrews stoned murderers to death. The Romans nailed traitors to the cross. The British hanged them at the gallows. The French used the guillotine. The Nazis killed Jews in the gas chamber. Americans invented the electric chair. But of all the different instruments of execution, I know of only one that has been made into jewelry, only one that decorates a place of worship, only one that has it's own special day.

Of course, not too many of those who wear gold crosses or have a cross hanging on the wall of their home actually think about the cross as an instrument of execution. For some the cross is simply a fashion statement, and yet I doubt that many of them would wear a silver hangman's noose dangling from a chain or pin a 14 carat gold guillotine on their lapel. For many of us the cross is a symbol of our faith, but wonder what we would think if our processional cross was not made of polished walnut, but splintery wood stained by the sweat and blood of one who died there.

A pastor in Philadelphia once substituted an electric chair for the gold cross that sat on top of the altar. When people arrived at church on Easter morning they were furious. It was ugly. It was offensive. It was disgusting. In fact, they were so upset that they not only got rid of the electric chair; they also got rid of the pastor.

When you stop to think about it, the cross is also offensive. A Roman Catholic Church in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, had a tradition of setting up an array of crosses in the churchyard during Lent and draping them in black on Good Friday. One year the priest got a call from the Chamber of Commerce. "Look, father, we've been getting complaints about those crosses out in your churchyard. Now inside the church, who cares? But out in front, where everybody can see them, they are offensive. The retired people here find them depressing. The tourists don't like them either. They're bad for business. People come down here to get happy, not depressed."

That is why some churches have removed all crosses from their sanctuary. This is why some pastors do not preach the cross - because it is too negative and too depressing. I doubt that they are celebrating Holy Cross Day at Willow Creek Community Church or at the Crystal Cathedral.

In our epistle reading for today, Paul reminds us that this is nothing new. The cross was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles from the very beginning. But for those whom God has called, whether Jew or Gentile, the cross is a symbol of God's power and love. Paul got around in the Mediterranean world. He undoubtedly saw more than one crucifixion. He knew that it was gruesome and agonizingly painful - a means of execution designed by the Romans to make an example of anyone who went against the Roman Emperor. And he knew that Jesus was put to death on a cross because he was convicted of blasphemy and treason.

Jesus' crucifixion was no ordinary execution, however. Even the seasoned centurion at the foot of that cross realized that Jesus was no ordinary man. Seeing how Jesus died, he declared, "Surely this man was the Son of God." But it was Jesus' resurrection from the dead three days later that transformed the cross from an instrument of death into an instrument of life; from a symbol of hatred into a symbol of love.

You see, Jesus was not crucified because he was guilty of blasphemy or of treason. The reason Jesus was crucified is laid out clearly in our Gospel lesson for today: It is because "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Jesus died for our sins, not his own. And because he was the Son of God, Jesus' death on the cross paid the price for the sins of the whole world.

This is the message of the cross that needs to be heard. There are a lot of people in our world today who need to hear the message of God's love and forgiveness. Some of these people are carrying heavy burdens - burdens of pain and suffering, burdens of grief and guilt, burdens of shame and fear. Some of these people are searching for something more in their lives. You know some of these people. They live in your neighborhoods. They send their kids to your schools. They work where you work. They shop where you shop. They belong to the same clubs and organizations to which you belong. You may not know how burdened they are, because they have learned how to live a lie - how to put a happy face on a grieving heart, how to hide their fears behind a façade of self-confidence and success, how to look like they are living the American dream when it is really a nightmare.

These are people who desperately need to know that God loves them, that Christ came so that they can have a new life, a truly abundant life. They need the peace and the power of God in their lives. They need someone to share with them the message of the cross, someone who knows what the cross really means, someone who has experienced God's love in their own life, someone who has been marked with the cross of Christ in the waters of baptism, someone like you.

There are others in our world who are not so burdened - people like Mike in our skit. These are people who are living the American dream, people who have a good job, a great family, a nice home, a new car - people for whom life is "perfect." But like with Mike there is something missing in their lives and they don't even know what it is. These are people who are nagged by the age-old question, "Is that all there is?"

These are also people who desperately need to know that God loves them, that Christ came so that they can have a new life, a truly abundant life. They need the meaning and purpose that God brings to our life. They also need someone to share with them the message of the cross, someone who knows what the cross means, someone who has found meaning and purpose in serving God. Someone like you.

On this Holy Cross Day, let us remember that it is not enough for us to simply wear the cross, we must also bear the cross. Jesus says that if you want to be his disciple, you have to take up your cross and follow him. You bear that cross and you lift it high when you do what the great hymn says: when you proclaim the love of Christ until all the world adore his sacred name. You lift high that cross when you tell someone else what Jesus has done for you and how Jesus is a part of your life. If you don't know how to do that, if you don't know how to talk about God's love in your life, then I would encourage you to enroll in our faith sharing seminar, which begins this Tuesday evening.

Even if you are not willing to lift the cross that high, at the very least, you can invite someone to come and see Jesus. Next Sunday is Friendship Sunday here at St. Luke's. You are surrounded by people who need to know that God loves them - friends, relatives, neighbors, more casual acquaintances. Won't you at least invite one of them to come to church with you next Sunday? Amen.