“The Foolishness of the Cross” (Fn.:1 COR. 1 17-25.2013) Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 William C. Pender, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 8/4/13
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“The Foolishness of the Cross” (fn.:1 COR. 1 17-25.2013) Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 William C. Pender, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 8/4/13 Picture this: a shopper enters a fine jewelry store and says, “I am ready to buy a fine piece of jewelry. I want a pendant for a necklace. I’d like one of those exquisite little models of a chair—the chair that has straps and electrodes. I adore the look of the electric chair used to fry the life out of a human being. Oh, I see you have one with a human figure strapped on the chair, slumped over from the charge. Both are so cute…the empty electric chair and the one which is occupied. I’ll just have to both.” Far-fetched…morbid…or, could you imagine the same shopping conversation for a cross—jewelry for necklace? Both the electric chair and the cross are instruments of capital punishment. Within the Roman Empire, crucifixion was reserved for non-Roman citizens and for the most egregious crimes— it was the worst of the worse. How very odd that this heinous instrument of capital punishment has become the primary symbol of the church! And you find them in most every jewelry store. Symbols breathe life into our lives. This morning the Confirmation Class has processed with symbols— the American flag, a church flag, the elements of Communion, the Bible…and our processional hymn sang “Lift high the cross.” Symbols are the adaptation of our faith to the very tangible and real. Throughout our history, Presbyterians, along with other faith traditions, have struggled with the power of symbols. On the one hand, there have been followers of the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli, a close contemporary of John Calvin—who preached absolute simplicity. No symbols at all—symbols get twisted and changed. Only God’s Word remains pure and unsullied, said Zwingli. Symbols have too much evocative power that are to liable to distract us or confuse us. And not just symbols, but even music. Zwingli decided music was too risky for worship. Although Zwingli was a fine musician, he stood by and let his congregation rip out the church organ and build a bonfire with it. Even music had too much evocative power. After all, you do not have dig very far among church people to find out what they do and don’t like about their music! As we shake our heads at the extremes of Zwingli, remember he is part of our faith family. And the “acorn does not fall from the tree.” The initial design of our Chapel was in this Zwinglian vein. The only symbols were to be a pulpit, a table, and a baptismal fount. No stained glass windows; no ornate chandeliers, no embellishments to the space. But what have we done? We have added some faux columns in the chancel, hung a Celtic cross at the center, and added an organ. The initial design of this sanctuary was in this Zwinglian vein. The earliest stained glass windows are in the narthex—geometrical shapes dominate, but very little in terms of actual image. In 1903, the church was moving into a “new age” church architecture, where Presbyterians would consider not just stained glass windows, but even one with images, not just geometric abstractions. Initially, our sanctuary had three focal points: a center pulpit, a table, and a baptismal fount. The architecture was stately but bland. What have we done? We began to add stained glass…not just geometrical shapes, but images. In this sanctuary, you see 100 years of American stained glass—with a great variety. We added an organ, which was originally here in the center (where I am standing…look at the 1923 picture in the hallway behind me). In addition, to windows, we changed from a center pulpit to a split chancel, moved the organ, and added the mosaic: the Christ figure in the image here in the chancel. Page 1 of 3 Sometimes Protestants wonder about the Orthodox tradition with their use of icons, those figures of Biblical characters, great saints, and so on. It seems to me we just have a different set of icons that shape us. Even contemporary worship services held in box rooms of warehouses and commercial auditoriums do not abandon images and icons. The icon of contemporary worship is the screen where words and images are displayed with great fluidity. Images are projected. So what’s this Celtic cross that is part of our faith community? We have it on the bulletin cover each week. We have one in the Chapel. One of the most noteworthy monuments in our graveyard is a Celtic cross. We have Celtic cross hanging on the exterior wall that faces to the east, visible from James White Parkway and when you are coming up Church Street past the bus transit station. The history of the Celtic cross is not completely clear, with a mixture of scholarly opinions and legends. The primary legend is that St. Patrick, as he did missionary work in Ireland, introduced the Celtic cross. That is, Patrick was seeking to help the pagan Irish make the transition to Christianity, so he took a symbol that they would know, a “sun cross,” and transitioned it into the Celtic cross. On the insert in the bulletin [also on last page], you will find the basic shape of the “sun cross”—a circle, with crossing lines within the circle. The “sun cross” is a symbol that is found in multiple cultures both before the Christian era and independent of the Christian era: Asian, European, and the subcontinent of India. One of the pictures is from a cave here in Tennessee—the sun cross is frequently found in native American art—from cave drawings to pottery. And the depiction of the Greco-Roman man on a cross is not Jesus, but Ixion, who according to myth, was punished by Zeus by being strung up on the sun. So the “sun cross” is one of the old religious symbols. What is most likely right about the St. Patrick legend is the transition…the transition from a pagan symbol to a Christian symbol. The “sun cross” becomes a cross with circle on it…a symbol that can be reinterpreted in various ways: the life giving properties of the sun are now connected to Christ; Christ has overtaken the sun. After all, the day of worship is the “day of the sun”—Sunday! English and German keep this pagan name for the first day of the week. Spanish, French, and Italian use word that means “The Lord’s”—the Lord’s Day. And the sun imagery can be forgotten—the circle is then a symbol of the world that is sustained by Christ. Or, alternatively, the circle is a symbol of eternity—no ending and no ending to the good news of Jesus Christ. Here is the bane and blessing of symbols—they keep reproducing more meaning. You see how the “sun cross” morphed into Celtic Cross…it also morphed into another symbol, the “swastika.” The swastika is at least 3,000 years old. As a sacred symbol, its use can be found in Indonesia, to India, to Europe, in a variety of cultures. It is, of course, the use in Nazi Germany that now dominates our psyche. The sun cross morphed into a symbol of astounding evil. With this conclusion to our summer emphasis on Celtic Christianity, we conclude with this Celtic cross, a symbol with multiple meanings. And let us be cautioned by Zwingli: Our symbols can become too powerful—we at times hang on to our symbols and forget the essential, the vital, the true, the really real. It is not the symbol of the cross that is important—the Ku Klux Klan used same symbol as the church! As the apostle Paul put it 2000 years ago, it is the message of the cross that counts. A message of incredible foolishness—that’s God’s power to save will be seen in a vicious instrument of capital punishment. At this table, we have the more primary symbols than the cross itself: the bread and cup, the body and blood. Page 2 of 3 And we are left with questions like this: What kind of sense does it make to worship a God who, instead of rescuing us out of trouble, rescues us by entering into the trouble with us? A God who, instead of helping us to avoid pain, heals us from our pain by entering the depths of our pain with us? A God who, instead of fixing things for us, addresses them by becoming weak with us in our weakness? 1 As Frederick Buechner observed: “In terms of human wisdom, Jesus was a perfect fool. And if you think you can follow him without making something like the same kind of fool of yourself, you are laboring not under the cross, but a delusion.” 2 The foolishness of the blessing of the poor, those who mourn, those make peace, those who are meek, and those who are persecuted. The foolishness of serving rather than being served. The foolishness of not returning evil for evil. The foolishness of extravagant generosity. That’s the cross we lift high and follow. 1 Questions drawn from an article by Joe Roos in Sojourners , August 2007: available online at http://sojo.net/magazine/2007/08/foolishness-cross as of 8/4/13. 2 Ibid. (Buechner quote in article). Page 3 of 3 .