This sermon began our fall preachings series, "Crosses We Wear." Each week the sermon will share the story of one of the crosses the pastors wear in worship. this first sermon introduced the idea and then reflected on the theme of God's unconditional love for us.
“Crosses We Wear: Unconditional Love” Sept 13, 2020, SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp; Romans 12: 9-21; Matthew 26: 21-28
Romans 12: 9-21 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Introduction: We begin our fall preaching series on crosses we wear.
Actually, we will have two preaching series because we will take a break from crosses to focus on stewardship for a few weeks in the middle and then return to crosses.
The sermon grows out of people asking over the years what the different crosses that I wear and Lisa wears in worship mean. Or how I decide which one to wear on any given Sunday. So, this fall, we will share some of the stories surrounding the crosses we wear.
We ministers are not the only ones to wear crosses, of course. On any given day, as we look at people we can see crosses on necklaces, crosses on bracelets, crosses on t-shirts, crosses as tattoos. All sorts of different crosses, and I suspect all sorts of different meanings associated with the crosses.
For followers of Christ, of course, the crosses point us to the empty cross.
The empty cross symbolizes both the love of God that we discover in Christ dying for us and the power of God to resurrect.
I invite you over the coming weeks to notice the crosses you wear or the crosses you see others wear.
And when you notice them, reflect on the God to whom those crosses point, the God who invites you to bear the cross or discipleship.
Move 1: When I left seminary to begin my internship as an Intern Associate Pastor (IAP was the acronym the church used for their intern), I knew I had a lot to learn, but I was pretty sure I knew a few things.
For instance, I knew that I would not wear a robe when I assisted in worship or even preached. I had preached a few times in churches around Austin, and decided that it was false advertising for me as an intern to wear a robe in worship - someone might think I was actually a minister.
I also knew that I would never wear one of those crosses ministers wear
had seen too many big ole crosses that seemed more about intimidation and power than representing the crucified one.
I arrived at First Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, TX, a young, idealistic intern committed to transparency.
On the second day of the internship, my supervisor calls me into his office. He goes over the bulletin and what my responsibilities would be in worship each week. I was something like his 20th intern, so this was old hat to him.
after discussing the order of worship, he tells me, “there is a robe on the back of your door that you can wear in worship.”
I immediately told him that I was not going to wear a robe during my internship, that it would be false advertising, and so on.
He looked at me and said, “the robe you will wear in worship each week is on the back of your door.
Two days in, and I was now a robe wearer.
that Friday, a man named John (his nickname was “big John” because he was a big guy, a former principal and school administrator. He looked like the football coach he had once been. In his hands, gnarled from arthritis, he carried a box.
He opened the box and it contained about five wooden crosses. He said, “I don’t know you at all, but pick a cross to wear in worship. I made each of those crosses. when you wear it, remember that you are our intern, and we support you and love you even before we know you because you are now ours.”
In that moment I became a cross wearer and a robe wearer. It was quite a week.
Move 2: We love and support you because you are ours.
Whenever I wear this cross, I am reminded of the God who loves me, loves us, because we are God’s.
a. At the core of our relationship with God is God’s unconditional love for us.
1. God creates us out of love.
2. God calls us into relationship out of love.
3. God calls us to love others.
b. The love God chooses is not conditional.
1. God does not love us if we do this or that.
2. God does not set up a hierarchy of love where some are really loved; some sort of loved; and some barely loved.
3. love some more than others.
3. God’s chooses to love us with unbounded love;
with extravagant love
with unconditional love.
4. Take the love a parent feels the first time he or she holds their newborn baby, multiply it again and again, and we get a glimpse of God’s unconditional love for us.
c. Miroslav Volf, the professor of theology at Princeton Seminary, shares an “old Jewish story about creation, God decided to create the world, then foresaw all the sin that human beings would commit against God and each other. The only way god could continue was to decide to forgive the world before creating it. Strange as it may seem, the commitment to forgive comes before creation. Similarly, the commitment to forgive comes before marriage vows.” (Christian Century, June 5-12, 2002)
1. Even before creating, God chose to love.
2. unconditional love marked by forgiveness.
3. If you ever wonder if you are loved, take a breath, and remember that God created you out of love; God created you to love.
4. A colleague tells this story about her 5 yr. old granddaughter doing a church service) There were two sermons in her service "because learning about God is so important." The first sermon was "God loves us. If God didn't love us, God would not have made us. So God must love us because God made us.”
The second sermon was "sometimes we are naughty but God still loves us. Remember that."
Her final words were "Go in peace because God loves you.”
5. When you see a cross, remember the God who loves you unconditionally.
Move 3: while I concur with the two points the young preacher made, I would adjust her final words.
Instead of “Go in peace because God loves you,” I would say, “god in peace and love others as God loves you.”
a. That, of course, is the great challenge for those of us who know God’s love - How do we show unconditional love.
1. As the Apostle Paul tries to figure out how to live in response to God’s unconditional love, he does not make it easy on us.
2. As he describes discipleship in his letter to the Romans, he sets the bar very high.
3. Some of what Paul calls us to do come easily: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
4. Some sound like a good idea - Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God;
5. But some are difficult, seemingly impossible: Bless those who persecute you; No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
b. not easy, but Paul does not let us off the hook.
1. if we look at this section, There are, depending on the English translation one is using, upwards of 30 imperatives in this reading.
2. Scholars look at this list of exhortations and suggest they are not specific to a particular issue going on in Rome, but a general expectation of what it means to follow Christ.
In other words, we cannot dismiss these words as only talking about a specific context in Rome (Mary Hinkle Shore, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.l http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1060).
they call us as disciples of Christ to a new way of life - a way of life shaped by the God of unconditional love.
3. Saying God loves me, or God loves us, is not the end, but the beginning point of how we are to live our lives.
4. We live in a world where division and discord abound. Racism, the pandemic, political differences all work to separate and divide us.
When we engage people we look for clues to see what type of person they are so we know what we can say or do.
Or, we barrel ahead sharing our views and daring them to disagree.
When we wear the cross, so to speak, and lay claim to God’s unconditional love for us, we also bear the cross, that is, we are called to share that unconditional love.
4. And then we get a glimpse of the cross, which points us to the God who loves us unconditionally and calls us to love others in the same way.
b. Biblical scholars also point out that all the verbal forms in this part of the letter are plural.
1. The words are a window on what life in Christ looks like in community.
2. As one biblical scholar notes, we might imagine Paul saying with his syntax, "Don't try this alone.” (Mary Hinkle Shore, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.l http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1060)
2. our task as the church is to provide support as we each try to love unconditionally, and to be a place that shows God’s unconditional love.
3. While I was gone, I participated in a webinar on preaching during Advent. One the issues the presenters noted was that Advent follows the presidential election by just a few weeks.
4. As we move forward in this divisive, traumatic time in our world, what are we, as ST. Andrew the body of Christ doing?
5. St. Andrew - our shield has the cross embedded in it. Each Sunday we see the cross on our beautiful stained glass window; our letterhead contains the cross; our t-shirts display the cross.
6. We are summoned and sent by the cross which reveals God’s unconditional love.
7. How are we living into that cross?
Conclusion: Jesus tells his disciples “take up my cross and follow me”
Take up the cross of unconditional love
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