· CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

· ADULT EDUCATION

· EFM

· JOURNEY TO
   ADULTHOOD
      RITE 13
      J2A
      YAC

· VACATION BIBLE
   SCHOOL

· SERMONS

· CURSILLO

· HAPPENING

· RESOURCE LIST
      Chapel Library
      Recommendations

SERMONS

The Feast of the Holy Cross
September 16, 2001

By John Sewell

Today we observe the feast of Holy Cross our patronal or name day. Today we grieve with our fellow Americans, joined by people all over the world who are shocked and horrified by what has been done on Tuesday. Justice will come but it will not come as quickly as we want.

Other religions have lotus flowers, crescent moons, or stars as symbols all of which point toward a transcendent beauty. The central symbol of Christianity is the cross an instrument of death. This is odd in a way because we are terrified by death. In truth we have developed denial to a high degree to avoid acknowledging our own mortality. It is said that Sigmund Freud's favorite joke was: a man says to his wife, "If one of us should die, I think I'll go live in Paris." Death is an ending. Death reminds us of just alone we are. This is particularly true given the events this week. Thousands of people went to work, boarded airplanes never thinking that Tuesday was the last day of their lives.

In the midst of our pain and grief, which are normal and very human emotions, as Christians we turn to the core of our religion and find there the cross a symbol of death that for us is a sign of contradiction because what was once a means of death has become for us a means of life. The cross tells us how much God loves us, so much that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will have eternal life.

So we are not people without hope. I love the words of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales, who says in his book, Resurrection, (p. 60) "The pivotal point is this: death is normally a drastic severing of relations, death isolates; but for Jesus, it is through death that a new and potentially infinite network of relations is opened up. The effect of his death is the opposite of isolation." The Cross the sign of contradiction: is a sign of life coming through death. And our faith tells us that if it happened once, it can and will happen again. That is God's promise to us.

Many people feel the drastic severing of relationships with the ones they loved. They feel isolated. They are isolated in unspeakable grief. In the Gospel for today Jesus says, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." I believe that God is doing just that, drawing all people to Himself through the cross of his son. Death may isolate and sever our relationships but through the death of Jesus a new network of relations are opened. We know that to be true because it is the very core of our own faith.

Today we pray for our president and the leaders of the nation.

We pray for those who have died and those who love them.

We pray that justice will be done We also pray that we not become what we abhor.

We pray that we will come to know the risen Christ more deeply in his resurrection so that we are open to this potentially infinite network of relationships.

For He has promised to feed us with his body and blood in this Eucharist just as He draws all the world to himself through his cross. Let us comfort each other with this hope. Amen.

John Sewell
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi