Gospel powered hope for America
Christianese
There is a certain language to growing up in church. You learn terms and phrases that become common place and colloquial. I guess you could call it Christianese. Over time, there is a deafness that occurs to those of us who have grown up rolling under church pews and drinking the leftover grape juice from communion cups. This morning, God’s spirit reminded me that these phrases that have become mindless interjections to me hold earth-shattering promise when revisited with fresh eyes.
One such phrase that has been etched in my memory is the phrase, “the ground is level at the foot of the cross.” The term is used to denote the fact that in the church of Jesus Christ, there are no big I’s and little YOU’s. God’s message of life-changing, transforming, overwhelming grace is for everyone. It transcends social classes, racial divides, political parties, and socio-economic categories. No the message of the cross is one for everyone. If there’s one thing our divided and broken country and world needs it’s a message of unity and hope beyond the talking heads and political propaganda that passes for news and commentary today. Both sides are guilty, neither have answers, and all are hurting.
Hope for America
More now than ever, the darkness surrounding us is pervasive and foreboding. It’s easy to get swept into the fray. Like an undertow in a massive deep, the church of God can get drug into the cesspool of corruption. Wave after wave of riots, marches, protests, and vitriol flood our airwaves with the ominous reminder of the darkness that settles over us. But amidst the darkness, let us not forget Jesus words, “You are the LIGHT of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Our Savior made it clear the hope for the darkness of this world is not found in the hallways of educational institutions, it isn’t found in the alleys of our urban centers, it not on the country roads of middle America, it’s found in the doors of the church. The simple reason for this is because ours is the only message that reaches to everyone. Ours is the only hope that is extended to blacks and whites, liberals and conservatives, white collars and blue. The hope of the gospel is for everyone, and it is found in our UNITY.
When churches gather across this land, they should be the case study on diversity. They should be filled with different races, political preferences, and social classes. When we begin to divide along racial, political, social, or even religious lines, we are denying and destroying the very hope that Jesus died to place within us. We are voluntarily extinguishing the light that Jesus set inside of us with His own death. Ours should be a message that is extended to everyone, there is hope for unity and restoration in the cross of Jesus Christ. The GOSPEL (Good News) is the only message that unapologetically claims that there is hope for reconciliation with God and with our fellow man, be they black, white, slave, free, Jew, Gentile, Republican or Democrat. None of our division is as great as the division caused by our sin with our Creator. If the blood of Jesus Christ can atone for our sins against our Father, then imagine what it could do with our sins against our brother? At the end of the day, the gospel is the only hope for any of us. When we lean into that unity, the power of Christ is formed in us. As one body, we stand and raise our lamp beside an open door to a greater future in Christ Jesus.
The Golden Cross
This is powerfully demonstrated through a story by Max Lucado that I read this morning. He writes:
“I spoke at each Good Friday service of a nearby Episcopal church for many years On one occasion, I shared the responsibility with the bishop of the diocese of West Texas. He wore a robe and a large gold cross around his neck My church background didn’t make me too keen on preaching wearing religious jewelry. So, I was less than impressed. And, I confess, even a bit judgmental.
But as he shared the story behind the gold cross, my attitude began to change. In order to assume his role as bishop, he had to leave behind St. Mark’s Episcopal, a church were we was loved dearly. The people tried to talk him into staying but he felt it was God’s will to leave. The members, then expressed their gratitude by making him this cross. Two hundred and forty-two households contributed gold pieces which were melted down def orbed together. Some of the gold provided was from the wedding bands of widow and widowers. Three couples who had divorced then reconciled each gave a set of wedding rings to the cross. One friend of the bishop was a bachelor who was rejected by “the love of his life” just days before the ceremony contributed her ring to the cross as a symbolic surrendering of the pain of his lost love. The cross includes a college ring as well as the bridge from a fellow member’s mouth. One mom donated some gold beads. When her son was four, he found them on a dresser, thought they were toys and damaged them. He died soon thereafter in an accident. She donated them not he day before what would have been his seventh birthday.
Two hundred and forty-two stories. Stories of celebration, stories of sorrow. Stories of peace, stories of pain. But when forged together they form the cross of Christ.
What happened literally with the bishop’s cross happens spiritually in every church that devotes itself to fellowship. When your story intermingles with mine, and our stories interweave with others, the cross is formed. When one holds another in a hospital, the cross is lifted up. When a conservative loves a liberal, when an Anglo seeks to understand a Hispanic, when a redneck and a tree-hugger stand sided by side at the communion table, the cross is lifted up.
When JESUS is at the center of the church; people with a diversity of backgrounds serve and love each other. Prejudices and biases are replaced with love and grace. Peace, not conflict, is the goal of our relationships. This is what was on display in the first church. Those early believers were a powerful testimony of what is possible in Jesus. The same possibility is available for us today. May we, through he example of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, strive to pattern our lives after theirs.” - Max Lucado, the Jesus Bible
