March Newsletter:
The Way of The Cross
We are on the journey of Lent now, traveling to Jerusalem with Jesus to remember his death and resurrection. These events give our Christian lives meaning, but there is darkness before the dawn of Easter. We are almost a pathologically death denying culture, finding Lent too negative in this culture of optimism. Mortality and sin are not the favorite subjects of anybody, but they don't have to be things that are only negative. No matter how much we may resist the idea of death it is a reality. No matter how hard we may fight the idea, there are places within us that resist the way of Christ. Those dark places are there and are a part of who we are. These parts of our being are not the whole of who we are and we are not defined only by the darkness within us, but to deny that the dark places of sin within us exist, is to deny reality.
Part of being human is to have a “shadow side”, as psychologist Carl Jung called it. If we deny that it is a part of our being, we project it on others and then react to the perceived darkness in them. How many of us have ever known a Christian who believed themselves to be “right with God” and yet they attacked, at least verbally, anybody who disagreed. Those “other people” were the ones who are trying to harm the faith of all the innocent and holy people. It is, of course these folk who are angry and harmful. Why is that? They do not recognize their own shadow side. They see themselves as all good, and the enemy as all bad. If they would only acknowledge the dark side of themselves, they could be less judgmental of others. But that requires us to acknowledge our sins, and that we are part of the darkness as well as the light. .
The death of Jesus exposes our sin. It does so because it shows the lengths we will go to in order to preserve our own power both individually and as a people. Rome felt the people it dominated were inferior and wanted to maintain power over those inferior people. Romans saw themselves as good people who wanted to bring light to the world. Then there are the religious who want to control others and what they believe. They also don't want to lose power and a king who claimed to be a descendant of David could easily bring Rome down on them. As religious people too, we often want power over others, we want to suppress those of different opinions. We want to win at the world's game. The religious authorities who committed the crimes against Jesus were the Jewish, but we Christians have been just as good at being lethal in what we have done in the name of God. Love was crucified by the political and religious forces. The death of God's Son exposed those forces of destruction that tried to destroy the Messiah in the name of God. The cross exposes all the ways we manipulate others, use our religion and politics against others, and want to conquer others in the name of God. Our own sins are there in the story; they are running away with the disciples, wanting to crush weakness in ourselves and others, and manipulating situations to get our way. Were we there when they crucified our Lord? Yes! We do all those things too. Look at our world in the extremes. There is political and religious killing going on in the name of God. Look at our denominations split by people who want to defeat the other side, rather than love our neighbors.
Just when we are exposed and condemned, we hear, “Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing”. That word coming from the cross human sin fashioned for Jesus, sets us free. We can acknowledge our darkness and receive forgiveness. We can then live the lives to which Jesus called us. Lent exposes our darkness in order to bring us to the grace that redeems. So we look to the cross as a sign of hope, for we will soon find the Risen Christ among us.
In Hope And Peace,
Jim Stahr
The Way of The Cross
We are on the journey of Lent now, traveling to Jerusalem with Jesus to remember his death and resurrection. These events give our Christian lives meaning, but there is darkness before the dawn of Easter. We are almost a pathologically death denying culture, finding Lent too negative in this culture of optimism. Mortality and sin are not the favorite subjects of anybody, but they don't have to be things that are only negative. No matter how much we may resist the idea of death it is a reality. No matter how hard we may fight the idea, there are places within us that resist the way of Christ. Those dark places are there and are a part of who we are. These parts of our being are not the whole of who we are and we are not defined only by the darkness within us, but to deny that the dark places of sin within us exist, is to deny reality.
Part of being human is to have a “shadow side”, as psychologist Carl Jung called it. If we deny that it is a part of our being, we project it on others and then react to the perceived darkness in them. How many of us have ever known a Christian who believed themselves to be “right with God” and yet they attacked, at least verbally, anybody who disagreed. Those “other people” were the ones who are trying to harm the faith of all the innocent and holy people. It is, of course these folk who are angry and harmful. Why is that? They do not recognize their own shadow side. They see themselves as all good, and the enemy as all bad. If they would only acknowledge the dark side of themselves, they could be less judgmental of others. But that requires us to acknowledge our sins, and that we are part of the darkness as well as the light. .
The death of Jesus exposes our sin. It does so because it shows the lengths we will go to in order to preserve our own power both individually and as a people. Rome felt the people it dominated were inferior and wanted to maintain power over those inferior people. Romans saw themselves as good people who wanted to bring light to the world. Then there are the religious who want to control others and what they believe. They also don't want to lose power and a king who claimed to be a descendant of David could easily bring Rome down on them. As religious people too, we often want power over others, we want to suppress those of different opinions. We want to win at the world's game. The religious authorities who committed the crimes against Jesus were the Jewish, but we Christians have been just as good at being lethal in what we have done in the name of God. Love was crucified by the political and religious forces. The death of God's Son exposed those forces of destruction that tried to destroy the Messiah in the name of God. The cross exposes all the ways we manipulate others, use our religion and politics against others, and want to conquer others in the name of God. Our own sins are there in the story; they are running away with the disciples, wanting to crush weakness in ourselves and others, and manipulating situations to get our way. Were we there when they crucified our Lord? Yes! We do all those things too. Look at our world in the extremes. There is political and religious killing going on in the name of God. Look at our denominations split by people who want to defeat the other side, rather than love our neighbors.
Just when we are exposed and condemned, we hear, “Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing”. That word coming from the cross human sin fashioned for Jesus, sets us free. We can acknowledge our darkness and receive forgiveness. We can then live the lives to which Jesus called us. Lent exposes our darkness in order to bring us to the grace that redeems. So we look to the cross as a sign of hope, for we will soon find the Risen Christ among us.
In Hope And Peace,
Jim Stahr
posted by Theoblogger at
4:28 PM
