instruments of torture

A crucifix.
The cross was not only an instrument of death.
It was also an instrument of torture.

And we choose to hang a depiction of this torture-device on the walls of our homes and our churches.

Non-Christians think it's really weird.  WHY would you do that?  How could you wish to see that?
For example, David Denby wrote a review of Mel Gibson's Passion (in the March 2004 New Yorker) wherein he expresses horror over the torture, the scourging, the crushing, the nails, the blood.

Yes, the crucifix shows an instrument of torture.
But it shows me that it was MY torture that was due to me, and I don't have to endure it because Someone else did.

If you don't believe that, no wonder it seems weird to glory in the cross of Jesus.

"The message of the cross is foolishness 

to those who are perishing, but to us who 

are being saved it is the power of God....  

The things which are despised, God has 

chosen" (1 Cor 1).

Crucifix Shopping

Shhh: don't tell the computer or Big Brother.  I have figured out how to get NICE ads in the sidebar of my computer.  If you go shopping for a few hours on eShakti, they start sending you gazillions of ads.  If you keep clicking on them, pretty soon the ads go away that want you to [ahem] meet singles or buy Bounty or subscribe to some liberal magazine.

Tonight I spent a couple of hours looking for crucifixes.  On ebay.  On Amazon.  On various Catholic church-supply sites.  And now I have crosses and pretty dresses popping up as ads.  Nice!

While shopping, I discovered how

few people knew what a crucifix is.  There were plenty of empty crosses listed under "crucifix."  There were also the kind that some of our kids received as baptism gifts from the congregation -- the kind with a kneeling child in the center.

"I don't like that cross, Mom!  I don't want to die on a cross!"

Uh, yeah, that was when those crosses went away.

I also discovered somebody's crafts: turquoise and yellow beads, strung together like we used to make at summer camp to be key chains or lanyards.  In a cross-shape.  Turquoise and yellow.  Ugly as could be.  Mixed in with the crucifixes.  Good grief.  It takes a lot of sifting to shop for something online.



PS: If you need an introductory coupon for eShakti (which also offers free customizing on first-time orders), let me know.  You'll get $25-35 off your first try, and I'll get a $10 referral coupon.

Idols Are Bad

There it was again today -- somebody saying that pretty churches and statues are bad.  "You shall make no graven images."  Interesting timing, based on what I heard in chapel this morning.

Our Bible story was Exodus 32, the Israelites worshiping the golden calf.  Pastor was asking the kids questions about idols and false gods.  He explained that an idol shows something about God that isn't true.  In this story, it wasn't a golden calf that brought the Israelites out of Egypt and saved them from Pharaoh's armies.

But that little explanation, just a smidge of what he was telling the children, summed up so much for me.  I remember when my friend, Pastor Wiest, was accused by someone of worshiping idols.  Because he wore a crucifix! The person told Pr Wiest, "You aren't supposed to worship idols."  He responded, "But this isn't an idol.  This is the true God."  (Now, I suppose the person could've responded, "That is NOT the true God."  But obviously Pastor Wiest did not think that little piece of metal, on a chain around his neck, really was, in itself, God.  It was a representation of what God in His gracious love did to save us; it showed something true about God.)

An idol shows something about God that isn't true.  That's why it's bad to use a cross necklace simply as a good-luck charm.  That would also be why icons are idols for those who believe those saints merited God's favor because of their superb level of good works, but icons are not idols for those who see them as pictures of God's mercy to sinners.

Also, it really confuses me why a certain group of Christians call a crucifix an "idol" but are perfectly okay with empty crosses.  Wouldn't a cross be a graven image just as much as a crucifix?  Maybe it boils down to their thinking the crucifix shows something about God that isn't true.

Matthew 6:25

Try looking at a crucifix while reciting our memory verse for the week:  "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?"

Jesus on the cross.  What does He have to eat or to drink?  Nothing.  Neither does He clothing.  He won't even hang onto His life for much longer.  But ...

He is life.

 

You Shall Not Make Any Graven Image

Pastor Wiest told the story of chatting with a few Wiccans one day. They had noticed his funny-lookin' pastor-clothes, and so they asked him about his crucifix and what he believed. One of them, having been raised Christian, knew the passage from the ten commandments (Exodus 20) about not making "graven images." The gals asked if his crucifix wasn't a graven image and wondered how that fit with the prohibition against worshiping false gods. His response was not what I expected. He said, "But this isn't a false god. This is the true God."

A friend asked once, "Who is the man in the picture with you, on the sidebar of your blog?" I told him, "That's my dad." That's what he expected me to say.

Those Wiccans knew that Pastor Wiest didn't think that the little piece of metal hanging over his heart was, itself, his god. They knew he meant that it depicted his God. Just like you and I know that my dad is not an arrangement of electricity and pixels on a computer screen. He's a flesh-and-blood person who begat me and taught me to bowl and ate supper with me. Still, we say of the photo, "That's my dad."

That was the only response I ever had for the iconoclasts (the people who disapprove of crucifixes, icons, stained glass windows in churches, and creches at Christmastime). But a friend's blog yesterday mentioned something from the 700's. St John of Damascus (whom we Lutherans might know because of his hymns "The Day of Resurrection" and "Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain") said that we can make graven images now.   (Aside: I'm not saying I agree with everything at this link. Some Orthodox writers talk about icons as representations of salvation history and the saints, while others talk about icons as a way to have a mystical encounter with the saints. Representations I understand; it kinda creeps me out to hear talk of icons being a means to communicate with those who've gone on before.)

Anyway, back to John's point.    In the Old Testament times, God did not have a body. But in Christ's incarnation, God took on flesh. And if Jesus has a face, we are able to draw pictures of it, based on the pictures drawn by the guys who hung out with Him a couple of millenia ago. If God has a body, we can make a statue depicting it, especially when it shows what He has done to save us.

"Take My Yoke Upon You" -- Conformed to His Image

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and lowly of heart,
and you shall find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy,
and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-29)

A yoke is a beam. It goes across the shoulders. The person's hands are usually near the end of the beam.

The shape of a person wearing a yoke is not unlike the shape of somebody attached to a cross.

Later in Matthew, Jesus talks about our taking up our cross and following Him. In chapter 11, Jesus speaks paradoxically about a yoke being easy. And in chapter 16, He talks about finding one's life in losing it.



Let us suffer here with Jesus,
to His image e'er conform.
Heaven's glory soon will please us,
sunshine follow on the storm.
Though we sow in tears of sorrow,
we shall reap celestial joy,
and the fears that now annoy
shall be laughter on the morrow.
Christ, I suffer here with Thee --
there, oh, share Thy joy with me!

Praying with a Crucifix

What God ordains is always good:
this truth remains unshaken.
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
I shall not be forsaken.
I fear no harm,
for with His arm
He shall embrace and shield me;
So to my God I yield me. (TLH 521 or LSB 760)


I wrote the other day about the importance of having a crucifix in the chancel so that the people might be rightly focused on the cross of Jesus and so that its message might be superimposed (like a transparency) upon all that we think and pray and sing and hear in the Service.

We sang "What God Ordains Is Always Good" yesterday. With the crucifix before you, the story of Good Friday is brought to mind. Jesus remained unshaken in His trust of the Father. Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me" in His sorrow and death. That substitutionary atonement means that we will NOT be forsaken in our sorrow, need, and death.

Look at the lines near the end that final stanza: "For with His arm He shall embrace and shield me." The crucifix shows us Jesus' arms extended upon the cross. Those were the arms that bore God's wrath over sin and took the punishment on our behalf. Those were the arms that were slashed and bruised and yanked out of joint. Those are the arms that embrace and shield us from all harm.

Crucifix in the Chancel

My friend Dustin was ordained three years ago. It was at his ordination that, for the first time, I was very aware of the lack of a crucifix in the chancel. Over the years I had become accustomed to having a crucifix around during prayer and had begun, I suppose, to take it for granted. That day it was surprisingly unsettling to be worshiping in a place without a crucifix.

When your eyes are on the crucifix, the image helps to anchor your thoughts on the central message of Scripture.

One example is the Venite. "Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation." Without the crucifix, I always thought of the "rock" as, well, y'know, a symbol of something sturdy. But with the crucifix there to teach me and to guide me, I remember the passage from Corinthians where we are told that the rock with the Israelites in the wilderness was Christ Himself, and that He was struck in the side so that water poured out. Or you might think about "the strength of the hills is His also" being connected to the hill where Jesus was crucified.

Another example is Isaiah 60 which we read for Epiphany. We usually think of "Arise, shine, for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you" as being about the star and the wise men who came to see Baby Jesus. But we can also see it in connection to the cross, and how Jesus was lifted up on the cross and how His light shone to all nations through His sacrificial death.

There are gazillions of examples of what a person might learn from the Bible simply by keeping his/her eyes fixed upon the crucifix while listening to the scripture readings and while praying.

The synodical convention is being broadcast this week via the Internet. During hymn singing, pictures are put on the screen with the words to the hymns. I don't know if this is being shown to the delegates during devotions too, or if it's just what we at home see on our computer monitors. Regardless, I was once again especially aware of what it's like to behold images other than the crucifix. The pictures illustrating the hymns may have trees or clouds or mountains or water. And that says something very different than seeing a crucifix when you sing "Our God, our Help, in ages past; our Hope for years to come" or "My faith looks up to Thee" or "A mighty fortress is our God" or the Kyrie.

Bits from Vigil -- Bound on the Altar

In Genesis 22, when Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.

In Psalm 118, the passover psalm, the psalm the pilgrims sang on Palm Sunday as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, we hear: Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

Sometimes we see crucifixes or paintings that show cords binding Jesus to the cross. This is a bad thing if the nails have been left out so that people don't get the heebie-jeebies over Jesus' being nailed to the cross. But if the wounds and the nails are there, the rope isn't a bad thing. We hear both in Genesis 22 and in Psalm 118 that the sacrifice is bound. And Jesus is the sacrifice.

New Altar

These were taken on the Thursday that the new furnishings arrived and on Saturday after the introductory meeting.

New Altar Arriving

Do you remember what it was like when you were little and just couldn't wait for Christmas to arrive so you could open your wonderful, awesome, totally great, beautiful, fantastic presents?

Like Pastor said Wednesday night at choir practice, it felt like Christmas Eve. The new chancel furnishings were due to arrive Thursday morning after Bible class.



Mark and Jim putting the new cabinet into place under the old altar, which stands against the back wall.


Jim, who did a lot of the work on the chancel renovations last spring. (Maybe his wife or daughters will provide some input as to what he helped with on the furnishings.)

The new pulpit.


Mark and Jim carry in the base of the new altar.

Al, Pastor, Mark, and Jim putting the altar into place.

Quite the crowd stayed to watch after Bible class. The excitement and the awe was sure something! Here we have Judy and Bonnie (with Ralph, Kurt, and Frederick the Wise in the background).


And here we have Judy, Erma, Guenther, Shirley, Luise, Bernice, Jim, and Ed.


By the way, just for the record, I'd like to point out something. All y'all who buy CCA materials, take a look at these pictures. These are the folks who collate and bind your books. Some publishing houses have machines to assemble their materials. But we have this crew of saints who do an awful lot of the work by hand, fueled by coffee and laughter and Marcie's baked goods.




Adjusting something for leveling.

Janelle and Marcie. (Aren't they just SO darn cute??)

Andrew, Leah, Maggie, and Bryce.

Kara, looking more serious and ponderous than you normally see her. Maybe it's time for a serious caption, like "Jesus, I will ponder now on Thy holy passion... Grant that I in love and faith may the image cherish of Thy suffering, pain, and death, that I may not perish."

Kara, Kathy, and Jeannine.

And, for the craftsmen...
applause and thanks and
awe-struck dropped jaws and gratitude
(and whatever other words a thesaurus might supply for "thanks") ...
Allan the master, and Mark who helped.

Robe of Righteousness

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to Thy cross I cling;
naked, come to Thee for dress;
helpless, look to Thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly --
wash me, Savior, or I die.

The words in the song: "Thy cross" and "look to Thee." We look at the cross as we sing those lines. We see that He is naked. They stripped Him of His clothes, casting lots for them, and dividing His garments among them.

Helpless, poor, foul, and naked, we come to the crucified one who hangs there with nothing, having given all. And He continues to give His holiness, His robe of righteousness, His priestly garments, even though to all outward appearances He doesn't have any clothing to give! But because He gave up His, it becomes ours. And we are arrayed more richly than the flowers of the field which are arrayed more beautifully than even Solomon was in all his earthly splendor.

I stood, my shame bemoaning,
Thou com'st to honor me.
A glory dost Thou give me,
a treasure safe on high
that will not fail nor leave me
as earthly riches fly.

St Michael and All Angels

Tonight was our celebration of the Feast of St Michael, transferred from last Monday. The statue of St Michael killing the devil (somewhat similar to the statue pictured below) was placed near the processional crucifix, next to the pulpit.




We see the crucifix, the dead Jesus on the cross.
But what God was seeing in the same event -- the same dead body on the cross -- was the statue: the Angel of the Lord slaying the Accuser.
The two pieces of art there, in juxtaposition with one another, is beautiful. The message of each piece is what we see in the other one.

Chancel Changes

The first picture was taken prior to the addition of the corpus. The wedding was the last day of Eastertide, so that explains the white on the cross and the extra candelabras. The second picture is what we have now.