Good Friday (Fr. Robinson)

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
   
     The cross, that central symbol of our faith, is seen everywhere.  Have you ever noticed how many crosses there are in this church?
There’s one on top of the rood screen
on the front of each of the two tabernacles
 on top of the tabernacle on each altar, held by the lamb of God
in the middle of the reredos
above the reredos
above the church flag
 seven crosses in the columbarium
just behind the rood screen as you enter the pulpit
at the top of each hymn board
in Lent, there is a cross in each of the stations of the cross
 the carillon memorial plaque
 the festival trumpet memorial plaque
the Rededication plaque at the top
on the front of every prayer book
one toward the top of the organ pipes
three of the stained glass windows
brass Cross at the back of the nave on the table
six crosses at the top of each of the light fixtures
eight hassocks on the back of the very last pew, have a different kind of cross on each one.


     A cross leads our processions.  There are crosses on many of our communion vessels and many of our linens.  Many of you are wearing a cross or carrying a cross in your pocket. 

     There are crosses all over town. Some are on churches, but most aren’t designed specifically as crosses.  There’s a cross every time two roads intersect. Tile floors and ceilings have countless crosses.  Paneled walls, bookshelves, telephone poles, masts of ships, and the structures holding window panes all have crosses.  The cross appears in our alphabet.
 
     The cross is the symbol of our salvation.  The ancient anthem proclaims, “we adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”   The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is first of all the bad news that we human beings are so alienated from God by our sin that we can do nothing on our own to reconcile ourselves to God.  It’s not a matter of our being basically good people who once in a while do something wrong; it’s a matter of our being basically so self-centered that we cannot break out of that nature. 
 
     Even the best of intentions are colored by the broad brush of sin with a capital S.  Article 9 in the Articles of Religion, says this of sin: “Original sin…is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man…, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation.”  That statement is speaking not of your worst enemies, not specifically of Adolf Hitler or of the terrorists who bomb schools, obviously evil people who did unspeakably evil deeds. No, it’s talking about you and me, “inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit.”
 
     If left to our own devices, we would be without hope.  One of the collects in the prayerbook states it another way: “O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully except our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed.”
 
     It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be able to tell that something is drastically wrong.  If the extermination of 6 million Jews during the Second World War, the massive genocides that have taken place in our time, and many acts of terrorism don’t convince you, then look at your own relationships. The person who doesn’t have some troubling conflict is rare indeed.  Families in this country are often dysfunctional.  Divorce is so common that it hardly raises an eyebrow anymore.  Alcoholism and drug addiction are still epidemic in this country, in which we boast that we can conquer most any obstacle.  We dare not leave our homes without locking all doors because of the real possibility of our possessions being stolen.
 
     These things are all symptoms of a basic problem in humanity.  We were created for joy, but something has gone drastically wrong. The Gospel is first of all bad news.  We are “inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit.”
 
     But the Gospel, of course, is also and most importantly good news, for what we cannot do on our own, God has chosen to do for us.  St. John tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all who believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Jesus has paid the price for our sin by his death on the cross.  Through that death we are reconciled to God. “We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
 
     It was real wood to which our Lord’s hands and feet were nailed.  The thorns drew real blood.  This one through whom the world was created, who himself is love, subjected himself to the cruelest form of execution out of love, not only for the people of that day, but also for all people for all time.
 
     At baptism a cross is traced on the newly baptized’s forehead, symbolizing the fact that not only is the cross a sign of what Jesus did for us, but also a sign of how we are to live our lives in sacrificial love.  
 
“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”