Sermon “In the Cross of Christ I Glory”  Wednesday, March 11, 2015

In the Cross of Christ I Glory – this is the season of Lent after all so we are to be focused on the Cross – this time of meditation and repentance.

Sir John Bowring was a hymn writer.  He also was a scholar, a linguist (he is reported to have the ability to write in thirteen different languages and dialects, and to converse in 100 different languages before his death – he was a “hyperpolyglot”), a poet (he published poems in Russian, Spanish, Polish, Serbian, Czech and Hungarian languages), a social progressive, a politician (he was the governor of Hong Kong), and he is attributed with designing the Florin (a two-piece shilling piece used in England). John Bowring was born in Exeter, England in 1792.   I want to give you two poems by Sir John, as an example of his writing and his faith…

We Walk By Faith, and Not by Sight

We walk by faith, and not by sight;
And if we ever go astray,
Do Thou, O Lord! conduct us right,
And lead us in our onward way.

Onward from earth to heaven we go;
And, gently guided, Lord! by Thee,
The path which is begun below
Conducts to immortality.

And though it wear a transient gloom,
Though darkness on our steps attend-
E’en though it lead us through the tomb,
Its course is bliss, and heaven its end.

The Resurrection

He is not here-He is not here-
Could death the Son of Life imprison?
Now check the sigh and wipe the tear,
For lo! the Lord, the Lord is risen.

The grave, that claimed Him, is compelled
To lose the prey that death had given:
The conqu’ror yields the prize he held,
And lo! the Lord ascends to heaven.

Promise and pledge of life to all!
Ruler of death! thy advent hailing,
Upon our God and thine we call-
The Great, the Wise, the All-availing.

For He who raised thee from thy tomb
Shall raise us-though in death we wither;
Who called our Elder Brother home
Shall call us in His mercy thither.

Sir John Bowring is credited with thirty-six volumes of published works, and yet he is best known for one hymn text – “In the Cross”.

“In the Cross of Christ I Glory – Towring o’er the Wrecks of Time”

Now, I do some of my own writing – poems and such.  I know to interpret someone else’s work is difficult – I personally would cringe at someone trying to interpret my own work – to try to explain the words put upon the page.  But, I think there are some verses that we can talk about some possible meaning this morning.

What would it mean to find “Glory” in the Cross – or to say that we “Glory” in the Cross?  According to the Gospel of John, it is only through the Cross that Jesus finally reaches his Glory.  In the words “It is Finished” we see that Christ states that he finally achieved in His life what He was sent to do.  It is His Glory – although the resurrection is yet to come – which is His ultimate Glory over death.  So, for us to Glory in the Cross is for us to also realize that the Cross is our Glory as well.  Without the Cross, there is no hope for us – Christ accomplished for us what we cannot accomplish for ourselves.

“Tow’ring O’er the Wrecks of Time”

The Cross stands as the seminal act of G*d for the sake of humanity.  For us, the Cross is THE central focus and image of our faith.  For Christians it towers over us and our salvation just as the pole with the image of the serpent did during the Exodus – “If we but look upon it we will live.”  The Cross continues to Tower over the landscape of humanity as our symbol – it stands when everything else has fallen – the wrecks of Time.  Truthfully, we have not had a good run at handling humanity on our own.  Humans have left a pile of rubble throughout the years – wars, rumors of wars, terrorism, the crusades, burning witches, killing people in the name of religion, oppression, racism….on and on and on it goes.  But one thing continues to stand above all of this destruction – and that is the Cross.  As some of you know, following the devastation of the planes crashing into the twin towers in New York City, amidst the rubble of those buildings stood two pieces of the steel infrastructure – and they stood forming the “Shape of What?” – everyone say it with me – “The Cross”.

“All The Light of Sacred Story, Gathers round its Head Sublime.”

What is the meaning of the word Sublime?  Sublime means “Elevated or Lofty in Thought”.  “Paradise Lost is Sublime Poetry” – this was included in the definition I looked up for the word Sublime.  Bowring is saying that the Cross is elevated – that the cross is something that goes above our thinking – which is true, Amen?  How can anyone look at the cross and see Glory?  The cross is one of the most in-humane devices of torture and death – yet we see it as a wonderful thing.  It is a true Oxymoron – it is a true contradiction – Like “Jumbo Shrimp” is an Oxymoron – so is the “Sublime Cross”.  And Yet, around this Cross gathers the stories of faith – the Light of Christ – the martyrs – the Apostles – the Great Cloud of Witnesses who have gone on before us and borne the weight of bearing that cross.

What I want to point out today is this – we all have a story of faith – and our stories are something we need to share with people in the community and the world. How comfortable are you with sharing your story? That story is important – it is important to you – it is important that it be shared, in how you live, and in your words.

Verse 2

“When the Woes of Life O’ertake Me – Hopes deceive, and fears annoy”

In the first verse we have the Message of the Cross – We have the cross and what the Cross stands for: the Glory of Christ, and the witness of the Cross through time. Verse 2 then gets us into what the Cross can do for each and every one of us.

We all have situations that bring us down, that become too heavy to bear, that seem to want to defeat us time and time again. What would be the “Woes of Life?” According to Bowring, they include the failure of our hopes, and the fears that get us off course. This past weekend brought us the horrific accident of a young mother and her young baby. Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck and her daughter Lily were on their way somewhere at 10:30 pm when her car tire went up the cement barrier at the south end of a bridge launching the car into the air, and into a creek. The mother was killed in the accident but the baby survived – and she remained strapped in her car seat for 14 hours until a fisherman found the vehicle. Now I am certain that this woman’s family did not have this kind of hope for their daughter – that she would be killed in a car accident at such a young age. Some would say “Where was G*d in this incident?” “Where was G*d?” you ask. As I read the report on CNN about this accident, they went on to mention something….odd.
A mystery arose from the rescue: The three police officers who entered the water all say they heard a voice calling for help.
The mother was dead, but the officers said they heard an adult’s voice calling to them.
“It felt like I could hear someone telling me, ‘I need help,'” DeWitt told KSL. “It was very surreal, something that I felt like I could hear.” Warner said he heard the same.
G*d was in this miraculous discovery – especially in this still small voice that gave the rescuers some hope – and they discovered the baby still alive in the car seat. Verse 2 continues:
“Never shall the Cross forsake me; Lo! It glows with Peace and Joy.”

I have no idea if the woman, Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck was a woman of faith, but I need not wonder about the voice – the reason Christ died on the cross was that “everyone may not perish but may have eternal life”. Christ died on this cross for believers and non-believers alike. This is what gave this baby, Lily, a voice – someone who had no voice was given a voice through G*d’s presence in this world – through the cross of Jesus.

My friends, we know that life is going to forsake us in one way or another – that is how life is. What ever led to that accident was something about life – a tire that blew – falling asleep at the wheel – a distraction – a deer – something led to that incident that led to this tragedy. But the Cross did not forsake this family – just like the Cross will not forsake you and me.

We all must admit that the circumstances of this life may or may not allow us to live well into the golden years of our lives. But if we are cut down even in the prime of our lives, the Cross does not crumble into a pile of rubble. The Cross offers us life eternal – from the Cross not only comes the glow of Peace and Joy, but a Radiance Streaming that Adds New Luster to the Day. These are the ending lines of verse 3.

This is why you and I need the season of Lent, by the way – because life is not all roses and sunshine. We need something that does offer us some light in the midst of the darkness of this world – and that comes as a Radiance Streaming straight out of the Cross of Christ. So in Lent we gather underneath the Cross – we take time to consider the Cross and what lengths G*d went through for the sake of the world.

What does this Cross mean to you?

Again we hear these words:

We walk by faith, and not by sight;
And if we ever go astray,
Do Thou, O Lord! conduct us right,
And lead us in our onward way.

When life gets you down, remember the Cross – The Glory of Christ is what leads us through this Lenten Season to the Empty Tomb…