Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost
Take Up Your Cross
By The Rev. Christie Webb -
Are you familiar with the cinematic trope the Big Romantic Gesture? It is an elaborate over the top display of love found in romantic comedies, usually toward the end of the film, with the purpose of winning the heart of the one they love. It might be an apology, or a way to show one’s seriousness about their love, or sometimes a spontaneous declaration of love. Scenes like in the Notebook, when the male lead Noah, played by Ryan Gosling, fixes up an old house, hoping it would bring his old flame Allie, played by Rachel McAdams, back to him, and it does. Or in Breakfast at Tiffany’s when Paul goes to look for Holly’s cat in the rain because he knows how much the cat means to Holly, reuniting her and the cat and himself with a tearful kiss. Or in the Wedding Singer when the character played by Adam Sandler proposes to the character played by Drew Barrymore with a song on an airplane. Pretty Woman where Richard Gere arrives in a white limo and scales the fire escape to declare his love to Julia Roberts. Grand Romantic Gestures. You get the picture.
I wonder: are you a big romantic gesture kind of person? Or are you an everyday show me your love kind of person? I’m the latter. I think the last time my husband David really tried for a big romantic gesture was when he proposed many years ago. It was lovely, a picnic at sunset, a retelling of our whole story of romance up until then, and then a proposal with a beloved family ring. But the next day, when we were utterly exhausted and trying to go about our normal lives, he said to me “Remind me the next time I propose not to do it on a Tuesday.” Not to worry. He won’t ever have to propose again, because we share our love for each other in little ways all the time. In small gifts that really just fit the person. In taking the kids for an extra bit of time to allow the other to rest. In genuine compliments and acts of service.
As I read our texts for today it occurred to me that there are many ways that one can take up your cross and follow Jesus. For some it is the big gesture, the one that leads to laying down one’s life because of one’s commitment to Christ. Like Peter, who here gets it wrong, but eventually starts to get it right. He is crucified for his leadership of the church, ordered to be executed by the Roman Emperor Nero, who blamed Christians for a fire that ravaged Rome. Peter’s ultimate big gesture- he requested to be crucified upside down, as he felt unworthy to die in the same way as Christ. Or Paul, who penned the letter to the Romans, from which our 2nd Reading comes. He was beheaded. Others have been martyred for their faith. Some recent examples: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who was executed for his resistance work in Nazi Germany. Or Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated as he preached his gospel-inspired dream for our nation. For some, such as these, cross-bearing means the literal loss of one’s life.
But for most of us, the call is different. For most of us, cross-bearing means living out our faith on a daily basis, and the ways that work calls us to die to ourselves over and over again in service to our neighbor and to the gospel. For most of us, cross-bearing looks more like living out what we hear about in Romans 12: letting love be genuine, holding fast to good, rejoicing in hope, persevering in prayer, extending hospitality to strangers, blessing those who persecute us, not claiming to be wiser than we are. Each of them is a way of laying down our own lives and interests for the good of the gospel, the good of the community, the good of the world.
In fact, I think Romans 12 is a blueprint for what it means to take up our cross in community living. I think God is at work in us, each of us to help us live out these very things in our daily life. It is in a way a to-do list of life in Christ. Life in community is hard. You all know that. You’ve been through the challenges of it just recently. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes we fail to let love be genuine. Sometimes we struggle to live in harmony with one another. Sometimes we just know for certain that we are the wisest there is, that is it, that is all, there is no other way it can be. Sometimes we long for vengeance and don’t want to leave it up to God. And when we feel this way, God calls to us: deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Let God work in you so that you can follow these ways laid out in Romans 12. Try again. And again. And again.
Friends, in this time in our life as community and also in this time in society, I really believe that Romans 12 has much wisdom for us. I want us to glean that wisdom. I want us to eat these words and live them as a joy, like we read in Jeremiah. To help us do that, I’m going to read Romans 12 again. I’m going to read it slowly, as if it was the most divine chocolate and we wanted to savor every morsel. As I read it, I invite you in fact to turn to it in your bulletin and follow along. As you do, here are your instructions.
Which one of these would you celebrate as having done well recently?
Which one do you feel God calling you to live out more fully, with God’s help, in the coming week?
Let us savor the word of God from Romans 12:
9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I wonder what caught you. I wonder what you celebrated as something you have lived out recently. And I wonder where and how God is calling you to take up your cross and love genuinely, live humbly in community this week.
Friends, sometimes bearing our cross really is a big, grand, movie-worthy gesture of service and witness. But, more often than not, it is more simple, more every day. We take up our cross when we die to our own self-aggrandizement so that we might love wholeheartedly, serve with humility, and live in peace.
God be at work in us that we may live these ways.
Amen.
The Rev. Christie Webb
Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
September 2 & 3, 2023
