Sermon

September 14, 2008

Feast of the Holy Cross

As Thursday is normally the day I’m off each week, I was home this past Thursday morning, September 11. As I was feeding Nicholas breakfast, a cable news station was showing the events of September 11, 2001, at the exact time which they had happened seven years ago. Shortly after 8:45 a.m., there was the cut into the news that an airplane had hit one tower of the world trade center in New York, followed by “live” shots of the building on fire. At 9:03, an airplane flew across the screen and into the other tower. By 10:00 one of the buildings had collapsed and by 10:30 so had the other. A security report from the Pentagon was interrupted with news that part of the building had exploded, and shortly thereafter, it was announced that another airplane had been hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. This brought back some very powerful images and painful memories of a horrific day in the history of our country. As the special report ended, news quickly switched over to the state of Texas, awaiting the arrival of a powerful hurricane. Warnings of “certain death” encouraged people not to remain in the danger areas. And images on television yesterday showed widespread devastation across the gulf coast of Texas. It will be days before some people can return home, months before power is restored to some areas, and possibly years for the affected areas to fully recover. As for people who lost loved ones in the storm, just as with those who lost loved ones on 9/11, life will never again be the same. Then, with Hurricane Ike still reeking havoc over Texas, there was yet another interruption in the news, this time from California, where 18 people and counting had been killed in a head-on collision of two trains. Well over 100 were seriously injured and many were still missing as of last evening. For at least a few days, the drama of who will be our next president was supplanted by stories of human tragedy. Needless to say, it hasn’t been a good week in many parts of our country. And at a time when most of us concentrate on getting more and more rather than being content with what we have, I went to bed last night grateful that my house is not underwater, that there is food on the table, I have electricity and water, have decent health, and that those who are near and dear to me are safe.

Today is the feast day of the universal exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feastday commemorates not only the finding of the precious cross by St. Helen, but the many times that the cross has been raised in triumph over the centuries. It commemorates how many battles and cities were certain to be lost, but that the people of God ultimately triumphed, and in turn, raised the cross in glory and thanksgiving. The feast day of the Holy Cross is a strict fast day, a day equal in solemnity with Good Friday, for it reminds us that the ultimate triumph in the history of humanity, was Christ being raised on the cross, only to conquer death by His death. The special procession and prayer service that will follow my sermon, which is held in every Orthodox church each year on September 14, is actually a patriotic service, with prayers for the leadership of the church and state, for the people, and for the preservation of the church and of our nation. The hymn of the day proclaims: “Lord, save Your people and bless Your inheritance, grant victory to Your rulers over all their enemies, and protect the faithful by the power of Your Holy Cross.”

We will lift the cross towards the heavens and offer petitions and prayers to God. We will sing Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy, beseeching God’s mercies to be with us times of strife and danger—to be with those whose lives are still affected by 9/11, and those whose lives have been shattered by the tragedies in Texas and California, to be with our country, our leaders and our citizens as we live in a time of continued strife in the world. At this particular time in the 2,000 year history of Christianity, it seems as though our society is moving farther away from Christ rather than closer to Him. We will pray for our parish and our parishioners, and bring to mind those who are near and dear to each of us, asking God for health and salvation to come upon all of us.

We will raise the cross in triumph, recognizing that the ultimate triumph in life is not found in riches or fame, but in the hope and joy that can only come from God. We will chant a hymn: “You were lifted up upon the cross of Your own will, Christ our God. Grant Your mercy upon the people that bear Your name. In Your strength make glad the Orthodox, giving them victory over their adversaries. May they have Your alliance as a weapon of peace, and an invincible trophy.” And finally we will bow down in thanksgiving, thanking God for His supreme sacrifice for us on the Cross, asking that He will open the gates of paradise to each of us at His appointed time.

The human being does not know all the seasons of his life. None of us knows that hour when we will be called to meet the Lord. How many people woke up on September 11, 2001, not thinking they would be coming home that night? How many people in Texas were watching football last Sunday, or worshipping in church, or barbequing in the backyard, not knowing that it would be their last Sunday on earth? How many people boarded the train in Los Angeles on Friday, thinking that moments later their life would end? We live in a broken world—one that is sometimes besieged by natural disaster, sometimes by operator error, and sometimes by pure evil—and usually without much warning. Bad things happen to all people at some point. Does that mean we should live with hearts full of gloom and doom? Does that mean we should stay home in fear that we could be next? Of course not. Because the world is full of joy and beauty, of opportunity and triumph, of challenge and of victory. It is filled with talented people God has blessed that make life funny, interesting, challenging, and fulfilling. It is filled with experiences that make us laugh, that make us cry, that make us think, and ultimately help us find meaning.

In the life of the devout Christian, there is a theme that transcends day to day life. And that is the hope of everlasting life in God’s kingdom. So that if today is the best day of your life, it is still just a fraction of the joy one will have in heaven. And if today is the worst day of your life, all you need to do is survive it, and you are one day closer to entering God’s kingdom, where there will be no pain, no sorrow, no suffering. So that life is not just a series of peaks and valleys, triumphs and tragedies, but a journey which seeks to go ever closer to God, no matter what life throws at us.

When I went to summer camp two months ago, we had a very strict dress code. And we told the campers how what you wear says something about you. Because this was a Christian camp, we wanted the attire to be modest at all times. It is true, what you wear says a lot about you. As an example, for those who wonder why I wear my collar more out than in, or if I wore black while on vacation (I didn’t, it was a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops), this reflects my desire to appear as approachable rather than austere. But Sundays, I try to always be formal in my appearance, especially in the altar, to reflect the awesome experience of standing at God’s Holy altar, and the desire to appear at my very best when doing so.

If the clothing you wear reveals something about you, then so does the cross you wear around your neck. The cross is the sign that we are God’s people. It comes from the vision of St. Constantine, when the Lord told him to put the sign of the cross on the shields of his soldiers, telling him, “In this sign, you will be victorious.” The cross is not just a symbol of identity, but of the victory for which we are all working, salvation. The cross identifies us to others that we are Christians. Do our actions support that identity? Do we supplement our appearance as Christians by striving to always act like Christians? And is the cross around your neck a personal trinket, a good luck charm, or a sign of hope? I remember a priest at the seminary telling us don’t carry the cross in one hand, while raising a fist in anger. It just doesn’t work. Put on the cross, the mark of God upon you, and hopefully it impact your life and raises your behavior to that which is Godly at all times.

We are supposed to make the sign of the cross often—in addition to making it during prayer and worship, we should make the sign of the cross in the morning, in the evening, before and after a meal, when getting into your car, before beginning a task, and on many other occasions. Each time we make the sign of the cross, we are doing two things—we are asking God—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—to come into us at that very moment and to bless the thing we are about to do—the beginning of our day, our journey to work, the tasks we seek to accomplish, the food we will eat. And more importantly, it is an affirmation of our faith in God and our hope in God’s promise of eternal life. So that if today is the last day you will make your cross on this earth, you are at all times ready with joy and with confidence, with faith and with hope, to go to meet the Lord. Or that if today is a day that life brings you down, because you are a victim of another’s failure, or have failed on your own accord, if you have been challenged or disappointed, whatever life has thrown at you, that you face it with confidence and you face it together with God. Or if today is a day that is filled with joy, that you are thankful to God for His blessings, for causing that joy to come to you.

As we bow our heads in prayer, as we bend our knees in humility, as the Holy Cross of Christ passes over your head this morning, give some thought to our country and its future, to those whose lives have been affected by tragedy, to people in your life that are in need of renewed hope and joy, of people in our world who for whatever reason are suffering this morning. Give some thought to your own life—thank God for your joys, ask for help with your struggles, ask for comfort and patience with your sadness, ask for wisdom to plot a Christian course of life, and ask for hope that God will protect your journey by the power of His precious cross, that He will indeed remember you and all of us in His heavenly kingdom.