· web viewfor the greeks it was a folly, for jews it was a scandal, stumbling block: for paul the...

Interpreting the Cross in a Season of Covid-19.

1. The purpose of these two studies:

To make ready for Holy Week and Easter; To reflect upon the imagery of the cross in the Christian

faith; To do so in the time of a continuing pandemic.

2. The cross at the heart of God:

This is the title of a series of reflections by Sam Wells, Dean of St. Martins-in-the Fields, London. It is not a text explicitly on Covid-19.

It is designed to fasten attention upon the significance of the cross for the Christian faith. It is a distinguishing mark – though it was not the first symbol of the Christian faith – the fish.

For the Greeks it was a folly, for Jews it was a scandal, stumbling block: for Paul the word of the cross is the heart of the gospel.

3. The cross through time:

Sometimes the cross is painted and sung about in terms of ‘the glorious cross towering over the wrecks of time’; ‘Lift high the cross’; ‘There is a green hill far away …’

Sometimes the cross is painted and sung about in terms of deep sorrow – ‘O sacred head sore wounded’. The focus is on Jesus.

Sometimes the response is on us as if we were bystanders: ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’, ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord …’.

Sometimes a distinction is made between a ‘theology of glory’ and a ‘theology of the cross’.

In our secular / multifaith world its meaning is not always self-evident. Mona Siddiqui (a Muslim scholar in the Faculty of Divinity in Edinburgh) writes about sitting in a church in front of a cross seeking to understand the cross. She can see suffering but cannot understand Christian claims to do with the love of God, good news etc.

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What stands out for you in this hymn?How might it speak to a world of Covid-19?

1 Here hangs a man discarded, a scarecrow hoisted high, a nonsense pointing nowhere to all who hurry by.

2 Can such a clown of sorrows still bring a useful word, when faith and love seem phantoms and every hope absurd?

3 Yet here is help and comfort for lives by comfort bound, when drums of dazzling progress give strangely hollow sound:

4 Life, emptied of all meaning, drained out in bleak distress, can share in broken silence our deepest emptiness:

5 And love that freely entered the pit of life’s despair, can name our hidden darkness and suffer with us there.

6 Christ, in our darkness risen, help all who long for light to hold the hand of promise till faith receives its sight.

4. Comparing presentations of the cross.

Which ones of these following works of art capture for you

in this season of Covid-19?

Eugène Delacroix | Christ on the Cross ...

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https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/eugene-delacroix-christ-on-the-cross


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https://kemetic-dreams.tumblr.com/post/90823698337/khepris-mythbuster-was-it-jesus-or-yashuwa


5. In a pandemic

The Holy Week / Easter story is both violent and hopeful; It carries themes of rejection, betrayal, abuse, death, the

populism of crowds; tombs; what is ‘truth’?, being forsaken; denial; the flight of friends, lament and grief; ‘do not touch’; fear.

We read this account every year: sometimes we see new things – we can see those new things because of the season in which we find ourselves.

Are you able to make any other possible connections? In the midst of the Easter story there are episodes of

resurrection, life after death; joy; doubt:

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https://kemetic-dreams.tumblr.com/post/90823698337/khepris-mythbuster-was-it-jesus-or-yashuwa


For an article on ‘Preaching Holy Week in the middle of a Pandemic Again’, by Richard Lischer and William Willimon, The Christian Century, 15 March, 2021, see:

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/interview/preaching-holy-week-middle-pandemic-again?utm_source=Christian+Century+Newsletter&utm_campaign=98c51032b8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_EdPicks_2021_1_12_capitol_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b00cd618da-98c51032b8-86189295

The cross has often been seen as a sign, a symbol of the Christian faith, gospel as a whole. Other themes begin to emerge like ‘loving one’s neighbour as oneself’, sacrifice, forgiveness etc.

6. The Christian Faith and Pandemics (1).

Covid-19 is not the first time the Christian faith has encountered plagues, pestilence and pandemics. The church has a 2000 year history of such going back to the Antonine Plague (165-180); subsequent plagues included the plague of Cyprian (249-262); the plague of Justinian (541-542), the Black Death (1346-1353), right through to the Spanish Flu (1918-1920);

some parts of the worldwide Christian church have needed to responded to epidemics like the Ebola virus. Martin Luther wrote his tract on ‘Whether One Might Flee from a Deadly Plague’ (1529) in response to an epidemic (there were still places to escape to).

Sometimes the church responded ‘well’ to outbreaks of plague; it did so in an exemplary manner; During plague periods in the Roman Empire, Christians made a name for themselves. Historians have suggested that the terrible Antonine Plague of the second century and the more famous Plague of Cyprian in the third century led to the spread of Christianity, as Christians cared for the sick and offered a spiritual model, explicitly showing that plagues were not the work of angry and capricious deities.

Seeing God in other human beings triggered the explosive growth of Christianity. Cyprian’s sermons told Christians not to grieve for plague victims who live in heaven but to redouble efforts to care for the living.

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Pagan Emperor Julian would complain bitterly of how “the Galileans” would care for even non-Christian sick people, while church historian Pontianus recounts how Christians ensured that “good was done to all men, not merely to the household of faith.”

Sometimes it did not (the Black Death).

8: The Plague of Cyprian.

Background:

One of the first extended written response to a plague came from Cyprian, ‘On Mortality’.

The Plague of Cyprian arose in Ethiopia around Easter of 250 CE. It reached Rome in the following year eventually spreading to Greece and further east to Syria. The plague lasted nearly 20 years and, at its height, reportedly killed as many as 5,000 people per day in Rome. Its arrival coincided with continuing warfare and at various times and places periods of drought, flood and famine. Pandemics do not happen in isolation from what else is going on in the world. Cyprian reckoned that it seemed as if the world was coming to an end.

Cyprian wrote about the plague in stark detail. Sufferers experienced bouts of diarrhoea, continuous vomiting, fever, deafness, blindness, paralysis of their legs and feet, swollen throats and blood filled their eyes (conjunctival bleeding) while staining their mouths. More often than not, death resulted. The source of the terrible affliction was interpreted by pagans as a punishment from the gods.

The disease episode of the mid-200s CE caused political, military, economic and religious upheaval. The widespread onset of illness caused populations in the countryside to flee to the cities. The abandonment of the fields along with the deaths of farmers who remained caused the collapse of agriculture production. In some areas, swamps re-emerged rendering those fields useless.

The one institution that emerged out of the chaos well was the Christian church. The illness claimed the lives of emperors and pagans who could offer no explanation for the cause of the plague or suggestions for how to prevent further illness much less actions for curing the sick and dying. Christians played an active role in caring for the ill as well as actively providing care in the burial of the dead. Those Christians who themselves perished from the illness

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claimed martyrdom while offering non-believers who would convert the possibility of rewards in the Christian afterlife. Their example helped the spread of the Christian faith throughout the Roman Empire and Mediterranean world.

Cyprian, ‘On Mortality’.

What themes / issues do you note?

Cyprian of course lived in a very different world from ours: there was no professionalized health service; no QR codes, no DNA testing and tracing; no ‘follow the science’, no vaccines, no government-based health orders… Some Christian thinkers look back to the likes of Cyprian and others from such a time in order to discern a spiritual ‘understanding’ / ‘position’.

Chapter 8 Now it troubles some that the infirmity of this disease carries off our people equally with the pagans, as if a Christian believes to this end, that, free from contact with evils, he may happily enjoy the world and this life, and, without having endured all adversities here, may be preserved for future happiness. It troubles some that we have this mortality in common with others. But what in this world do we not have in common with others as long as this flesh, in accordance with the law of our original birth, still remains common to us? As long as we are here in the world we are united with the human race in equality of the flesh, we are separated in spirit. ……..

Chapter 9 Nay, rather, if the Christian recognizes and understands under what condition, under what law he has believed, he will know that he must labour more in the world than others, as he must carry on a greater struggle against the assault of the devil. Divine Scripture teaches and forewarns, saying: 'Son, when thus comes to the service of God, stand in justice, and in fear, and prepare yourself for temptation,' and again: 'in your sorrow endure, and in your humiliation keep patience, for gold and silver are tried in the fire.'

Chapter 14: [an extended description of the effects of the plague on the body]…… what sublimity to stand erect amidst the ruins of the human race and not to lie prostrate with those who have no hope in God, and to rejoice rather and embrace the gift of the

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occasion, which, while we are firmly expressing our faith, and having endured sufferings, are advancing to Christ by the narrow way of Christ, we should receive as the reward of His way and faith, He himself being our judge! ….

Chapter 16 What a significance, beloved brethren, all this has! How suitable, how necessary it is that this plague and pestilence, which seems horrible and deadly, searches out the justice of each and every one and examines the minds of the human race; whether the well care for the sick, whether relatives dutifully love their kinsmen as they should, whether masters show compassion to their ailing slaves, whether physicians do not desert the afflicted begging their help, whether the violent repress their violence, whether the greedy, even through the fear of death, quench the ever insatiable fire of their raging avarice, whether the proud bend their necks, whether the shameless soften their effrontery, whether the rich, even when their dear ones are perishing and they are about to die without heirs, bestow and give something! Although this mortality has contributed nothing else, it has especially accomplished this for Christians and servants of God, that we have begun gladly to seek martyrdom while we are learning not to fear death.

What do you see?

The Issenheim Altarpiece

(Nikolaus Hagenhauer and Matthias Grünewald)

1512-1516

This altarpiece was pained for the monastery of St Anthony which had dedicated itself to hospital work. It was noted for its care of plague sufferers.

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7. You are leading a service of worship on Good Friday.

Which verses from the passion narrative of Jesus might you choose to organise your service around on and ‘preach’?

Why this text? What hymn /song?

8. Seeking to find our voice:

Pope Francis (Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future) sees the present time as a time of ‘reckoning’, ‘trial’ and ‘crisis’. It is a time of ‘sifting’. Francis assumes that how we emerge from such a crisis we will not be the same as before. The Pope argues that these times of reckoning and sifting ‘reveal’ what is in our heart. In that respect it differs from ‘normal times’ when you seldom have to show who you really are. Francis is deeply aware of those who seek to exploit such situations; he is also mindful of the temptation for us to ‘retreat’: ‘we pull back for tactical reasons’. He speaks of ‘functional retreats where people

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seek to preserve ‘their own place’ rather than allowing us to be ‘struck by what we see, knowing suffering will change’ us. The alternative is ‘taking up and embracing the Cross’.

The Pope invites us to see ‘faces’, especially the faces of those who suffer or who have given of themselves. The second way is to look to the margins for so often it is at the margins where suffering and vulnerability , exclusion and misery most commonly happens. Citing Paul Francis nevertheless noted that where sin is grace most abounds - and so notes the signs of self-giving, solidarity and mercy. The Pope invites us to go to ‘the edges of existence’ because things can be seen more clearly from the periphery.

The comparison is made with indifference and the emphasis on self-protection. The Pope is particularly appreciative of those - who did not neglect a concern for safety - but nevertheless gave off themselves for the sake of others.

Francis believes that we should use time of Covid-19 to dream of a changed world. He argues that the pandemic is a sign of other pandemics like the impact of war, poverty and hunger.

The Pope released a further book: To Heal the World: Catechesis on the Pandemic. It is a call to faith, Christ’s charity a journey, a pilgrimage, solidarity.

9. ‘How can I keep from singing’ is the title of a beautiful hymn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li2hddmy63U

My life flows on in endless song;Above earth's lamentation,I hear the sweet, though far-off hymnThat hails a new creation

Through all the tumult and the strife,I hear that music ringingIt finds an echo in my soulHow can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die?I know my Saviour livethWhat though the darkness gather round?Songs in the night he giveth

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li2hddmy63U


No storm can shake my inmost calmWhile to that refuge clingingSince Christ is Lord of heaven and earthHow can I keep from singing?………

The following hymn was composed by Michael Earl, the UCA minister at Bowral, using this tune. There is no explicit reference to the cross – how do you think it bears witness to a faith which is inspired by the cross, nevertheless? It was written with the pandemic in mind. It might serve as a means of ‘contemplating the cross’ in a time of Covid-19.

In Gentle Witness

1. In gentle witness, quiet hope, in myriad pilgrims yearning,the scattered church, her hymns subdued,goes on, to God, returning.

With muffled songs of joy and praise,and muted bells still ringing,with hearts of faith, and strains of prayer,the voice of Christ is singing.

2. In human cries, in darkened hours,in grief and lamentation,the Spirit’s power draws ever near,to break the isolation.

With muffled songs of joy and praise,and muted bells still ringing……

3. In wards of mercy, gowns of grace,a company of healing,the weak, with tender touch, attends,God’s holy face revealing.

With muffled songs of joy and praise,and muted bells still ringing, …..

4. In all the struggle, and the strife,as all the world’s in hiding,

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the love of God makes no retreat,but ever is abiding.

With muffled songs of joy and praise,and muted bells still ringing, ….

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