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Today I discovered one of the truths of preaching...there are some sermons that please the congregation, and there are others that please the clergy. Today I preached the latter. The funny bit is that I was close to winging it. I'd written my sermon, but at Bible study we discussed some things that I'd not considered. It wasn't anything that contradicted what I'd written, but it added a whole new level, a whole new depth. I couldn't see preaching without the new insights...so I sort of added them as I went. So I'll not be posting my sermon here...there's nothing to post. The text as it exists on my computer is not what I preached, and the text I preached existed only as I was speaking it. I doubt that this will number among the greater losses in Western civilization. I will, however, relate the story with which I ended the sermon. It's a wonderful (and almost certainly fictional) story that comes to us from our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. It gives us an example of true repentance as only a Roman Catholic story can. Legend says that when Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, just outside of Old Jerusalem, workers found three large wooden beams. Christians of the time decided that these were the three crosses from Christ's crucifixion, one for him and one for each of the two thieves. One of them quickly became known as the "True Cross" and was venerated in Jerusalem, which was then a Christian city. Centuries later the Persians sacked Jerusalem and carried off the holy relic. After a fierce battle in 627, the Byzantine Roman Emperor Heraclius defeated the Persian army and took back the True Cross. As a good Christian, not to mention a good politician, Heraclius wanted to personally carry the cross back into Jerusalem...but he was having some trouble. Apparently the emperor found the cross unbearably heavy, far heavier than it ought to have been. He couldn't pick it up, let alone carry it. He was about to give up entirely when his bishop suggested that he remove his imperial garb � his robe, his crown, his sword, etc. The emperor did so, and dressed in the clothing of a common man he found that the cross was light as a feather. What a perfect little lesson � the trappings of earthly power and wealth, all those things that we fight so hard to attain but that ultimately do us no good and that draw us away from the love of God � those are the things we need to shed if we truly want to carry the cross of life. This evening I joined some fellow Divs and some Trinity undergrads for a picnic on the Toronto Islands. We sang evensong and grilled out. I was somehow roped into the role of grill-master...apparently I didn't move fast enough. I wouldn't have minded, really, but the grill was too small and the charcoal not very hot. The result was a line of ornery people, clamouring for burgers. I can see being hungry and all, but I wasn't being paid to do this... Actually, it was probably all for the best. I'm not terribly social, and manning the grill gave me an excuse not to make small-talk. I was kept company by an undergrad, an obviously serious young woman whose idea of a good time at a BBQ is tidying up and making sure everyone gets fed. Turns out she's Danish...figures. |
