Take Up Your Cross

Take up your Cross!

Launch Sunday, First Day of Sunday School, Community Lunch. In the week following the Gas Explosions in the Merrimack Valley!

In the wake of current events it becomes a matter of some immediacy that we heed the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; “Take up your Cross and Follow”.

Our brothers and sisters in our neighbor cities and towns of North Andover, Andover, and Lawrence have been devastated by explosions, fires and displacement in the aftermath of disaster. 

First responders police, fire, ambulance, immediately mobilized and two of our nephews came in from New Hampshire to help fight the fires under the provisions of mutual aid during the height of the crisis. Thank God for them. 

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Lawrence General Hospital was placed into disaster mode Thursday afternoon and evening. I know something about that having served there as a chaplain (1991-1995) during my days as Priest in Charge at St. Andrew’s in Methuen. We were trained in emergency procedures should there be a plane crash or conflagration or some such devastation. We were to be prepared to go to our stations and do our duty. Chaplains were to work communication with families of victims and give timely information and provide comfort where possible. Medical staff, nurses, technologists, administrator were all called front and center to lend a hand. All hands on deck!

Every neighborhood, friends and family alike all extended a helping hand. 

I also served St. Paul’s in North Andover as Interim before Sarah Mato became Rector. I know many who have been displaced by these event including Sarah. As we pray today we remember all who have been impacted by this series of events. 

This includes Leonel Rondon, 18 years of age; he had just passed the driving test and was celebrating the rite of passage all young folks look forward to…a driver’s license. He had his whole life ahead of him. And he’s gone now. All that is left is the grieving. Many suffered trauma and injury. So too this morning folks continue to suffer in the Carolinas. We remember them all in our prayers and in our actions. 

Today we will receive a special ingathering for those effected by the Merrimack Valley Disaster. All congregations in the Diocese of Massachusetts and others interested are invited to help. (For more information on what you can do, click here.)

It seems that it is in the nature of things to “take up our cross and follow”. There have been many events I remember when that was all that was left: the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, September 11, The Challenger explosion, and of course ultimately the death of Jesus.

In my own case it was the death of my dad on December 27, in 1953…two days after Christmas. I was 8 years old. But somehow, by some miracle eventually I was given grace to take up my cross and follow Jesus as a priest of the church and proclaim with a faith born of hope to all who will listen; “There is room in the heart of God for my dad and for all the living and the dead!”

The idea of the Christian Hope is always alive in the midst of every human sorrow. The Cross is always there to remind us of that undying and Godly hope which we first saw in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Christian Hope lives on. 

Take up your cross and follow! There have been so many other times. On the morning of December 6, 1917 in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, The Norwegian vessel SS Imo and the French cargo ship SS Mont Blanc were cruising the straits at the entrance to Halifax harbor. The French ship  was loaded with high explosives from New York and destined for Bordeaux to assist with the war effort. The two vessels collided at low speed in the Narrows by the Richmond District of Halifax. The ensuing fire ignited and explosion equivalent to 2.9 kilotons of TNT devastated the area. Nearly all structures within a half mile radius were obliterated. 2,000 people were killed by the blast. 9000 more were injured. Many ran to their windows to see the fire. The blast shattered windows with such force that thousands were blinded instantly. 

From Boston the medical community, Public Safety Folks and Red Cross were among the first and most substantial responders. Their sustained, tireless, and generous efforts left an indelible and unforgettable memory for our friends in Halifax. Upon their tireless efforts the Canadian National Institute for the Blind was established. And in gratitude for what seemed like limitless outpouring of love, Halifax, to this day gives our capital city its best Fir Tree to sit on the Boston Common to serve as our official Christmas Tree. 

Take up your cross and follow. Follow Jesus. Walk into the midst of human sorrow, tragedy, and injustice and bring Jesus with you. Bring the heart of undying love and wipe away the tears, and apply the healing touch. God will pour out a limitless supply of Hope through you. Take up your cross and follow.  

Today’s Collect of the Day prays God “mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts”. 

The First Lesson proclaims; “Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice.” There is a warning to pay close attention to Her. To those who do She says; 

“I will pour out my thoughts to you;

I will make my words known to you.”

I love how Wisdom is given the feminine gender. “She” cries out in the streets. I always think of my Grandmothers when I think of Wisdom. They were women of substance, backbone, wit, intelligence, and wise to the ways of the world and to the ways of God. Mind you, like Wisdom, they were not to be trifled with!

In the midst of any crisis God grants us the Holy Spirit to direct and rule our hearts. God grants us Wisdom so long as we heed her counsel.

And as the Psalmist says God is there too in the Laws knit and woven into our hearts.

“The law of the Lord is perfect

and revives the soul; *

the testimony of the Lord is sure

and gives wisdom to the innocent.

“The statutes of the Lord are just

and rejoice the heart; *

the commandment of the Lord is clear

and gives light to the eyes.”

We live in a time of heated diatribe and one sided and divisive ideology. Our tongues are capable of hasty words. Forgive me. Beware and be Wise. As we take up your Cross and Follow Jesus. Bring the words of James, the brother of Jesus with you; “With the tongue we bless God and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing”. James continues, “This ought not to be so.”

After every disaster we leave the cursing behind because we all remember, if even for only to brief a time, we are all in the same boat, we are all on the same side, we are all one and the same flesh and blood. One older gent was quoted at a shelter in the Senior Center in Andover; “It reminded me of the Blizzard of 1978. We all were one community for a while.”

For those of us take up our Cross every day to follow, we remember what the old Arabic woman once told us on our first Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. “Listen to me. What is the color of God? The color of God is the color of water.” 

She too was a woman of Wisdom. She made us mindful that we are all one flesh, one blood one Spirit in God. 

It is with such Wisdom that today and every day; we “Take up your Cross and Follow.” 

In the Name of God the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen. 

Fr Paul