Some bishops reflect on the Cross

Once I had a chance to hear a series where a parish invited some of the bishops who resided in the diocese (mostly retired) to speak on the idea of "Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me."

It was interesting to see how each offered their own perspective on this idea and how it might apply to our lives. We were shown the richness and depth one might find in a single passage of scripture. Each talked for a good while and also had questions and answers afterward. I know I have more extensive hand written notes somewhere. But when typing up a summary at one point, below is what I came up with.

Bishop Hibbs noted a cross we are asked to embrace may not be external, but often is something intrinsic in us to be embraced, owned and redeemed. Quoting the collect for Proper 22 on BCP 235, he invited us to look inside this Lent and shine a flashlight on fears or things we don’t like about ourselves. See if it illumines a cross and moves us to something new. Embracing the cross involves dying, which hurts, but also rising to newness of life.

Bishop MacNaughton commented this passage appearing in 3 gospels makes it a central theme in the life and ministry of Jesus and the Church. We need to start with who we say Jesus is. Few would deny themselves, take up their cross and follow a teacher, philosopher or prophet, but you do it for the Son of the living God. Not only might we take a burden and leave it at the cross, but one way to deny ourselves is to deny feeling sorry for ourselves, deny complaining, and deny the belief we are the only ones with such a burden.

Bishop Frey said beginning with the Garden our theme song could be, “I did it my way.” If we want to be Jesus’ disciples we need to do something about wanting autonomy. Deny yourself. He said we can’t “follow” a stationary object. Jesus is alive and on the move, we need to find how he is speaking to us. The cross is what we pick up when trying to follow Jesus, for instance speaking when others are silent. It’s walking a lifetime of following, not just being sincere in the moment. Jesus is not stationary, he’s on the march. Listen to him.

Bishop McAllister said following Jesus is not easy because the cost is to die to self, and there’s the rub. But, as Lord of our lives Jesus’ yoke is light compared to the heavy yokes we place on ourselves. One way the Church takes up the cross is with humility. Taking up the cross means remaining teachable and not so sure we have all the answers. Another way we take up the cross is with servanthood. Living in a society that looks down on servants can make it hard to be the kind of servants we could be, but discipleship is about service.

One other Bishop had spoken, but I had written this summary before then, and again am not sure where those notes are at the moment. But I think they offer some food for thought.