Statements of Faith ~ Week 3

 

Holy Wisdom of God, firstborn of creation, you emptied yourself of power, and became foolishness for our sake. You laboured with us upon the cross, and have brought us forth to the hope of resurrection. We commit ourselves to struggle against evil and to choose life.

 

One of the profound and powerful truths of the Holy is that there are many ways the Sacred shows up in our lives.  God is both Creator and found in creation, including humans.  God is both Holy Other and the intimate Animator of our life in ways we can sense.  God is both wisdom and foolishness, or at least what seems like foolishness from our human vantage point and so-called intelligence.  I so appreciate this creed’s reminder of God on the cross.  The question of why God/Christ/Spirit died on the cross is one that has confounded and confused generations.  Usually, our explanations are bound by the limitations of our human minds/experiences.

Fun theology nerd fact: we call these theories or explanations of why God died by the word: atonement.  It is a fancy word to toss around in a conversation today.  If you break that word down, we get a clue about what we are talking about.  Atonement is really at-one-ment.  God on the cross is seeking to be at one with us, especially in our suffering, which is the exact moment so many feel God as distant and disconnected.  Unfortunately, I think our human explanations of God/Christ/Spirit dying on the cross seem too neat and tidy.  For example, one very human explanation is that humans had a debt that we couldn’t repay, so God sent Jesus to die.  Of course, that raises the question: how could killing God’s son settle a bill?  How could us killing God be a positive to right a negative?  I wonder if God is really an accountant who has trouble with a balance sheet?  Another explanation or theory of atonement is that God was playing a trick on the devil.  The devil thought he had won by killing Jesus, but nope, Easter Sunday is a sacred surprise of the not-finished-ness of our God.  Another human explanation of why God died is that God is showing us sacrificial love on the cross.  Another is that God is showing us that meeting violence with violence will only lead to more violence on the cross.  In other words, trying to right a wrong with power or death will only keep the broken sacrificial system of demanding more blood going.  Dallas Willard once said most of our talk about Jesus on the cross makes us sound like vampire Christians only interested in Jesus’ blood.  And, heartbreakingly, so many of our Christian songs reinforce this message.  Why did God/Christ/Spirit die on the cross?  I don’t know.  I know that God’s ways are not my ways.  I trust that when I am suffering, I trust God has suffered too, not just on a cross but in the brokenness of humans who keep using our free will to hurt, harm, marginalize, and oppress each other.  We keep worshipping at the altars of money, fame, power, and bullying rather than at the altar of vulnerable, sacrificial servant love for all.  How might God’s laboring with us on the cross meet you in the places where you are struggling, stressed out, and aching today?  Let God in that place with a light of hope that Good Friday is not the last word, for Easter Sunday is coming for us to choose life.  Amen.