| Calvary Episcopal Church, Rockdale |
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| THE 18TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST Calvary Day – The Feast of the Holy Cross 18 September, 2005 The Rev. Robert C. Granfeldt |
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Last week – on what was, in effect, the last real Sunday of Summer for most people – I
said you could expect two more, and only two more, shortish sermons, because as of
next Sunday, summer is over for Us as well, we get back to normal.
But today is a special day. And we need to spend a little time with that! In fact, I found
myself regretting the ‘Shortish” promise, this past week, because there really is quite a
Lot to say!
This is really a rather odd day that has it’s beginning ‘way back in – no, not the first
century and the time of Christ and his Apostles, but in the Fourth Century; has its
beginning, to be precise, on August 14, in the year 335.
Just a couple of decades before that, a man who would be an emperor, had a vision on
the eve of the battle that would bring him his empire, of a cross, burning in the sky! And
over the cross were the words – in Latin – in hoc signo, vinces – “in this sign shall you
conquer.” And the next morning – sure enough, he did! He won the great battle that was
the last major step to becoming the most powerful man in the world – the Emperor of
Rome; the Emperor Constantine, to be exact.
So grateful was he to the God whose sign was that cross, that he dedicated his whole
empire to that God’s worship – and the Roman Empire became, for the first time,
Christian!
To his mother, though, the important thing was Not, in fact, that the Empire had become
Christian, but that her Son had, for she had long been Christian, herself, and had prayed
for years that her son would become one, too.
A few years later, recalling, constantly, that the omen that had brought him victory was
the cross, and recalling, too, that his own mother had all her life been devoted to the
cross, decided to send her off in search of the reality behind the omen – the true cross,
itself!
She and her company, traveled to Jerusalem, and there they conducted what may have
been the world’s first archaeological dig, for, some decades after the cross of her son’s
vision had done its terrible work, the city of Jerusalem where it had all taken place, was
destroyed by the Romans, reduced to rubble – and next to the city – right atop the place
of the cross – the place of the skull, as it was called, Calvary – a new city was built!
There, nearly three centuries alter, she searched, digging deeply – and there, finally, she
found what she believed to be the place of the cross! – and, indeed, nearby, the place
where the One who had died on the cross had been buried in a tomb!
She excavated that place, recovering what she believed to be the cross, itself, as well.
The whole site was excavated, and upon it, she caused to be erected a great Church!
And on the 14th of September, in the year 335, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was
dedicated – the day that would eventually – by the middle of the 7th Century – come to be
called “Holy Cross Day!”
Did that Mother, Helena, of the first Christian Emperor of Rome, Constantine, actually find
the cross on which Jesus of Nazarus was crucified? To a near certainty, no! Does the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre actually contain within itself the tomb where Jesus’ body
was laid? No, equally certainly. Then where does it all come from? And why do we still
celebrate the Holy Cross on the date the Church was dedicated? Because we need to!
The Original Day of the Cross is the day we have long called “Good Friday!” That is,
certainly, a strange name for the day! How could a day on which such a horrible deed was
enacted be called “Good?” – a question that probably every child growing up in the
Church asks, eventually. And the answer is that the term is applied, not to the events of
the day – horrible as they are – but to the outcome!
Yet the events occurred, and it is from them the outcome arises, so the events must not
be ignored. The tone of the day, then, Good Friday, is solemn, downbeat, quiet in the
extreme, and awaits its completion in Joy, three days hence!
And so another occasion was needed – an occasion when the Glory of the Cross could
be celebrated in itself, and apart from the agony of the cross that is Good Friday! And the
Church quickly seized the work of St. Helena, and her discovery of the tomb and of the
cross, itself!
Thus was born, by the early 6th Century, the feast of the Holy Cross! A day not to mourn
the passion and death of Christ, but to celebrate his victory. A day not to sing “O sacred
Head Sore Wounded,” but “Praise , My Soul, The King Of Heaven;” not “Were You There
When They Crucified My Lord?” but “Lift High The Cross!”
A day, not to grieve, but to celebrate! A day not to kneel before the bare wood of the
cross, but to stand and sing “Alleluia!” in praise of the God of Grace, who turned that
horrible, bloody wood to the salvation of all humankind!
In His Name! Amen
said you could expect two more, and only two more, shortish sermons, because as of
next Sunday, summer is over for Us as well, we get back to normal.
But today is a special day. And we need to spend a little time with that! In fact, I found
myself regretting the ‘Shortish” promise, this past week, because there really is quite a
Lot to say!
This is really a rather odd day that has it’s beginning ‘way back in – no, not the first
century and the time of Christ and his Apostles, but in the Fourth Century; has its
beginning, to be precise, on August 14, in the year 335.
Just a couple of decades before that, a man who would be an emperor, had a vision on
the eve of the battle that would bring him his empire, of a cross, burning in the sky! And
over the cross were the words – in Latin – in hoc signo, vinces – “in this sign shall you
conquer.” And the next morning – sure enough, he did! He won the great battle that was
the last major step to becoming the most powerful man in the world – the Emperor of
Rome; the Emperor Constantine, to be exact.
So grateful was he to the God whose sign was that cross, that he dedicated his whole
empire to that God’s worship – and the Roman Empire became, for the first time,
Christian!
To his mother, though, the important thing was Not, in fact, that the Empire had become
Christian, but that her Son had, for she had long been Christian, herself, and had prayed
for years that her son would become one, too.
A few years later, recalling, constantly, that the omen that had brought him victory was
the cross, and recalling, too, that his own mother had all her life been devoted to the
cross, decided to send her off in search of the reality behind the omen – the true cross,
itself!
She and her company, traveled to Jerusalem, and there they conducted what may have
been the world’s first archaeological dig, for, some decades after the cross of her son’s
vision had done its terrible work, the city of Jerusalem where it had all taken place, was
destroyed by the Romans, reduced to rubble – and next to the city – right atop the place
of the cross – the place of the skull, as it was called, Calvary – a new city was built!
There, nearly three centuries alter, she searched, digging deeply – and there, finally, she
found what she believed to be the place of the cross! – and, indeed, nearby, the place
where the One who had died on the cross had been buried in a tomb!
She excavated that place, recovering what she believed to be the cross, itself, as well.
The whole site was excavated, and upon it, she caused to be erected a great Church!
And on the 14th of September, in the year 335, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was
dedicated – the day that would eventually – by the middle of the 7th Century – come to be
called “Holy Cross Day!”
Did that Mother, Helena, of the first Christian Emperor of Rome, Constantine, actually find
the cross on which Jesus of Nazarus was crucified? To a near certainty, no! Does the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre actually contain within itself the tomb where Jesus’ body
was laid? No, equally certainly. Then where does it all come from? And why do we still
celebrate the Holy Cross on the date the Church was dedicated? Because we need to!
The Original Day of the Cross is the day we have long called “Good Friday!” That is,
certainly, a strange name for the day! How could a day on which such a horrible deed was
enacted be called “Good?” – a question that probably every child growing up in the
Church asks, eventually. And the answer is that the term is applied, not to the events of
the day – horrible as they are – but to the outcome!
Yet the events occurred, and it is from them the outcome arises, so the events must not
be ignored. The tone of the day, then, Good Friday, is solemn, downbeat, quiet in the
extreme, and awaits its completion in Joy, three days hence!
And so another occasion was needed – an occasion when the Glory of the Cross could
be celebrated in itself, and apart from the agony of the cross that is Good Friday! And the
Church quickly seized the work of St. Helena, and her discovery of the tomb and of the
cross, itself!
Thus was born, by the early 6th Century, the feast of the Holy Cross! A day not to mourn
the passion and death of Christ, but to celebrate his victory. A day not to sing “O sacred
Head Sore Wounded,” but “Praise , My Soul, The King Of Heaven;” not “Were You There
When They Crucified My Lord?” but “Lift High The Cross!”
A day, not to grieve, but to celebrate! A day not to kneel before the bare wood of the
cross, but to stand and sing “Alleluia!” in praise of the God of Grace, who turned that
horrible, bloody wood to the salvation of all humankind!
In His Name! Amen
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