Loading...Today is the day when the chimney comes down. As part of ongoing work on the outside of the rectory, brick masons are removing part of a chimney that has become dangerously unstable. It makes good practical sense. The chimney no longer serves its intended purpose. And rebuilding it would cost a lot of money that could better be spent on things more closely tied to building the Kingdom of God.
And yet, I will miss it. Or more to the point, I will miss the crosses in its design. Since the rectory was built to house the clergy, presumably the architect felt it should show its religious connection in some way. The crosses in the ornamental brickwork of the chimneys (the one being removed has a twin that remains in place) are the most obvious of these visual cues.
And so, on the day the chimney is dismantled, I find myself wondering what it means for faithful people to take apart the cross. If the symbol of who – and whose – we are is missing, what are we telling others? What are we telling ourselves?
In recent years, it has sometimes been the fashion in self-consciously “modern” churches to have no cross visible in the place where worship takes place. (The example shown here is from Lakewood Church in Houston, where Joel Osteen preaches.) The rationale, as I understand it, is to avoid offending those who might associate the symbol with a kind of worship they find to be too rigid and negative.
In fairness to that view, there certainly are Christians who have a view of the cross that focuses on suffering and death, even though this is only part of its meaning. There are also some who cling to the cross while preaching condemnation without much mention of grace, guilt without an assurance of redemption.
But we can’t let the sometimes confused, sometimes self-seeking actions of others obscure our own view of the cross or prevent us from proclaiming that to us it is a life-giving and life-affirming symbol. Perhaps there can be no Easter without Good Friday, but we insist that the opposite it just as true.
So what do we do if the symbol is no longer held up before us? The practical answer is simple: find another one! The world is awash in crosses, both material and spiritual. And perhaps that leads to the more important matter of what we can or should do inwardly, in our souls.
Each of us is a crucifer, a bearer of the cross. Our lives of faith form us gradually, often without our even realizing it. Like the bricks of the chimney, the love and devotion, compassion and zeal that animate us come by the grace of God to form the outline of the cross within us. And when, through sin, the image is pushed out of alignment, we have the promise of Jesus that repentance will restore it.
As I finish this, I have gotten one more nice surprise. A gratifyingly large number of bricks from the chimney made it to the ground intact and are now stacked next to the rectory carport. Perhaps there is a new cross in them, waiting to be discovered.
Blessings
Howie+
