Tidings of Peace

March, 2004

Pastor Johnson’s Message: Back to the Garden

Dear friends,

Those of you in a certain age bracket (mine!) will remember a song written by Joni Mitchell, and made popular by Crosby, Stills and Nash entitled "Woodstock." One line in the song: "We are caught in the devil’s bargain, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden." It was a fascinating Biblical reference dropped into the middle of a song that had to do with a feeling that the world had deteriorated terribly, and we needed to go back to a time of innocence.

Of course that’s a futile quest. We live in what the theologians call a "fallen world"—humankind, to use the Biblical image, was expelled from Eden, and there’s no going back. The gate is barred. We live with the consequences of sin; that’s just the way life is.

During this Lenten season, we’re taking as our theme a phrase from that song: "Back to the Garden." What we mean by it, however, is a bit different from what the song means! We want to go back to the story of the garden, and see what insights we can gain.

That’s an important process for us. As Christians, we are great believers in stories. Our Scripture is full of them. Other religions have writings of philosophy, wisdom, practical advice; we have mostly stories. Stories about God’s dealing with humanity. Stories about very fallible men and women who are sometimes faithful but more often not. In telling those stories, we learn something about ourselves.

Perhaps the Garden of Eden story strikes you as an unusual topic for our Lenten reflections. Actually, the church has always seen a close connection. The story of Adam and Eve is one of disobedience, while the story of Jesus is one of faithful obedience. Indeed, Jesus is often called "the new Adam"—the man who, by his faithfulness, restored us fallen human beings to life.

The story of the garden is found in Genesis 2 and 3, and I encourage you to read those chapters several times during this Lent. Try to read them as if you’ve not heard the story before. What do you notice? What surprises you? What puzzles you? If you have questions or observations, feel free to e-mail them to Pastor Dean or me; that will give us some grist for our Thursday evening sermons!

Most of all, I want to encourage you to take this journey "back to the garden" with us. Lent is truly a blessed season, a time when we can take the time to do some disciplined thinking about ourselves, about our relationship with God, about our own spiritual journey. Please join us on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. for Evening Prayer and reflection on our theme (come at 6 p.m. for soup!). And join us each Sunday, as we remember another story: how, on the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body, given for you." Such a gift! And it is for you, and for me!

Peace to you,

Pastor Richard O. Johnson

Classic Prayers

The Lord my Creator took me as dust from the earth,

and formed me into a living being,

breathing into me the breath of life.

God honored me, setting me as ruler upon earth

over all things visible,

and made me companion of the angels.

But Satan, the deceiver,

using the serpent as instrument,

enticed me by food—

parted me from the glory of God,

and gave me over to the earth and to the lowest depths of the earth.

But in compassion, O Savior, call me back again!

--Byzantine Vespers

Liturgy Notes: The Cross

No symbol is as closely identified with Christianity as the cross. We take it so much for granted that we often don’t stop to think about its history. It was not used as a symbol for Christ in the earliest church. We don’t know just why that is; it probably has something to do with the need for secrecy in a church that was outlawed. Perhaps it had something to do, too, with the shamefulness of crucifixion.

In the fourth century, when Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire following the conversion of Constantine, the cross began to be used as a symbol. The earliest reference to a cross placed on the altar as part of the worship of the church seems to be the fifth century in Syria. This practice was not common in Europe until the 15th century.

When the cross first began to be used as a symbol, it was as a so-called “glorified cross” without any representation of Christ’s body on the cross. The first knowledge we have of Christ’s body being depicted on the cross comes rather early--about the fifth century. But at that time Christ appeared, not as the one being crucified, but alive and fully clothed in his priestly and royal vestments. This thus represented the victorious Christ, reigning from the cross. It was not until the medieval period that the crucifix, with the dying Christ, began to be common.

Sometimes Protestants have the idea that the Reformers “did away with” the crucifix and substituted the “empty cross.” Sometimes this is inflated into a rather pejorative comment on the difference between Catholic and Protestant--”we emphasize the living Christ” (and by implication, they emphasize the dead Christ”). This is a very inaccurate reading of history. The Lutheran Reformers had no objection to the crucifix as a symbol; they took it for granted. It is very commonly seen today in the Lutheran churches of Europe, and in older Lutheran congregations in America. The opposition to the crucifix arose primarily among the puritans, with their extreme simplicity and suspicion of all kinds of symbols and images. Among many of their descendants today, even the empty cross is often absent from a place of worship, except perhaps on a steeple. But due to their influence, many American churches substituted the simpler “empty cross” for the crucifix.

The specific form of the symbol, of course, is not as important as what it means. For Christians, the cross represents Christ, crucified and risen for us. And it represents the life that we are called to lead as we follow him--a life in which we daily “take up our cross” for his sake.

In our worship, this wonderful symbol takes many forms. Sometimes a cross is placed on or above the altar, as a primary symbol focus of our worship. Sometimes we use a processional cross, symbolic of Christ “moving before us” and leading us into worship and service. Many churches use the cross in a decorative way on worship furniture (pulpit, altar, baptismal font, pew). We use the sign of the cross in Holy Baptism, and elsewhere in our worship, to remember that we are “marked with the cross of Christ forever.” We often receive ashes in the form of a cross on Ash Wednesday, symbolizing our repentance and our submission to Christ. Wherever and however we use the cross, and in whatever form it is used, we acknowledge it as a symbol of Christ, who died on a cross but who was raised and is the Lord of life. And so we sing:

“Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,

Till all the world adore his sacred name!”