Some of you may remember a sermon that Bert Bamforth gave a few years ago.  He told us about the man who built the beautiful wooden cross that has been in the sanctuary for many years, and is now hanging in Wesley Hall.  His name was Ron Green.  He had been the head of the drama department at SOU, and when Bert told his story a few years ago he had just had a heart transplant. But even a transplanted human heart cannot prolong life forever.  Earlier in the week I got an e-mail from Bert telling me that Ron passed away in May.  It is a fitting memorial that this morning we’re once again focusing on the beautiful cross that he built for our church.  It is a symbol of the ultimate heart transplant.  It is the symbol of eternal spiritual life that triumphs over physical death.

The symbol of the cross is paradoxical.  It starts out as a dark and terrible human symbol of suffering and yet God transforms it into the divine symbol that suffering and death are not the end, that they are overcome by undying love and holy light. 

In this morning's scripture Jesus predicts his own suffering and death. To our human ears, this sounds negative, like a defeat that subtracts from life.  Peter objected strongly to these words that his Messiah would suffer.  What Jesus promises, however, is that through his love the way of the cross would be positively transformed into God's ultimate addition sign leading to abundant life. Then he invites us to pick up our cross. What he is saying is that when we deny, or “crucify” our smaller selves, spelled with a small “s,” we ultimately gain our true (capital “S”) Self, a Self that is infilled with the Holy Spirit of God’s selfless joy and abundance.

Here’s an illustration.  It’s a piece of anonymous advice on how to be negative and miserable. "Think about yourself. Talk about yourself. Use 'I' as often as possible. Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others. Listen greedily to what people say about you. Expect to be appreciated. Be suspicious. Be jealous and envious. Be sensitive to slights. Never forgive a criticism. Trust nobody but yourself. Insist on consideration and respect. Demand agreement with your own views on everything. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them. Never forget a service you have rendered. Shirk your duties if you can. Do as little as possible for others." (1)

The great American evangelist, Dwight L. Moody once said "God sends no one away empty, except those who are full of themselves." And, on a lighter note, I'm sure you've heard that "the trouble with some self-made men is that they worship their creator." Which is a lot like the wife who claimed, "My husband and I have managed to be happy together for 20 years. I guess it's because we're both in love with the same man."

I know those are simplistic and a little cutesy, but the point is that it's against this kind of backdrop of self-absorption that Jesus admonishes us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow him on the way of the cross.  Too often the way of the cross is considered puritanical and life-denying! But that's just not true. We believe in a loving God in whose image we were created. It's not life or God's good creation that we're denying at all. Jesus very simply says "What do you profit if you gain the whole world and lose your soul?" which speaks very directly to a culture that has so emphasized an undisciplined and self-defeating definition of happiness that we are constantly caught up in the restless pursuit of pleasure until our souls are possessed by our possessions, consumed by the very things we're consuming.

Do you want to be a more spiritually mature, happier and more positive person? Everything in life that we put a positive label on can be immeasurably enhanced by changing our focus from the small “s” self of selfishness to the Christ-centered awareness that God is the author and source of everything that is beautiful and good. Jesus never promised us that life in this world would be easy, only that he would be with us in the Spirit, revealing his divine presence, his comfort and his guidance in the midst of whatever life brings our way.

It's been said that we live in a “therapeutic culture,” seemingly preoccupied with enjoying our own sense of well-being. (2) The symbol of the cross, in the view of some, is an obstacle to this goal. And yet the message of modern psychology echoes the words of Christ: "He who loves his life will lose it." Neurosis typically involves an intense and negative clinging to our own sense of self. We assert it, we defend it, we fear for it.

I believe it is a deep and transcendent wisdom that dwells in the human heart, a hunger and a thirst for our true Self, that brings us to a place of gathering to worship a God who is beyond our mundane self, and yet paradoxically deep within the very heart of our divine Self.  Worship shifts our focus.  Gazing upon the cross of Jesus Christ can raise our consciousness above the self-absorption that drags us down.  It can empower us to be lifted up, to rise above the negativity and the fear in order to embrace the positive way of God’s love through Jesus Christ.

And that’s why we’re here this morning.  We’re gathered here to embrace the way of Jesus Christ, a way that involves letting go of negative distractions and going deeper into the sanctuary of our hearts.  I’ll close with this:

"It's so easy to look around and notice what's wrong. It takes practice [and discipline] to see what's right. Many of us have lived around negativity for years. We've become skilled at labeling what's wrong with other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, our conduct, ourselves. We want to be realistic, and our goal is to identify and accept reality. However, this is often not our intent when we practice negativity. The purpose of negativity is usually annihilation. Negative thinking empowers the problem. It takes us out of harmony. Negative energy sabotages and destroys. It has a powerful life of its own. So does positive energy. Each day, we can ask what's right, what's good - about other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, our conduct, our selves! Positive energy heals, conducts love, and transforms. Choose positive energy. (3)

Choose the way of Jesus Christ. The cross is the ultimate symbol of God’s gracious and loving heart.  God’s love, as revealed through Jesus Christ, is a positive and healing, victorious presence that transforms life and grants us a new and eternal heart, dwelling in the heart of God.  Amen.

(1) Anonymous, from Daily Walk, June 29, 1993
(2) George Sim Johnson, "Sweet Sacrifice," Wall Street Interactive Edition, March 10, 2000
(3) Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, p. 72