From: Bass Mitchell <bassm@va.tds.net>
To: homilies <homilies@egroups.com>
Subject: [homilies] Good Friday Homily: A Cross in the Sky
Good Friday
April 9, 2004
Text: John 18:-19:42
Meditation: A Cross in the Sky
I have always loved clouds. I like to sit
out in the yard sometime and watch them as they come across the mountains (this
comes as no surprise to most of you who know my head's in the clouds most of
the time). But it's a grand show God displays on this giant screen called the
sky. For each cloud is different, surprising in its shape and beauty.
It seems to me that the clouds the last few
weeks have been especially gorgeous. One day there was a line of grayish-white
clouds cresting the mountain range for as far as the eye could see. I have
never seen anything like that before. And another day, while driving to
Roanoke, gray storm clouds in the distance had shimmering shafts of sunlight
streaming down through them.
It was something no special effects artist
in Hollywood could ever hope to match. Debbie had to tell me to keep my eyes on
the road.
I have always loved clouds...
And did you know that clouds played a pretty
important role in the Bible?
It was in the clouds that God set his
rainbow...a promise of his presence and protection...
Read Exodus and see how many times God's
glory appeared to Moses from a cloud (eg 16:20)...
It was a pillar of clouds that led the
children of Israel through the wilderness during the day (see Psalm 78:14)...
The Psalmist describes God's love as so
great that it extends to the clouds:
Your steadfast love, O God,
extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds (Ps. 36:5)
God spoke to Jesus and the three disciples
out of a cloud on the mount of Transfiguration...
And perhaps you recall the words of Jesus
from the reading this morning (Mark 14:62 ) that the Son of Man would come
again in a chariot made of clouds!
A quartet I once sang in loved to sing that
old song, "Unclouded Day" speaking of heaven as "the land of an
unclouded sky..." I never really liked that song, for I like clouds. I
hope heavens' sky is full of them!
I remember when I was a Cub Scout. We went
out on a field trip one day in this meadow that was blanketed by fresh spring
grass and flowers. Our pack leaders had us lay down on our backs and gaze up at
the clouds drifting overhead. We had been learning about clouds and the weather.
They asked us to tell what shapes we saw in the clouds. The responses were
varied: "I see a chariot pulled by three gray horses," one said.
Another said, "I see a plate of mashed potatoes...with gravy."
"I see cotton candy," I replied. I think me and the other guy were
just hungry.
Here's a marvelous comic strip from Peanuts.
(Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus are laying on their backs on a hill looking up
into the sky. Lucy says, "If you use your imagination, you can see lots of
things in the cloud formations...what do you think you see, Linus?" Linus
answers, "Well, those clouds up there look to me like the map of the
British Honduras on the Caribbean...That cloud up there looks a little like the
profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor...and that group of
clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen...I can see
the Apostle Paul standing there to one side..." Lucy says, "Uh
huh...That's very good...what do you see in the clouds, Charlies Brown?"
Charlie Brown replies, "Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a
horsie, but I changed my mind" (from page 24 in THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
PEANUTS, by Robert Short).
I was driving on I64 from Lexington to
Covington recently. The mountains are breathtaking there. Suddenly, ahead of
me, appearing just over the mountain range were some clouds ablaze by the sun.
But what astounded me was that one cloud was horizontal and the other vertical,
and they crossed each other. There, blazing in the midst of a winter sky, was
the cross!
Why is it that I never have a camera with me
when I need one?
As I gazed at it, the words of Psalm 19 came
to mind:
How clearly the sky reveals
God's glory!
How plainly it shows what he
has done...
No speech or words are used,
no sound is heard;
yet their message goes out to all
the world
and is heard to the ends of the
earth... (vss.1,3 TEV).
For there, lifted up in the sky, was the
glory of God revealed to me that day in the shape of a cross made of clouds.
And I could not help but think about another cross on another cloudy day long
ago that was lifted to the sky. But it was not made of clouds, but of wood. It
was not holding air and moisture, but holding the very love of God.
And, as I watched this cloud cross, I had
the very strange feeling that it had circled the world in just that same
shape...it's message truly going "out to all the world..."
For me, it was just one other way God was
trying to show me, to show us all that we are loved...loved so much that God's
own Son died for us as we have heard so movingly in the reading this morning.
But did you hear in that reading, did your realize that he did all of that for
you?
Strange, too, was the fact that this cross
made of clouds went before me all the way to Covington. And I found myself
singing the song that's in our bulletin this morning. Would you sing it with
me?
I Have Decided
I have decided, to follow Jesus; (repeat
twice)
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
(repeat twice)
No turning back, no turning back.
Though no one join me, still I will follow
(repeat twice)
No turning back, no turning back.
You see, the clouds, the heavens will
continue to show forth the glory and love of God, and maybe even with another
cloud cross. But God's really counting on us. We are God's clouds, too, we who
have decided to follow Jesus. May we be as faithful in lifting him up, in
letting his glory and love show forth in us as the clouds that even now are
drifting above us.
Let us pray.
Help us, God, to "lift high the cross,
the love of Christ proclaim, till all the world adore his sacred name.
Amen."
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Bass Mitchell, Hot Springs, VA
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