7 the place of sorrows

enter the paschal mystery | Holy Week 2014

the place of sorrows; It is the root of happiness, and the gate of Heaven | sermon notes | Easter Day enter the paschal mystery | Holy Week 2014 | Fr. Mark Greenaway-Robbins

“The cross is … the place of sorrows; It is the root of happiness, and the gate of Heaven.”

(Centuries of Meditation, 1.58; Thomas Traherne) During the past week we have sought inspiration each day from a metaphor for the cross in a passage by Thomas Traherne. Since he employs nine metaphors today we touch upon the last three.

When Traherne looks upon the cross as the “place of sorrows” it moves him to an act of selfoffering: “But Thou O Saviour art here upon the Cross suffering for my Sins. What shall I render unto Thee for so great a Mercy! All thanksgiving is too weak, and all expression too feeble. I give Thee myself, my Soul and Body I offer unto Thee.” (Centuries, 1.75.7-11) Also, the cross as the “place of sorrows” becomes a means of communion with and God: “As therefore we see Thy flesh with our fleshly eyes, and handle Thy wounds with our bodily senses, let us see Thy understanding with our understandings, and read Thy love with our own. Let our souls have the place of sorrows… root of happiness… gate of heaven | sermon notes | Easter Day

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enter the paschal mystery | Holy Week 2014

communion with Thy soul, and let the eye of our mind enter into Thine. O my Dying Gracious Lord, I perceive the virtue of Thy passion everywhere Let it, I beseech Thee, enter into my Soul. and rent my rocky, stony heart, and tear the veil of my flesh, that I may see into the Holy of Holies!” (Centuries, 1.88.6-9, 18-21) One of our paschal pilgrims has written: “I have often been asked by church and non-going church people why does the Church bang on so much about sin, so perhaps were the Cross to been seen in the light of Traherne’s images the redemptive, restorative and joyful power of the Cross might go some way towards mitigating the abhorrence of the ‘sin’ word.”

(Elizabeth Davies) Why does the Church bang on about sin? Perhaps we don’t bang on about sin enough? Rather, perhaps we don’t communicate effectively about sin in our culture? Sin is a reality. Every sin damages our relationship with God, ourselves and one another. Sin is any action, or thought, intentional or unintentional which grieves God. Sins can be individual or communal, that is systemic. Every sin always damages the whole body of Christ, or humanity, or creation.

How do we know what sin is in our complex and contemporary society? We know what sin is in the same way since the time of the early Church, though a conscience sensitized by scripture and the sacraments. I’ve met Christians who say that they don’t really sin? Really? We cannot know the glory of God, which is our destiny, without grappling with our sins. A parishioner said to me this week, “I will forever be thankful that through the church I have learnt to repent.” We cannot deal with sin by ignoring it, or minimizing it. The Church today does not serve its members and society well by forgetting sin. Rather repentance is the remedy for sin.

The cross is a “place of sorrows” because in the crucifixion God in Christ takes on sin. For Traherne, hatred is at the heart of sin: “For this end our Saviour died, and for this end He came into the world, that you might be restored from hatred, which is the greatest misery. From the hatred of God and men which was due for sin, and from the misery of hating God and men; for to hate and be hated is the greatest misery. The necessity of hating God and men being the greatest bondage that Hell can impose.” (Centuries, 2.63.7-13) The resurrection of Christ has no meaning if we think we are good people who don’t sin. The times people have said to me “I don’t really do any wrong.” To which I might reply, “what has the place of sorrows… root of happiness… gate of heaven | sermon notes | Easter Day

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enter the paschal mystery | Holy Week 2014

happened to your conscience?” The church is for sinners. A banner over the entrance to every Church in world might read “Only sinners welcome.” We are here because we know our need for forgiveness and healing. We know that we are destined for glory. The cross as a place of sorrows, the root of happiness and the gate of heaven holds out before us the hope and promise of glory.

So let’s take sin seriously, or as we might say in this part of the world, “it is what it is, so let’s deal with it.” Elizabeth reminds us that Traherne offers us nine metaphors which proclaim the “redemptive, restorative and joyful power of the Cross.” Traherne helps us to see the Scriptures and Tradition of the Church with fresh vision.

Because the cross is a “place of sorrows,” it is the “root of happiness.” Traherne experienced the mystery of the cross as leading him to see Christ in everyone and to serve Christ in serving others: “He thought that he was to treat every man in the person of Christ. That is both as if himself were Christ in the greatness of his love, and also as if the man were Christ, he was to use him having respect to all others. For the love of Christ is to dwell within him, and every man is the object of it. God and he are to become one Spirit, that is one in will, and one in desire. Christ must live within him. He must be filled with the Holy Ghost, which is the God of Love, he must be of the same mind with Christ. Jesus, and led by His Spirit. For on the other side he was well acquainted with this mystery—That every man being the object of our Saviour's Love, was to be treated as our Saviour, Who hath said, Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And thus he is to live upon Earth among sinners.” (Centuries, 4.28) Today I present to you the last of seven images for your reflection. It is a photograph of our Rood Cross here at St. James’ which hangs high above the chancel steps. The word “rood” is derived from and Anglo-Saxon word meaning cross. A rood cross is placed on the screen which divides the nave from the chancel. Ours hangs in that place, but without a screen. Usually the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John are depicted either side of the foot of the cross to represent Calvary.

Such is the case with our rood cross. The figures of Mary and John “were bought by Fr. Clinton in Oberammergau in 1908, and given in memory of those who perished in South Africa.” (Phyllis Reeve. Every Good Gift: a history of St. James’ Vancouver 1881-1981. Vancouver: St. James’ Church, 1981) The cross was designed by the architect of our present church building Adrian Gilbert Scott in the 1930s. Upon careful inspection we can see leaves painted in gold springing forth from the extremities and body of the cross. It is a living cross with the “the leaves of the tree” which “are for the healing of the nations.” This refers to the vision of heaven in the Book of the place of sorrows… root of happiness… gate of heaven | sermon notes | Easter Day

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enter the paschal mystery | Holy Week 2014

Revelation (22:2; see Ezekiel 47:12). The cross is always for our healing and that of the nations – the world and cosmos!

Since we are looking carefully at this photograph of our Rood cross let’s ask ourselves a question posed by one of our paschal pilgrims: “How many of us in any church where there is a Rood recall under what we walk on our way to the Altar to partake of the Eucharistic Sacrifice?” (Elizabeth Davies) I wonder, is this Rood cross so high, and perhaps out of sight, that we forget its meaning? Every time we approach the altar all of us always walk beneath the Rood cross. It serves to remind us that through the mystery of the cross we are able to partake of the heavenly banquet of the Eucharist. As we look at this Rood cross the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John signify that it is a place of sorrows. Trahernes’ metaphors remind us of the redemptive, restorative and joyful power of the Cross – that is the root of happiness. This is signified by the leaves bursting forth from this tree of life. And the physical placement of the Rood cross above the chancel steps means that as we walk beneath we experience it as the gate of heaven. Since each Eucharistic meal is a foretaste of heaven. When Joyce wrote to me recently it seems she had in mind the mystery of the cross represented by this image: “Recently at High Mass, it struck me how at every Mass, we remember the precious death of God's beloved Son, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension. This repetition has the potential to prompt holy imaginings of suffering redeemed and joining Christ in his glorious ascension. Christ joining us in humanity, taking on suffering and defying death to live again with God is the most reasonable hope to receive happiness and enter the gate of heaven.” (Joyce Locht) The last word from our journey into the paschal mystery goes to one of our fellow paschal pilgrims with whom I heartily agree: “And so I thank Thomas Traherne across the centuries for lending me words to explain my own personal journey to the foot of the Cross as the culmination of a journey of wonder, fueled by a desire to be close to God, and therefore to learn the place of sorrows… root of happiness… gate of heaven | sermon notes | Easter Day

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enter the paschal mystery | Holy Week 2014

virtue and live wisely, knowing love and acting joyfully, being, truly being in sad and happy places on the road to heaven.” (Allan Duncan) Fellow paschal pilgrims, enter the paschal mystery with me for the cross is the place of sorrows; it is the root of happiness, and the gate of Heaven. ____________

The resurrection of Christ has no meaning if we think we are good people who don’t sin.

The cross as a place of sorrows, the root of happiness and the gate of heaven holds out before us the hope and promise of glory.

The cross is always for our healing and that of the nations – the world and cosmos!

Every time we approach the altar all of us always walk beneath the Rood cross. It serves to remind us that through the mystery of the cross we are able to partake of the heavenly banquet of the Eucharist.

Image | Adrian Gilbert Scott, design (1882-1963) Rood cross 1930s | St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver BC

the place of sorrows… root of happiness… gate of heaven | sermon notes | Easter Day

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