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NO CROSS, NO POLAND
Charles Colson in his book Kingdoms In Conflict, tells how
before the collapse of communism, the government of Poland issued an order that all crucifixes were to be removed from classroom walls just as they had been banned in factories, hospitals, and other public institutions. Many church leaders stirred waves of anger and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately the government relented, insisting that the law remain on the books, but agreeing not to press for removal of the crucifixes, particularly in the schoolrooms.
But one zealous Communist school administrator decided that the law was the law. So one evening he had seven large crucifixes removed from lecture halls where they had hung since the school’s founding in the twenties. Days later, a group of parents entered the school and hung more crosses. The administrator promptly had these taken down as well.
The next day two-thirds of the school’s six hundred students staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot police arrived, the students were forced into the streets. Then they marched, crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were joined by twenty-five hundred other students from nearby schools for a morning of prayer in support of the protest.
Soldiers surrounded the church. But the pictures from inside of students holding crosses high above their heads flashed around the world. So did the words of the priest who delivered the message to the weeping congregation that morning. "There is no Poland without a cross."
SUCH is the impact of the cross…
“But I when I am lifted up from the earth , will draw all men to myself.”
This is what we remember at communnion--that there is no forgiveness, no life without the cross.
SOURCE: Steve Malone Citation: Charles Colson, Kingdoms In Conflict.
A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.
The Love Of God
A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on “The Love of God.” As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say. (Source unknown - As quoted in 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press)
There was a preacher in 19th century Scandinavia who, in the vestry one Sunday morning, heard that the King would be present at worship. Understandably rattled he ditched his well prepared sermon and spoke on and on about the Christian virtues of their King. Even though the King said nothing after the service the preacher could not help but wonder if he would receive some reward for his loyal support. Sure enough some time later a very large crate was delivered to the Church. Immediately the priest concluded that his reward had arrived. He pryed open the crate to find inside a life sized crucifix. He could hardly contain his disappointment "We’ve got lots of crucifixes already," he thought. As he looked inside the crate he saw a letter under the royal seal. ...
She was a Hindu; but all the same, an active member of the Students’ Christian Movement. Then the shocking news came that she was diagnosed with cancer. She was admitted in a hospital. When we went to see her, I expected her to be very bitter. At such a young age to get such a sickness!
But when we met her, she was very cheerful. It was evident from the lines on her forehead that she was undergoing a lot of pain. But still, she appeared to be well composed as if she had taken it all on her stride. At last I mustered enough courage to ask her, “Geetha, how do you cope with such pain and suffering? Are you not bitter with God?” She smiled and said, “No”. Then she looked over our heads to the wall opposite to her. There was a crucifix. Pointing to that she said, “In my pain I look at that cross and think of all that pain Jesus suffered for me. Then my pain matters no more”.
Fr James Keller, the founder of the Christophers Movement, narrates an incident he witnessed when he was a chaplain in the US army. He went to bury a soldier who died while trying to save a companion. After the funeral was over and everybody departed, the man who was saved by the dead soldier lingered on. The chaplain was curious. He observed from far what was going on. When all the others were out of sight, this man took out a pen and scribbled something on a piece of paper, stuck it on the cross that stood at the head of the tomb of his friend, prayed for a while and left. The chaplain came back o see what was o the paper. It read, “Thanks Joe; you did it for me. I will never forget it”. This is something that we should all do when we stand in front of the crucifix. Look at Jesus on the cross and say to him, “Thanks Jesus, you did it for me. I will never forget it”.
The government of Polish Prime Minister Jaruzelski had ordered crucifixes removed from classroom walls, just as they had been banned in factories, hospitals, and other public institutions. Catholic bishops attacked the ban that had stirred waves of anger and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately the government relented, insisting that the law remain on the books, but agreeing not to press for removal of the crucifixes, particularly in the schoolrooms.
But one zealous Communist school administrator in Garwolin decided that the law was the law. So one evening he had seven large crucifixes removed from lecture halls where they had hung since the school’s founding in the twenties. Days later, a group of parents entered the school and hung more crosses. The administrator promptly had these taken down as well.
The next day two-thirds of the school’s six hundred students staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot police arrived, the students were forced into the streets. Then they marched, crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were joined by twenty-five hundred other students from nearby schools for a morning of prayer in support of the protest. Soldiers surrounded the church. But the pictures from inside of students holding crosses high above their heads flashed around the world. So did the words of the priest who delivered the message to the weeping congregation that morning. "There is no Poland without a cross."
Chuck Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, pp. 202-3.
There is a remarkable prison in Brazil. For over twenty years the government has allowed two Christians to run the prison. The prison is called “Humaita” and it runs on Christian principles. All the work is done by the prisoners, except that which is required by two full-time staff. Families outside the prison adopt an inmate to work with during and after his term. Chuck Colson tells us what he experienced when he visited the prison:
When I visited Humaita I found inmates smiling - particularly the murderer who held the keys, opened the gates and let me in. Wherever I walked I saw men at peace. I saw clean living areas, people working industriously. The walls were decorated with Biblical sayings from the Psalms and Proverbs… My guide escorted me to the notorious prison cell once used for torture. Today, he told me, that block houses only a single inmate. As we reached the end of a long concrete corridor and he put the key in the lock, he paused and asked, “Are you sure you want to go in?”
“Of course,” I replied impatiently, “I’ve been in isolation cells ...
A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.
“Love of God.” Sermon Illustrations. Date unknown. November 15, 2006. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/l/love_of_god.htm
“The humans do not start from that direct perception of Him which we, unhappily, cannot avoid. They have never known that ghastly luminosity, that stabbing and searing glare which makes the background of permanent pain to our lives. If you look into your patient’s mind when he is praying, you will not find that. If you examine the object to which he is attending, you will find that it is a composite object containing many quite ridiculous ingredients. There will be images derived from pictures of the Enemy as He appeared during the discreditable episode known as the Incarnation: there will be vaguer—perhaps quite savage and puerile—images associated with the other two Persons. There will even be some of his own reverence (and of bodily sensations accompanying it) objectified and attributed to the object revered. I have known cases where what the patient called his "God" was actually located—up and to the left at the corner of the bedroom ceiling, or inside his own head, or in a crucifix on the wall. But whatever the nature of the composite object, you must keep him praying to it—to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him. You may even encourage him to attach great importance to the correction and improvement of his composite object, and to keeping it steadily before his imagination during the whole prayer. For if he ever comes to make the distinction, if ever he consciously directs his prayers "Not to what I think thou art but to what thou knowest thyself to be", our situation is, for the moment, desperate. Once all his thoughts and images have been flung aside […] and the man trusts himself to the completely real, external, invisible Presence, there with him in the room and never knowable by him as he is known by it—why, then it is that the incalculable may occur.” (Lewis 2001, IV)
Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. San Francisco: Harper, 2001.
