The Straight Cross
"Sloughing Towards Galilee-
"Practicing the Cross"!
THE CROSS AS A STAKE!
There are so many images of the cross, and today we wear silver and gold, the cross has become a part of our everyday lives. We fail so often, very often to seek to struggle with its meaning.
There is another Greek translation of the word cross, stauros. The word is used 74 times in the New Testament to describe the way Jesus died. Stauros simply means an upright pole or stake, like a fence post. It reminds me of the fence post upon which Matthew Shepherd died.
I want simply to reflect upon the stretched-out body of Jesus. This posture reveals to us the shock and brutality of the cross. It reminds me of the brutality of young and old I have seen lying on the street, waiting for the corner, after being knifed or beaten to death. Happens every day. The Latin words mean simply to torment or torture.
The word stauros in the New Testament, is a torture stake, an instrument of imperial power, a stake that marks the territory of empire.
We recoil in thinking about it, but throughout history, the "stauros"? has been applied over and over continually now applied daily, hourly, and every minute.
The whole structure of systematic injustice, the terror raised by oppressive states. Jesus wasn't killed by a mob. He was killed by a political state and religious tradition to carry out state-sanctioned torture. When we stare at the stauros the truth is clear. The thick black line of history is not subtle. It has been deployed over history as a form of torture by the state.
Ultimately stauros is the worst form of torture. It is about us. The stauros is the quest for power and control through state violence wherever that manifests itself. It marks the territory, the state. It marks the territory of abortion, race, creed, etc, it marks the territory of free speech for whatever side one is on.
We are surrounded by contemporary Calvaries we often justify, and we are tempted toward complicity with Calvary.
That is one of the great questions of our faith--on which side of the stauros are you standing? Will we look away? Will we witness grief and pain?
Or will we erect the stake, nail the victims, and light the pyre?
Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, remind us that:
In the first century of Christianity, the cross represented execution by the empire, only the empire crucified, and then for only one crime: denial of imperial authority. The cross had not become a generalized symbol for suffering as it sometimes is today when one's illness or other hardship can be spoken of as "the cross I've been given to bear." Rather it meant imperial? retribution."
So the question we ask is? do we stand with Jesus, the Crucified One, who opens his arms to everyone, who cares for each one of us, regardless of what state or country we belong to; our age; our ethnic background; our religious or non-religious preference; or will we march with "imperial retribution?"? Will we march to destroy or stand to heal? There is no neutrality, no standing around and theorizing but Jesus faces us and says: "Follow me!" or "Follow evil!" Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
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Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration
October 5, 2024
6:00 p.m.
Victor's Piazza pm Polk
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(Temenos and Fr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!
Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
snap chat: riodamien2
415-305-2124
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We will be having our Annual Good Friday Remembrance of The Haunting!" on Good Friday, March 8, 2024 beginning at 11:30 a.m. If you would like to participate by reading one of the Stations please let me know!
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