A Message from the Bishop - April 2022A

Dear Friends,

Some years ago, the Church of the Holy Cross in New York City was broken into twice. First a metal moneybox next to a votive candle rack was stolen. Then, three weeks later, vandals got away with something far more valuable: a statue of Christ. The thieves unbolted the 4-foot long, 200-pound plaster Jesus from a chapel, but they left the wooden cross on the wall.

The custodian was amazed that someone would do that. He was quoted by a reporter as saying, “They just decided, ‘We’re going to take Jesus and leave the cross.’”

That’s a rather sad image of much of American Christianity, isn’t it? Jesus, yes. Cross, no.

But you can’t separate the real Jesus from the Cross on which he died. 

We are saved because of the sacrifice of Jesus. And God calls us not merely to accept that, but to focus on it, to dwell on it, to base our lives on the reality of Jesus’ death for us. The Apostle Paul put it this way, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

We must each confront the fact that my sin required Jesus to die in my place. I am a sinner who deserves no good thing from God. I come to God not through my own merit, not because I’ve done some good things, but because Jesus died for me, Jesus bore the penalty for my sin, Jesus was punished in my place. Because of God’s grace in sending Jesus to die for me, I can be forgiven. What I must do is turn away from my sin and surrender my life to him.

In Holy Week, we encounter Jesus’ suffering and death, and we experience anew his great love. We do not go through Holy Week because we are unsure of Jesus’ forgiveness, but because we must never take it for granted. We must never skip glibly from the “Hosannas” of Palm Sunday to Easter’s “Christ is risen.” We must walk the Way of the Cross.

And so I urge you to enter deeply into the days of Holy Week, particularly through the Church’s worship on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, that with deeper love for him who died for us, we may truly rejoice in the power of his Resurrection.

And as we approach this holy season, let me encourage you to live this out in two particular ways:

1. Invite at least one person you know (who doesn’t have a church home) to worship with you once during Holy Week and Easter. Be a messenger of good news to those you know. And don’t send them to church, bring them with you. Offer to pick them up and take them along.

2. Pray for your clergy as they prepare to preach over the next ten days. Easter and Christmas are extraordinarily difficult times to preach, because the congregation is composed of people in such a wide range of circumstances. Some are mature believers, while others are doubters or skeptics. Some are heartfelt worshipers eager to hear the truth, while others are scoffers, there only because of family obligations. Some are celebrating the holiday with family and loved ones, while others are lonely or burdened or in pain. And because it’s Easter, everyone’s expectations of the sermon (including the preacher’s!) are sky high.

It is challenging to preach in such a context. Would you commit to pray for your clergy and for their proclamation of our Crucified and Risen Savior? And would you pray also for those who will hear, that every heart and mind will be open to the message of grace and new life?

Faithfully yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey