Lent: Our Union in the Suffering of Christ “o]z' v|Li6sf] b'v si6df xfd|f] hLjg”
The Lent series is for March & April. In this series at Cross-Way, we’ll explore how we identify in the suffering of Christ. We will explore different angles to the meaning of the Cross and our sharing in it. Last year I wrote what John RW Stott says about the Cross of Christ, that it is the center and heart of Christianity, shaping the faith, ethics, and mission of the Church. “The cross is the unique place where God’s love, mercy, holiness, and justice meet.” Therefore, “the cross transforms everything.” It gives us a new, worshipping relationship to God, a new and balanced understanding of ourselves, a new incentive to give ourselves in mission, a new love for our enemies, and a new courage to face the perplexities of suffering.” (11).
According to Stott, “Stott presents the cross as the defining event of Christian faith, emphasizing its necessity, significance, and implications for believers. He engages with biblical, historical, and theological perspectives, addressing key questions about atonement, salvation, and discipleship.” (chat GPT in summary of The Cross of Christ. No I don’t use ChatGPT to prep my sermons).
These are some of the themes we will explore in this series. Here are some quotations from the book: “The cross enforces three truths: about ourselves, about God, and about Jesus Christ.” “The Christian life is not just a matter of getting into heaven, but of taking up the cross and following Christ.” “Suffering is the badge of true discipleship.”
The Bible tells us that if we are to follow Christ, suffering is part of our lives calling, and we better learn to view them in the light of the Bible.
The need for this series to address is that, our world of Nepali Christianity does not resonate with (or understand favorably) suffering, loss, pain and grief and lament as good or necessary part of our discipleship (following Christ honestly). The hardest challenge to Christianity is that “If God is good, why do we suffer, and there is so much suffering and evil in the world?” Our sufferings are part of our identifying with Jesus Christ and his cross. Suffering is profound. In our suffering we stand as God's priests in and with the world, as Christ did, as the Hebrews tell us. How can we do that in our time and age? We will address these, ideas in this series.
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