In the Agora: A Theology of the Cross

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April 19, 2007

A Theology of the Cross

During the days since the shootings at Virgina Tech I had not given much thought to what the tragedy means in a theology of the cross. Until this afternoon, when I received this beautiful prayer from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's Commission on Worship:

Gracious Father in heaven, You know the shock and sorrow that have resulted following the deaths of 33 students and faculty at Virginia Tech. We are helpless before the evil that afflicts us and therefore cry out to You for comfort, shelter, and protection. Mercifully embrace the frightened in Your love, empower the weak with Your strength, restrain the wicked by Your might, and preserve and comfort the righteous in Your grace, giving us Your peace and turning tragedy to triumph. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

A theology of the cross seeks the beauty of God's grace in the bloody agony of Christ's suffering. At the very least it recognizes that man, simul iustus et pecattor, is stained with his fallen nature and Christ's blood; it realizes that even in the face of suffering there is good. And not just any good, but Christ, the ultimate Good.

Truly a development of Luther's Deus absconditus, his hidden God, a theology of the cross stands in stark contrast to a theology of glory which goes to the cross once and walks away on the road of the good life in Christ. Think Joel Olesteen, or "At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart was rolled away ... and now I am happy all the day." Or consider the prayer offered by the United Methodist Church's General Board of Discipleship: "We cringe, paralyzed before the mystery of evil. We open our mouths, and join the silence of the disbelieving."

For more thoughts on theodicy, a theology of the cross, and the perils of a theology of glory, I warmly recommend Gerhard Forde's On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518.

Posted by Seth Zirkle at April 19, 2007 03:00 PM

Comments

Thanks for this.

Posted by: DD at April 20, 2007 10:00 AM | permalink

Ah, the UMC, never fails to disappoint. I'm so glad I left.

A note about this prayer:
Some people and congregations may not be ready to offer prayers for the forgiveness of Cho Seung-Hui at this time. You may wish to replace the simple word "Forgive" with a more generic prayer such as "Have mercy" or another expression appropriate in your context.

Most definitely squares with Ephesians 4:26b:

Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry

Posted by: Zach Wendling at April 20, 2007 10:27 AM | permalink

Wow, where'd you find that Zach?

Posted by: Joshua Claybourn at April 20, 2007 10:42 AM | permalink

Follow Seth's link.

Posted by: Zach Wendling at April 20, 2007 11:28 AM | permalink

Excellent post.

As a Missouri Synod Lutheran, I am glad to see you express the hope in theology of the Cross, as opposed to the hopelessness of the watered-down theology of glory that so many "seeker-friendly" church bodies put forward.

Thankfully God is always there, regardless of my feelings or emotions. I can't always understand the "how" of it, but I am sure of the "why".

May God have mercy on us all.

Posted by: jwc at April 20, 2007 02:56 PM | permalink

April 19, 2007

A Theology of the Cross

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