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In my second sermon here at HMUMC, I quoted a news story I originally heard 14 years ago on National Public Radio. North Korea was in the grips of one of its worst famines, and many citizens were attempting to flee by crossing into China. The government there, however, wanted nothing to do with the migrants, so any captured North Koreans were beaten, tortured, and returned to the nightmare of their homeland. Soon, however, word of a safe refuge in China began to spread. "Head for the building with a cross on the roof," refugees were told, "and you will find help."
I guess the Party line is that taking down the crosses will help take down the church (Out of sight, out of mind?). They're wrong, of course. Even now, CBS reports, tens of millions of Chinese Christians are meeting in underground "family churches." The Chinese government will learn, as have other oppressive regimes, that the cross of Christ is more than an object on a roof. Its eternal truth is greater than any temporal power.
Now, add to this showdown one more truth: Phones today have cameras. If the cross on the roof is a powerful message to the world, so is video of its removal.
Finally, I have one more news item. Sometime in the next few days, we will be lifting a cross onto the roof of OUR new worship center (We'll let you know when). First, give thanks that we can display a cross without fear. Second, pray and think about the message our cross speaks to our neighbors and to the world. And, while we're at it, let's think about this, too: What difference does it make in our own lives that we gather beneath it?
In Christ,
Rev. Mark Westmoreland
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