On the Way to Wonder

First Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”
  ¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Psalm: Psalm 22:23-31

 ²³You who fear the Lord, give praise! All you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
  Stand in awe of the Lord, all you offspring of Israel.
 ²⁴For the Lord does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;    neither is the Lord‘s face hidden from them;
  but when they cry out, the Lord hears them.
 ²⁵From you comes my praise in the great assembly;
  I will perform my vows in the sight of those who fear the Lord.
 ²⁶The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
  Let those who seek the Lord give praise! May your hearts live forever! 
 ²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
  all the families of nations shall bow before God.
 ²⁸For dominion belongs to the Lord,
  who rules over the nations.
 ²⁹Indeed, all who sleep in the earth shall bow down in worship;
  all who go down to the dust, though they be dead, shall kneel before   the Lord.
 ³⁰Their descendants shall serve the Lord,
  whom they shall proclaim to generations to come.
 ³¹They shall proclaim God’s deliverance to a people yet unborn,
  saying to them, “The Lord has acted!”

Second Reading: Romans 4:13-25

¹³The promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
  ¹⁶For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. ¹⁸Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” ²³Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Gospel: Mark 8:31-38

³¹[Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
  ³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

CHILDREN’S SERMON

A favorite childhood tale that originated in the 10^th century in Europe and which has several versions is “Little Red Riding Hood.”  A young girl with a red cape dances through the woods to carry goodies to her grandmother who is sick in bed.  She is not aware that the wolf has arrived first and eaten the grandmother.  The girl is anticipating and expecting her grandmother.  To her surprise the grandmother looks strange for the wolf has put on the grandmother’s gown and is lying in bed.

“Oh, grandmother, what big your eyes you have!”  The wolf answers, “All the better to see you with, my dear.”….

“Oh, grandmother, what big your ears you have!”  The wolf answers, “All the better to hear you with, my dear.”….

“Oh, grandmother, what big your teeth you have!”  The wolf answers, “All the better to eat you with!”  He grabs her and eats her in one swallow.

The woodsman arrives and kills the wolf with his ax, cuts him open and out come grandmother and Red Riding Hood whole and happy.

         Today we are like the girl wanting to have tea and a good visit.  The wolf is Satan.  We become confused when we do not experience what we anticipated and expected.  The woodsman is Jesus who rescues us from death.  Let us pray.

Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart honor you, my rock and redeemer.

SERMON

Do you ever make a “to do” list?  Perhaps you don’t write it down but somewhere in the back of your mind, there is a general idea of your plan, your hopes, your expectations for the day, for the season, before any event.  We anticipate and that anticipation affects to a degree how we celebrate the outcome at the end of the day.  My friend went to a care-center to celebrate the 94^th birthday of her friend last week. She went prepared with all the trappings for a birthday party including cupcakes.  Yup, covid crushed her anticipation as none of the trappings were allowed.  All her work and expense was for nothing.  She could not express her love as she had wanted and felt very frustrated and disappointed. 

         Jesus gave the disciples his “to-do” list of what to expect when they get to Jerusalem.  The problem is that it does not make sense then – or now.  Jesus’ words clash with the disciple’s anticipations – and expectations.  They were expecting a king and deliverer.  Jesus said,  “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”  The disciples are expecting Jesus to chase the Romans away and they are expecting Jesus to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant from our first text and to make Israel great again.  They did not expect suffering, rejection and death.

         Abraham in the Old Testament reading today was 99 years old.  When he was 75 years old God came to him and promised to bless him and that he would have children like the stars in the sky.  Read Genesis 12 for the prelude to today’s reading.  Now 24 years later, Abraham has to be reminded of God’s promise.  I doubt Abraham has forgotten that first God encounter and the promise for we see him trying to hasten the promise with Hagar, resulting in Ismael.  We see Abraham telling the people of Egypt that Sarah is his sister and God protecting her as the designated carrier of the promised child.  He heard the promise and we hear the promises but we don’t understand the “to-do” list to get to the promised blessing.  As my mother always said, “There is often a slip between the cup and the lip.”   At age of 99 God again reminded Abraham of the covenant to bless him and that Abraham would be a blessing.  God’s plan is blessing.  Remember.

         The disciples too hear Jesus’ words about the future suffering and death on the cross but the promise of blessing and resurrection is only remembered afterwards.  They too do not understand.  Suffering, rejection, and death on our “to-do” list come before the resurrection. We too forget the “to-do” that precedes blessing and we are often surprised by trials. We think faith is about happy-ever-after and we confuse God with Santa Clause.  Lent helps us remember.

         I love the song, “This World is Not My Home, I’m just a passing through.  My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.”  This world is not our home and so it should not be a surprise that we feel dissonance and suffer.  James admonishes the early Christians scattered around the known world to “count it all joy when ever you experience trials.”  Suffering develops perseverance and perseverance leads to maturity.  It is fine for a baby to be a baby but when an adult acts like a baby, we look for a doctor.  Life implies growth and learning means mistakes, bruised knees and scars.  God’s goal is growth not pleasure.  Remember.

         Suffering also grows in us compassion and empathy so that we can encourage others who are going through trials.  As a committed sociologist who believes that we are creatures of community and our God is triune, a sociological concept, I believe that when you hurt, I hurt, and we are drawn together to help each other. Hospitals, schools, social services are examples.  Suffering builds community.  Remember.

         Suffering also drives us to God to seek wisdom, James continues.  It is in times of need that we remember we are dust and that we need the wisdom and help of God.  It is in the “dark nights of the soul” that we often grow.  We grow in our ability to persevere, our empathy for others in pain, and in our thirst for a deeper walk with God – we grow in prayer.

         Hmmmm, it is a little hard to give a loud “amen” to suffering.  Let’s skip that part of our “to-do” list and go to the next task.  Ooops, it is rejection.  This world is not my home and so not only will I feel tension and suffer but often there will be conflict of values and I will feel rejection.  The trip to the cross was the result of the religious authorities rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.  The crowds that hail Jesus as the Messiah on Palm Sunday will be yelling, “Crucify him,” by Friday.  The news interviews last night, pondering the future gave examples of how “popular” programs were hailed during campaign speeches but don’t bring the results often resulted in the popularity polls dropping very quickly. We are shocked when Olympic trainers abuse children who do not have the power or voice to reject their actions.  It’s wrong.  It’s sin! The saying is, “You can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time.”

         Rejection is a values clarification experience.  What do we believe strong enough that we are willing to risk rejection?  Isaiah says that “all we like sheep have gone astray.”  The sheep I have seen follow the leader, head down and will walk right in front of a bus.  They are considered a bit dumb.  Not following the leader, not following the values of this world, not following the crowd will result in rejection.  It is as we wrestle with this tendency of ours to follow the crowd that we define ourselves and discover what we truly value and believe.

         Thus rejection often involves a “public stance.”  It implies that not only am I not believing as another believes but I am also not engaging with them or they with me.  Have you noticed how often when someone gives a “testimony” it involves a values clarification experience whose outcome is rejection but transforms the person?  I made a decision that going out drinking with my fellow teachers as a young adult was not getting me where I wanted to go and I came to a point of rejecting, not joining Friday nights at the bar.  I’m sure as a young adult some of that was realizing I was not meeting young men and often the conversation was a rehash of the grumps of the week – and financially draining.  But more importantly, I was not going where I wanted to go.  I was not having the sort of life I saw promised in Scripture.  Rejection is taking a stand.

         Oh my, suffering is not fun to think about and rejection takes more courage than I think I have.  Let’s keep moving.  Jesus says we must undergo suffering, rejection and death.  What!  Truly this world is not my home and I am just passing through.  We in the United States lead a pretty sheltered life, insulated in our wealth and materialism.  Death is something we think we have within our power to avoid whether that be with a vaccine, or going to the right doctor, eating the right diet, exercising, or living in the right part of town.  Death is something for tomorrow that we don’t want to talk about.  Lent is uncomfortable because we face the darker side of ourselves, of others, and of life.  We don’t want to die and we certainly don’t want our loved ones to die.  Death is for those older than us and usually for some other day.

         We see death as the punishment for sin.  “Whoever eats of this fruit of the tree in the center of the garden will die.”   Yet – we note that the good and the bad die, the young and the old, the rich and the poor.  Death and life seem to go together, not as reward and punishment but more like the half full, half empty glass.  Are we focusing on the pains of aging or on the blessings?  But our knee-jerk response to Jesus’ “to-do” list is that death is not so welcome.  We will all die and it is not “if” but “when.”  That is a serious forecast.

         Suffering, rejection and death await us.  All of these we know.  Jesus does not stop there, though.  BUT…  But what?  But on the third day Jesus will rise – and we will rise too.  That is unimaginable and often forgotten.  It feels like pie in the sky and we are accused of skipping the meat to get to the dessert.  The disciples heard but did not understand.  We hear and try to trust and believe.  We know we are dust and the future is hard to imagine. The to-do list ends with resurrection, not death.  Remember!

         Jesus continues, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  I read “take up your cross” as an invitation to embrace life.  Followers of Jesus are free to embrace life.  We know that suffering has purpose to grow us and develop us and draw us to others we can help.  Suffering draws us closer to our God.  We do not need to fear suffering for Jesus himself has suffered.  He knows our weakness and travels with us.  As followers of Jesus we can step into rejection.  As we learn to stand for something, we are less likely to fall for everything.  As we go public about our beliefs and values, hospitals are created, educational systems are developed, orphanages are built and the needy of the world are cared for.  We do not need to be afraid of being people of principle.  Unlike the disciples, we know that death was indeed followed by resurrection. We know that death does not have the last say.  We know that dust does return to dust, not to be recycled but to arise in a resurrection body.  We do not need to avoid visiting granma because her eyes are too big, her nose too long, and her teeth too sharp.  We can embrace the journey because the woodsman is our friend!

         Jesus closes with a question,

• “³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”  What does it profit us to journey through Lent?   We are adjusting our anticipation and expectations and remembering.  Suffering, rejection and death do not mean God has abandon us.  We will rise.  As we remember, we will not be so easily confused by the wolf that is waiting to gobble us up.  We will rest in the reality that the woodsman is there to rescue us from death. And perhaps we can be more patient waiting for God to fulfill his promises to bless. 
• “What can we give in return”, Christ asks.  I think of the song, What can I render to the Lord for all he’s done for me?  I will offer up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

As we travel the Lenten journey we remember that our lives are important.  God had a plan to bless nations through Abraham and Sarah.  God had a plan to bless the nations as the disciples follow God’s
“to-do” list of suffering, rejection and death.  God blesses the nations through us.  But…but may we remember today that on the third day Christ resurrected and THAT is the end of our journey also.  Remember.

 First Reading: Genesis 9:8-17

⁸God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Psalm: Psalm 25:1-10

 ¹To you, O Lord,
  I lift up my soul.
 ²My God, I put my trust in you; let me not be put to shame,
  nor let my enemies triumph over me.
 ³Let none who look to you be put to shame;
  rather let those be put to shame who are treacherous.
 ⁴Show me your ways, O Lord,
  and teach me your paths. 
 ⁵Lead me in your truth and teach me,
  for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day   long.
 ⁶Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,
  for they are from everlasting.
 ⁷Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
  remember me according to your steadfast love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
 ⁸You are gracious and upright, O Lord;
  therefore you teach sinners in your way. 
 ⁹You lead the lowly in justice
  and teach the lowly your way.
 ¹⁰All your paths, O Lord, are steadfast love and faithfulness
  to those who keep your covenant and your testimonies.

Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22

¹⁸Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. ²¹And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Gospel: Mark 1:9-15

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

CHILDREN’S SERMON        

How many remember the Disney classic, Lion King?  When our family spent a year in the States in 1994-5 my children played the video daily and could recite it from memory.

         The Lion King Mufasa rules his kingdom from his den at Pride Rock.  He is the “good ruler.”  His brother, Scar, is jealous and bitter.  Scar, “the bad ruler,” together with the hyenas orchestrates the death of Mufasa.  Mufasa’s son Simba, which means lion in Swahili and the heir apparent, sees the death of his father and flees. The theme of what a good ruler is like unfolds.  Simba comes of age, “time is fulfilled,” and he must decide if he is going to return to claim his rightful throne.  “Looks like a real fixer-upper” says Simba’s friend.  Jesus, the true heir, appears to have been deposed by Satan, the prince of the world.  During Lent we walk with Jesus to reclaim our world, “a real fixer-upper”.

Let us pray:  Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, the true king.

SERMON

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday.  We were marked with the cross and told to “Remember, from dust we come and to dust you shall return.”  One of my favorite lines from Disney’s Lion King was the turning point near the end when Simba, Mufasa’s son, bounds across the plains to the river, sees his reflection, and hears the voice of his father in the clouds challenging him, ”Remember.  Remember who you are.”  We start the Lenten journey by remembering who we are.  Our Old Testament text returns us to the story of Noah and the flood.   The Gospel reading takes us back to the beginning of the gospel of Mark and Jesus’ baptism.  These are stories that we remember and that define us.  “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

What do we remember?

         As the pastor marked our foreheads, if we were able to go to a church, we were charged to remember our mortality.  We are creatures that will someday die.  In Genesis 3:19 God confronts Adam and reminds him that humans are mortal.  The Noah story of our Old Testament reading reminds us that God holds our mortal lives.   He has the power to destroy and he has the power to bless. How fragile life is.  James echoing the psalmist laments that our lives are like a wild flower, here today and gone tomorrow, or a mist passing through.  People who may have worn masks, may have social distanced, may have gotten the vaccine, suddenly met with death on the icy roads of Texas this week.  It was not their sin that killed them, nor is it our goodness that keeps us alive.  Remember we come from dust and go to dust.

         Jesus incarnated and joined us in baptism. As Christians we remember that when we were baptized, we were baptized into the death of Christ and became children of God. The cross is marked on our foreheads.  We have been bought with a price.  

         I find it interesting that we put today’s gospel of the baptism next to the Old Testament reading of the dove returning to Noah with an olive branch in its mouth, signaling safety.  The Holy Spirit descends like a dove at the Baptism indicating its presence and participation in the journey Jesus is embarking on.  We believe the Holy Spirit enters us at baptism and leads us and guides our lives.  We remember who we are, children of God formed from the dust of the earth with God’s spirit accompanying and guiding us.

         The mark of the cross reminds us that we are children of God under a covenant.  Death is not the end of our days.  This clump of clay, handful of dust, that is me shaped into a person – a person that is valued by the God of the universe for we are his creation.  We remember the giftedness and grace of life.  We are dust.  We are dust formed by God.  We are dust formed by God for a purpose and we are valued.  We bowed our head and asked to be marked.  We remembered.

How do we remember?

         I don’t know about you, but I forget.  It seems to be more often these days.  I love things that help me remember.  Mufasa has to challenge Simba to remember for Simba has forgotten.  The silly uncle in the Christmas classic, It Was a Wonderful Life, ties a string around his finger to remind him and yet he could not remember where he misplaced the bank money.  We make scrapbooks and hang pictures of favorite times and people.  We carve statues and Bible verses that are important.  The wedding rings are not just jewelry.  All these things remind us who we are.    In our passages today God gives us three things to help us remember who we are: the rainbow, baptism, and the voice.

         During the time of Noah, God was so grieved at the wickedness of people’s hearts that he sent a flood.  Noah, wife, three sons and their wives were spared along with representatives of all animal species.  Forty days and forty nights the rain poured down.  Noah and crew emerge from the Ark to face a new world, a new world with a rainbow. The rainbow was there before Noah stepped out of the Ark.  The rainbow was not the reward for living through the flood and caring for the animals. The rainbow is the reminder to God and to us of God’s covenant with us.  He will never destroy the world with water.  God is committed to working with us in our limitations and sinfulness because of his faithfulness.  Remember we are dust and the rainbow reminds us of his commitment to us. Perhaps the question is how committed we are to working with him?

         Fast forward to the time of Mark and we read of the baptism of Jesus.  Jesus was not baptized because he was sinful but he identified with the people preparing for the coming of God’s kingdom.  In our baptism we are marked with the cross and baptized into Christ’s baptism, a step towards the coming kingdom.  Often we are given a candle to remember that special day. Our baptism reminds us whose we are.  We are God’s children and God is committed to us.

         In Jesus’ baptism the heavens are torn apart so that the spiritual world and the physical world are united and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove even as the dove returned to Noah with an olive branch showing it was safe to engage with the new world.  Then the voice of God speaks into our world.  God does not sit off in the heavenlies judging our actions but speaks into our reality.  The Holy Spirit is not far away but in our hearts.  Perhaps you have never heard God’s voice or felt his spirit but we read the words he spoke in the Scriptures.  We hear his voice as Scripture is read on Sundays or as a friend shares a verse with us.  Music brings God’s words to us – through radio, through television, and through zoom.  God cannot be silenced and God’s spirit communicates with us in various ways.  In Lent let us open our ears to listen and remember whose we are.

         The rainbow during storms, our baptism when we are marked with the cross and given the Holy Spirit for the journey, and the voice of God speaking to us through his word, are all ways of helping us remember whose we are.

 Lastly, why do we remember?

         Noah could not predict and survive the flood without remembering his creator, God.  His vision for the Ark came from God.  “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” and for sure we need wisdom beyond ourselves to lead life.   Because we are sinners, we deserve to die, but it is only our relationship with God, remembering we are but dust, that humbles us for the salvation offered on the cross.  Why remember?  We need help and we need humility to remember that.

         One of the great parts of Jesus’ baptism is the appearance of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and the voice from the cloud speaking.  The Trinity stood together and supported each other in the journey to the cross and through the crucifixion.  The baptism reminds us that we need the community of the body, the fellowship we find with others even though they are made of dust also.  We remember we are part of a body, part of a community with different roles and different gifts, following Jesus.

         Jesus opens his ministry with the call to repentance and belief.  As much as the other may offend us, we must never forget our need to repent, our weakness, and our proneness to hurt the other.  Remembering our own weakness opens the door for asking forgiveness and restoration.

         In Lion King, Mufasa calls to Simba – “Remember who you are.”  But he continues, “You are more than you have become.”  I do not believe that we of ourselves can become more than we are by sheer will power.  Certainly we can achieve great heights, perhaps even claim our own Pride Rock, but it is only as we remember whose we are as reflected in the journey to the cross.  We are dust.  We are marked.  We are valued.  God is committed to us.  We remember that when we see the rainbow.  We remember when we see the cross.  We remember when we hear the word of God.  Why?  Because we need to remember we are dust and need God’s wisdom.  We need our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  We need to humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness so we can be forgiven.

         Our world is a real “fixer-up” but it is God’s world that he is committed to and willing to walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk – all the way to the cross.  Remember!