The Heart at the Center: A Meditation
First Congregational Church – Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Palm/Passion Sunday – March 20, 2005
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.

            Our celebration today brings us to the waning days of yet another Lent. We know from the writings of the pilgrim Egeria, who journeyed to Jerusalem in the fourth century, that Christians have commemorated our Lord’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem and his passion in that city from early on. What we do today, what we remember, what we try to honor and to live binds us with generations of Christians who have gone before us and those who will come after us. What we do today and in the days ahead are at the heart of our Christian faith. As the historian of the liturgy Adolf Adam has written, “The image of the heart signifies the innermost core or center of an organism, the starting point and the terminus of the circulating blood. The heart is the vitalizing center without which life is impossible. As principal organ it supplies all areas of the body, even in their most minute parts, with the blood that is indispensable for life. In the context of our present subject the image of the heart tells us that the liturgical year did not come into existence on a draughtsman’s table nor does it owe its existence to shrewd thinking and careful planning, but rather that it emanates, and derives its growth, from a heart, a center. This heart of the liturgical year is the passion and resurrection of Christ.” [The Liturgical Year, p. 19] I agree with Dr. Adam completely, but I would go one step further, because for me all the liturgical year does is to lay out our faith so that we may understand and live it better. I would say that the heart of our faith is the passion and resurrection of Christ.

            Let’s remember for a moment what the word ‘passion’ means. It comes from the Latin word ‘passio’ from which we not only get the word ‘passion,’ but the word ‘patience’ as well. The word can mean suffering, or emotion, or inspiration, or ardent affection. It is my contention that the heart at the center of this day, this week, this faith, is God’s heart shown in the life, the heart, the actions, the teachings, the death and the resurrection of Christ. When I say that, I mean that God is showing us, as Julian of Norwich said, “that love was his meaning.” What we remember today, what we try to understand and, each in our own way, emulate is the love of God shown for humanity.

            Julian of Norwich understood this in a powerful and profound way; a way that we would do well to remember. In her vision of the Christ she saw that the goal of the passion, as with the whole of the Christ’s life, was the ‘oneing,’ the joining or union of the human with the Divine. When we say that “Jesus died for our sins” we ought not to get into some sort of juridical balance game, but should see the larger picture here. Julian wrote: “Sin is the cause of all this pain, but all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well. These words were revealed to me most tenderly, showing no kind of blame to me or to anyone who will be saved. So it would be most unkind of me to blame God or marvel at him on account of my sins, since he does not blame me for sin.” [Showings 13:27.225-226]

            The Australian theologian Kerrie Hide comments on Julian’s words, “In contrast to the pain felt because of sin, Julian feels that ‘all shall be well,’ and this is revealed ‘most tenderly.’ Although the nonbeing of sin is the cause of the life-denying pain in the universe, the presence of divine love is more powerful than sin. Therefore all shall be well. The solution to the problem of sin is not to be found in imputing blame. Salvation is not about attributing blame to human beings or to God for the incomplete nature of the universe and the suffering within the human condition. The love expressed through Christ’s redemptive death and resurrection reveals that in spite of sin ‘all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.’” [Gifted Origins to Graced Fulfillment, p. 98]

What happens is that the Christ meets humanity in suffering and ‘ones’, unites, humanity to himself in love. That is how Julian could see that “all will be well” and understood truly “that love was his meaning.”

            I invite you to look to the heart at the center opened to us today in the powerful words, images, and sounds we’ve encountered today. Take them with you throughout this week. Come join us on Thursday as we remember Jesus’ new commandment and the supper he gave so we would never forget it. Sit and mourn with us awhile as we recall the darkness of Good Friday. Then come and rejoice at the feast of the Resurrection. Understand and live the truth that is the heart at the center of our life together, divine love is stronger than the self-centeredness that is sin. Holy Week is the heart at the center of what it means to be a Christian and to understand this week is to realize that it isn’t about blame, but love.