Recently there has been a meme going around the internet that says, “If you live in a pastor’s home, you have the right to remain silent, because anything that you say or do may be used as a sermon illustration.” Most of the time I ask for permission if I’m using something Liz has said, but I figure my kids and their sayings are fair game for at least a couple more years. After all, why did I have kids anyway, if not for the fact that my well of stories to use for sermons was running dry? 
So yesterday Liz sent me this text of a conversation between her and my 2nd born, Tempest, who is 2 years old plus change. A little back story on it: I’m a pastor, and as such, our house has a crucifix (a cross with a representation of Jesus’ body) or cross in just about every room (except for the bathrooms for some reason). These have either been purchased by myself (I had a crucifix collection thing going on in the early years of my ministry) or gifted to me. Note, this is not an advertisement for you to buy me more crosses and/or crucifixes…also, I don’t need any of those praying hands things either. In our guest room we have a particularly large and impressive crucifix with a particularly…..well….realistically bleeding corpus (representation of Jesus’ body) on it.
Back to the conversation that Liz texted me:
(Tempest starts walking into guest room.)
Liz: Why are you going in there, Tempest?
Tempest, in her deadpan Tempest way: To see Jesus died again.
Now we’ve had plenty discussions around the house about why Jesus dying is both a sad thing and a good thing. Cricket, our eldest, requested prayers for Jesus at bedtime that He wouldn’t have to die again. We used it as an opportunity to assure her that He would only die once and that because He died, we could all go to be with Him when we died. We then prayed in thanksgiving that Jesus DIDN’T have to die again but that His sacrifice was good, once and for all.
But even though He doesn’t have to die again, sometimes it is good for us to see Him, in Tempest’s words, “died again”.
I’m putting this newsletter in the category of “Worship like a Lutheran” because a part of Lutheran worship sensibility is not to be squeamish about the Cross. Lutherans, unlike other (usually more Calvinist) Christians, don’t get bent out of shape when we see a corpus (remember? representation of Jesus’ body). We also don’t get bent out of shape when we see a Cross without one. Both are good reminders, but they have different senses, and the crucifix (with Jesus’ body) has the sense of Tempest’s “seeing Jesus died again” statement.
Seeing Jesus died again is good for us. It’s Law for me because I know that my sins put Him on that Cross. But it’s also Gospel because it reminds me that He really died for me, went through all of that anguish and death just to show His love for me and save me. On our altar at University Lutheran, we have a crucifix that has a corpus on it except for the season of Easter. And maybe you’ll notice it this week. And maybe you’ll look at it “to see Jesus died again,” for everything that it means.