This Sunday around the Benefice we continue our journeying through the Gospel by Luke.
However, this Sunday is also the day when some churches across a range of denominations
choose to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross, an opportunity consciously to ponder on
the Cross as the visual symbol of our Christian faith 24/365 and not just at Easter.

I wonder what image comes into your mind when you think of the Holy Cross? The
crucifixion depicted in art across the centuries? Three bare crosses on a hill, silhouetted in
dawn sunshine outside an Easter Garden? A cross on your person or in your home that is
special to you?

There are so many different styles of representation, ornate and simple, in churches, on
necklaces, on communion wafers, in tattoos, … Just take a moment to search online for
‘images of Christian crosses around the world’ to see the diversity of forms and cultural
influences.

Take a moment to wonder at how far the Christian faith, marked by these crosses, has
become a story of hope across the globe, in places of joyful celebration and places of
conflict and despair. Take a moment to grieve at how often Christians, under a banner of
the cross, have exploited it to our own ends. Take a moment to ponder on what it means to
you that

“God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only Son, so that EVERYONE who believes in him
may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3.16). (my emphasis)

I wonder what do we think of when we look at the cross?

Perhaps we see Christ dying upon it – a crucifix. Does this instrument of torture remind us of
the capacity of humans’ inhumanity to one another? As we look at Christ hanging there,
does it speak to us of the total humanity of Jesus who lived among us and alongside us,
walking with outcasts and with the influential, with the exploited and the exploiters, with
unlearned labourers and with intellectual professionals: this Jesus, who by his death became
our Saviour, an act of complex mystery and heart-shatteringly generous grace.

Maybe we see the empty wood of the cross – a reminder that Christ Risen is no longer
bound there by human hatred or fear, no longer bound by death; but that in wholly-divine
love and life he has opened for us the hope and promise of eternal life. As we contemplate
this symbol of the resurrection, is it a daily reminder for us that we are called to be people
of joy and service every day of the year – striving to become more and more his overflowing
love in the lived-out sharing of the gospel, of justice, of care. Take a moment to ponder on
what it means to you that

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may
not perish but HAVE ETERNAL LIFE” (John 3.16). (my emphasis)

As Christians what we see and celebrate this Sunday and always is not that material cross,
the wood or nails, the symbol we have appropriated, but the relationship it signifies. The
intersection of God coming down to us through Jesus: wholly present, not impossibly
remote, divine love reaching to draw us up to be forever with him. And the wideness of that
love that sends us out from the arms of Jesus, infused with the Spirit, to become
relationship with one another.

Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my Soul, my Life, my All.

Lucy G

Title and closing words taken from the hymn by Isaac Watts
Image by Lucy G