crosses and what 'christian' really means ..

there's a cross in back of the table

wine in a decanter alongside a simple clay cup

a bread loaf

there's a cross 

and wine and bread

and the thought " all of you share in this, and remember my death " ..

..

it's a strange thing to say really
   remember his death ?
   as if he was dead ..
   why not his resurrection life ?

the whole protestant thing is don't display Jesus hanging on a cross like the catholics do

he isn't there !

that isn't the final story

he is risen !

" remember my death " ..

..

my anglican/episcopal-turned-independent baptist grandmother had a crucifix on the wall behind her bed ..

and, even as a boy, knowing what i knew in my protestant/evangelical/fundamentalism, i always wondered why she never replaced it with a simple cross ..

there aren't many things i remember well, but i think if i tried real hard i could probably sketch a fair representation of that crucifix

..

" if anyone wants to be my disciple and follow me, let them deny self, and take up their own cross; then come, follow .. "

" whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. " ( Mt 10.38 )

Luke adds " take up their cross daily " ( Lk 9.23 )

..

there's something radically important about that cross behind the table in the middle of the room where Jesus' followers meet to remember

it represents the place of death

and while, yes, it was the place of his murder, the more pertinent point is that it was the culminating statement of his humility

         and his humanity
   the humiliation of God

      in leaving God and becoming human
and of the supremely awesome form of God's sovereignty
   an authority that refuses to quash all opposition outright
   that manifests itself in what the ol' King James Version calls lovingkindness
   and the greek NT calls 'agape', the sacrificial love of the God who lives forever ..

a sovereignty that extends pierced hands
..

Jesus released his life for the life of the world

gave it over

relinquished his right to life

..

it isn't that he was being morose when he said to remember him in his death as we share the bread and the wine among ourselves ..

it's the unrelenting passion of God that we undertake His passion as seen in the passion ..

an offering-up of self for the rescue of humanity

all humanity
out of the loving heart of Godself

a driving desire to bring all creation into oneness in Christ
a melding of life in which creation inhales and exhales the love of God
in which we humans move and live and be in such agreement, such harmony
   that the interaction of us portrays marvelous congruity of spirit, of sight, of soul

it is a celebration of a strange and wonderful unity that permeates Godhead and humanity
as one

..

so to take Jesus off that cross, while theologically pointed at the victory of God in resurrection, theologically undoes the iconic imaginative reality, where i get to see a representation of human Jesus doing precisely what Jesus pointedly told me to actuate in my life

the death of me ..

and i think that helps me somehow ..

that's the purpose of icons

to enhance the imaginative by leading through visual representations, to help us come to the inner place of God

.. like the anglican/episcopal and roman catholic and lutheran etc. 'seven stations of the cross', where thoughtful worshipers walk past visual representations of Jesus' Passion journey
   it's very sobering
   and i remember disliking very much the feeling of horror and death
   and downright darkness that pervaded the whole eveent
      hated it
but .. imagine Jesus .. .

while we walked away from the catholic and mainline protestant ritualism, we may have lost some very useful spiritual prompts

..

denial

of me

it's radical 

unreasonable 

unrealisitic

impossible ..

and yet there it is ..

Jesus certainly knew what he was saying
he knew 'cross', even before he went there

that leaves me to deal with that, one of the most significant things he said
for it defines 'disciple'
and i want that
..

as for this me
i'm not very good at that
not good at it at all

and yet
there it is

..

i don't get to choose disciple unless i pick up my cross and head down the Via Dolorosa myself
..
it may not end in actual crucifixion
.. and yet it may

that's the far side of the cross-bearing thing, i know
that's my ultimate
but i somehow have to see it as a distinct possibility for me

more likely our cross involves sacrifice of another sort
regardless, the attitude of us must be that ..
my life is your life, Lord
use it as you will
even to death
in death

easier said than done, ya ?
and yet
there it is

" if you really want to be my disciple, you have to deny you, daily take up the instrument of your death .. then come, follow "

..

i have no choice really
if i want to follow Jesus
none

it may be impossible
but then, with God ..

there is repeated failure
there is challenge at every hand
there is black lives and white lives and blue lives
and there is my own family
and what will i do when my very life is threatened
.. when their life is threatened

what do i do ? .. .

i must then stand my cross up, sink it myself into that gaping hole
affix the crosspiece

i can do no other

may God help me
..

one writer puts it this way
" I want to insist .. that the texts about cross-carrying should also be considered more literally - that the cross really refers to crucifixion, execution. Before he says "follow me" Jesus says "take up and carry" - the call is conditioned by our prior acceptance that we bring the instrument of our own execution with us as we live the life of discipleship; the cross becomes the instrument of our execution because we live the life of discipleship. It entails a probably-gruesome death at the hands of the powers. ..
I don't like this conclusion any more than you do .. And I am sure God does not care whether we like it or not. ..
We are called to conform our lives to the gospel. That we are reluctant to do so - reluctant hell - that we doubt that we are even able to consider it a possibility to do so - indicates that there is something wrong. "    
( Robert Brimlow, A Faith Not Worth Fighting For )

..

the straightforward undeniable truth of the matter is that being a christian is, at the heart of it, following Jesus, and following Jesus requires me to give up all rights to my life and turn it over to him in totality, even if it involves death ..

there is no other option
if i want to claim the Lord Christ as master
none

make it so


peace to you