by Tim Wesemann
A remarkable cross graces the auditorium in an Old Greenwich, Connecticut, church. What makes this cross significant?
- Not its height—about ten feet.
- Not its weight; lifting the cross out of its place would be hard, but not impossible.
- Not its composition; no one has hammered this cross out of some gleaming, precious metal.
- Nor its appearance; you should not expect to see in this cross the beams of unblemished, smoothly chiseled wood usually reserved for the crosses that decorate Christian churches in thousands of cities and villages around the world.
- Not its location; it does not loom from the building’s spire, nor does it form the pinnacle of its steeple.
This cross has been constructed from two pieces of raw, untreated wood. But even this splinters-and-all texture does not call attention to itself. You won’t find this cross on the front wall hanging above an altar, nor over the door worshipers use to exit the church.
Instead, this cross stands bolted into the concrete floor between the pews where the people sit and the place in the front of the church, the chancel, where the pastor customarily stands. Picture it: A ten-foot cross of raw wood stands between the pastor and the people. It forms an obstacle, of sorts, an obstacle designed to give worshipers a clearer vision of what they do in the sanctuary of this church.
Everything the pastor says to the congregation must pass through the cross. The praises the people offer and the prayers they pray must pass, symbolically, through the cross into the Lord’s presence. How unusual! Yet how appropriate!
The cross of our Savior stands at the very center of our lives, too. We pray for the vision to see this more clearly during the seven days Christians call “Holy Week,” certainly. But we also pray to see this more clearly every week, every day, every moment of our lives here on earth.
Christ crucified. Christ resurrected. These truths change everything! As the reality of our salvation grows more and more deeply within us, we envision more and more often the words we speak to others passing through the cross of our Savior. More and more often we focus on the words people speak to us as though those words had passed through the cross as it stands steadfastly in the center of our lives. The shadow of the cross marks our every action; it animates the love we express in everything we do; it clarifies the purposes for which our Lord created us and died to save us.
How would your life change if you saw clearly that your Savior has embedded his cross and its life-giving message of forgiveness in the very center of your existence? How would your world change if you allowed that cross and its declaration of hope, of grace, and of life to anchor your existence and motivate your actions? Can you see it? Can you imagine it?
But in a deeper sense, why imagine? Jesus has come to make all these blessings a bedrock reality for each of us. Forgiveness, hope, salvation, grace . . . they’re all real! They are all our Savior’s Easter gifts to the world!
May Jesus’ cross and his empty tomb be the glorious “obstacles” that heal your vision during this Holy Week and in every moment thereafter.
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, permanently embed your cross at the very center of my life. Use my journey to your cross and tomb this week to remove any obstacles that keep me from clearly seeing and believing that your sacrifice has removed every one of my sins forever. Let the Good News that you have died to secure eternal life change me and millions of people around the world.
I look forward to the day I will see with my own eyes the dawn of heaven break as you descend in glory to take me home to yourself. In the meanwhile, clarify my vision of your love for me and your purposes for my life. Then help me to walk in the light of that vision. In your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
