The Holy Cross

Today on the church calendar is Holy Cross day, a commemoration not for physical thing that was the implement of execution for Jesus, but for the meaning of that death. What does the cross mean for our modern world, our modern lives? Does what happened on the cross change anything?

The answer is a resounding YES! God used the cross event to purge sin and death from the end of the story of God and us. Jesus is crucified on the cross, but he takes sin down with him (and then God raises him up--but that's the empty tomb's story)


I like to think of the cross as an intersection between the heavenly and the earthly--because God acted through it to redeem us from sin. There are still spots and situations in our world where the cross is seen then--wherever God acts to end the power of sin and death--wherever the divine intersects with the earthly. In the work of relief workers in Africa. In the
sacrificial love of a parent for a child. In the golden hues of a setting sun, bathing the ugliness of the inner city with a godly glow.

Be on the lookout for the cross today. You may be surprised where you see it!