“Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”—Matthew 16:24

Has there ever been a symbol as nuanced and multi-faceted as the Christian cross? How could such a simple, stark figure stand as a world-wide icon of both horror and hope, brutality and gentleness? The cross is the ultimate reminder of the worst our species is capable of and the lengths that God is willing to go to have us back in relationship with Him. Portrayed with Christ hanging on it, the cross emphasizes one theological nuance preferred by one sub-community of his followers. Displayed “empty” it emphasizes another shade of its meanings preferable to yet another sub-set within Christendom. Like a diamond, its facets haunt many of us as a dazzling paradox of sacrifice and love, of weakness and strength, of brokenness and healing, of death and new life. Others, completely oblivious, wear it as a pop cultural fashion accessory. It even made the headlines again recently when used, or misused, depending on your point of view, as a controversial call to humanitarian action by the pop star Madonna.

Along with everything else, the cross’ simple two dimensional design has often been invoked to demonstrate the dual nature of God’s reconciling work with us. The vertical beam is described as representing our reconciliation with God, the vertical relationship in our life, while the horizontal crossbar represents the healing and reconciliation that comes to the horizontal, or earthly, relationships of our life as a result of what Christ has done for us.

Living in community is not always easy, but it is, without a doubt, God’s intentional design for our life in this world and for teaching us valuable lessons about ourselves, God and others during our sojourn on this planet. Over the next two months we will be exploring the relationships represented by that horizontal crossbeam in our new sermon series entitled, “Relationships that Give Life”. We will look at the nature of our various human relationships, God’s intention for them, some of the pitfalls, hazards and frustrations, and what we might do in order to get the most out of them.

As I have said before, being human and in relationship is a bit like two porcupines trying to hug each other. I hope you will make a point of joining us as we enter into the turbulent, murky but healing waters of living together in relationship. I can’t think of a more precious group of porcupines to enter these waters with. Thank you for letting me be your pastor.

Love,

Dave