Holy Cross

Holy Cross - 2007

Tonight we celebrate the cross. The feast dates from September 14, 320 AD when the Empress Helena believed she had found the True Cross. She must have experienced the words of Christ, “take up your cross”, in a very real and unique way. Her response was to make the cross available for public veneration – a practice that is imitated worldwide to this day on Good Friday and on Holy Cross Day. In a wonderful sense, she not only took up the cross, she also showed its glory to the world.

I’ve been exploring what those words: “take up your cross” mean to me. One image that keeps coming up in my mind is the image of Jesus naked, wounded, empty-handed, carrying only the cross. Even then, collapsing under its weight. How can I take up the cross? I believe that requires first letting go of those things that prevent me from taking up the cross, in a way, imitating the emptying of God in Christ.

I make my Confession several times each year, first asking a basic question. Where is my heart? I look at where my time, my money, and other resources are going to see where my heart truly is. What are my treasures? How are they being used? Do I budget more money each week for fun with friends than I pledge to the church each week? Do I plan to spend more time relaxing, surfing the net, going out, or watching TV than I plan to spend praying, worshipping God, and practicing charity?

Coming to an honest answer can be difficult. A while back I too a good look at how my money was being spent, I found that the “Church portion” was less than the “entertaining myself portion”. It was and remains a challenge to budget one tenth of my money to the Church. Recently, I’ve focused on how my time is being spent. It is never easy to take up the cross, but I’ve noticed that the more I let go of other things, the less difficult it becomes. I’ve also noticed that when I try to imitate Christ, I am more and more able to show the glory of God in Christ to others.

Today is Holy Cross Day. It is a celebration of the love of God in Christ who, to use the words of the Prayer Book, stretched out his arms on the hard wood of the cross so that all the world might come within the reach of his saving embrace. On the cross Jesus is naked, wounded, and he dies. Yet, through that darkness God acts, and the cross becomes the exaltation of Jesus, glorified to the whole world. I hope the example of Christ, empty-handed yet with his arms free and open to the whole world may inspire all of us to empty ourselves, take up our own cross so that we may share in the glory of the resurrection and, like the saints who came before us, show that glory to the whole world.