Ever sit and wonder at the cross? It’s a simple symbol but for us as Christians, it means more than we can ever dream. When we look at the cross, we can only imagine the agony Jesus suffered for us on it. It is our reminder of saving grace given us to by God through Jesus. I can’t even sufficiently write about the cross because it is more than intellectual, it is emotional as well.
The simplicity of the cross without Jesus hanging on it, either as a corpus or as Christus Rex, should be considered. Two pieces of wood placed at right angles to each other. Usually, the longer of the two in the vertical position and the shorter in the horizontal, makes up many of the crosses we see. Ultimately, when I look at the cross, I see it as a symbol of relationship. A symbol of the relationship we have with God in all
forms.
So, what do I mean by that? Jesus asks us to be in right relationship with him by being in relationship with each other. I see it as a horizontal relationship. Each of us lives on this planet side-by side each other. If we look to our right or look to our left, we can see someone (pretend you have X-ray vision if necessary). The relationship Jesus teaches us about when he tells us to take care of one another is horizontal.
St. Stephen’s, in the shadow of our beloved patron, does this well. Stephen’s diaconal responsibilities were to carry the Gospel out to those who cannot come to the table. Whether it is food, clothes, water, shelter, healthcare, it doesn’t matter. Stephen was to go to those who need help caring for themselves. This is what our congregation does. We are in horizontal relationship with God.
The other part of the cross is vertical. I see that as a reminder of the vertical relationship we have with God. A one-on-one relationship that even Jesus had with his father. The Gospels tell us that Jesus went out into the wilderness so that he could converse with God. I think that the length of the vertical part of the cross is longer because sometimes we neglect that part of the relationship we are to have with God.
I started the 7:00pm Wednesday prayer times to give us some time with God: to call upon the Holy Spirit to help guide and feed us spiritually. The prayer time is for us to spend time with God contemplating the direction the Holy Spirit is taking us and caring for us. This is a time for us to work on our vertical relationship with God.
I think that I may have misjudged the time and the structure of this. After talking with the group who has met during this time, I find that an unstructured prayer time doesn’t work for a group of Episcopalians who are liturgically inclined. Also, some are unable to get to the group on a Wednesday.
Since we are a liturgical church, we will adjust the structure of the online prayer time and will use Compline as our guide. We will still take time to pray for our church and the world. We will start Compline on Wednesday, November 6th.
St. Stephen’s has traditionally had our Taizé service on Thursdays at 7:00pm. Starting in Advent (begins December 1), our prayer time, using Compline will be on Thursdays at 7:00pm. When we have a Taizé service in the sanctuary, there will be no online prayer, so I urge you to join the Taizé services. Let’s use this precious opportunity to spend time with God and each other in community.
Paul+