Our Holy Cross

Yesterday was Holy Cross Day. We celebrated it at our 10am service in style. We sang some well loved hymns and listened to resonant words of scripture . Mark told us about how, early in the fourth century, St Helena is credited with discovering the cross on which Jesus was crucified. He reminded us of how important a symbol it has been down the ages; embodied in the architecture and imagery of our church. He showed us a crucifix he had been given and spoke of how it had accompanied him in his life. This reminded us of our own experience of those crosses and crucifixes which mean much to us personally; for example, the beautiful cross used as a focus in our Taize services.

I have just recently met the cross in another context. On Saturday I went to a teaching day organised by the Church Times at Southwark Cathedral. On my journey down I saw many people draped in union flags or St George’s Cross flags making their way to the gathering point for Tommy Robinson’s march. The meaning of those flags in this context is clear. It is a call to some exclusive form of nationalism, based on grievances exploited by those expert in handling crowds. At no point does it reference our central understanding of the cross as a measure of God’s love and self offering.

Our Heritage Day at St Peter’s then, which sadly I missed, is important. It is a precious opportunity to welcome everyone to our church; to show them who we are and what we do; to show them the Cross in context and to invite them to join us in learning more about God and his son Jesus Christ. This continues to be our privilege throughout the year.

We will never exhaust the meaning of the Cross. It meets us in church and in daily life. It is something to be shared, as we get on with the messy business of everyday living. It exists to unite us and give us hope.

Foretelling his own death on the Cross, Jesus said “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Amen.