02.16.09
Preparing for the Cross
16 February 2009
Dear Friends:
Greetings. Here at NHUMC, we’re thinking about Lent. Lent is a season (not a piece of string in your pocket) that the Church has used traditionally over the years to prepare for Easter. Symbolic of Lent is the cross. What does the cross do for you?
For some, it’s something that they don’t want to deal with. Thus, there’s a real push to go from Christmas to Easter without pausing for Good Friday. And yet, there’s no Easter without Good Friday, is there? There is no resurrection without death, is there? There is no atonement for our sins without crucifixion, is there? Someone had to pay the price for the garbage that we’ve made, for the sins that we’ve committed.
Look at the cross. What do you see? Does it make a difference in your life? Does it make a difference in how you treat others, how you treat yourself, how you treat God? I look at it and I see a plus sign. It’s a sign of uplifting rather than deflating; a sign of encouragement as opposed to discouragement; a sign of love as opposed to hate.
Isaac Watts, looking at it, stated that the cross, a symbol of love, was a love so amazing, so divine, that it demanded his soul, his life, his all. The cross of Christ: what does it do for you? Come on by and talk with me about it. The coffee’s fresh. The lights are on.
Your friend, Pastor Don
