Not a Good Luck Charm

Greetings Dear Reader,

Last week a student came to me about an exam he had to take.  He was obviously nervous and approached me with an air of uncertainty.  He expressed his fear of the exam and we spent some time going over the material he needed to know.  He seemed more confident when we finished.  I went through the key points one more time and then had to get to a meeting.  As I walked out the door he thanked me then said, “It’s not a worry anyway, I will be wearing my cross.”

I spent the entire meeting thinking about this instead of focusing on the meeting.  I am unsure how to approach how I feel about the way in which such a significant symbol of my faith has become relegated to the categories of jewelry or good luck charm.  I do not know why God chose the cross for his place to buy our redemption.  There are heaps of theories and theological postulations about it but none of them ring true for me. 

One of my Grandfather’s favorite songs “The Old Rugged Cross” refers to the cross as “an emblem of suffering and shame.”  There is nothing gold or pretty about the cross.  It was the condemnation place for thieves and political enemies of Rome.  It was a painful torturous death.  People would gather to mock and abuse the dying.  Most of the crucified died of suffocation over a matter of days. 

The cross has no power of its own.  It is what Christ did there that matters.  It is the death and life of Christ that impacts our lives.  The cross I have on my bandana is not just jewelry or a good luck charm.  It is there to remind me that even in leisure I have an obligation to live up to.  The cross is a place of death. 

The Passion of the Christ

The cross reminds me that I must abandon my “self” and die to the things that would occlude others seeing Christ in me.  I cannot take up the cross as if it were a stylish thing.  It offers shame and reproach to be identified with the cross.  Truly following Christ is the path to death that leads to life. 

The cross is the place where God’s blood was demanded so that he could redeem us to himself.  The cross is a wretched place that God used to build a way out of our state of distance from him.  It is our bridge to redemption.  It is the symbol of all the things that God does to call me to him.  The cross on that hill on that day is the marker, the stake planted in the earth that points to the time when God did all that he could to show his love for us.

The cross is not a good luck charm but God hopes to use it to win our hearts. The cross is not about the the wood or the shape.  It is about the man who hung there.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."