Friday, August 24, 2012
1 Corinthians 1:23 ... we preach Christ crucified: ...
THE CROSS: KEY TO CHRISTIAN FAITH AND WORSHIP
The VBS children seated in the church pews for their opening devotion were asked to count the crosses displayed throughout the church. Though the church was not large, their final count was something like 27. It is not just that the cross is the most common and central symbol of the Christian faith; the cross of Christ is the key to understanding our faith and worship.
The cross on or above the altar reminds us that our prayers are heard by God when we come trusting in Christ's atoning sacrifice. And from the altar we receive the very body and blood of our crucified Lord -- his personal pledge of forgiveness to all who come forward with penitent, believing hearts.
The cross on the pulpit declares that, like the apostle Paul, our pastors are determined to make Christ and Him crucified the heart and soul of our churches' proclamation. We also believe that it is the power of the message of Christ-crucified through which the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and lives -- as the message of Jesus' redeeming love renews and inspires, restores and reinvigorates us.
The cross on the lectern reminds us that all that the Bible teaches finds its focus, meaning and validity in the sacrifice of God's own Son for us sinners. You cannot understand the Old Testament or the New apart from the cross of Christ.
The baptismal font bears a cross as well. It is the message of the cross that the Holy Spirit melds with the water of God's command, so that His regenerating grace works in the hearts and lives of those baptized.
The crosses on the pew ends remind us that the same Lord who shed His blood to claim us as His own continues to keep us His people through the application of the message of His self-sacrificing love to our hearts. His cross enables us to come before God with grateful hearts and upraised voices. And His cross, of course, not only marks the pews from which we worship but our lives as we rise from those pews to live Christ’s love in this sin-wracked world.
