The Complete Cross

This seemingly simple change shows all who see it the true story of God on Earth, of Jesus Christ. Yes, God came to the earth to die for our sins, to die a sinner’s death, to die undeservedly, slowly, brutally. Many churches hang a representation of Christ crucified, wearing rags, with wounds in his hands and a pierced side. Yet the Crucifix, or cross, that many Christians wear as an outward sign of their inward faith tells only part of the story.

Christ has died -- nailed to a tree for the sins of the world. Yet the traditional cross stops short as a representation of our faith, as though we have stopped reading the story just pages short of the ending. The traditional cross serves to remind us of the death of Jesus, of the suffering of God’s only son. Yet no matter how good “Good Friday,” might have been, no matter how necessary, the story would have been unremarkable, even pedestrian, without what came after: Easter.

Easter is not the story of the death of God, but the story of resurrection, of redemption, of the empty tomb. Jesus gave himself as the Lamb of the World, gave his blood for our sins, gave his very life on the cross. Redemption came after, came just three short days later, when Mary Magadelene and the others came to the grave as mourners, only to find the stone had rolled away, revealing not the corpse of Christ, but an empty tomb. The risen Christ returned to our humble earth

--

The complete cross serves as a continual reminder that Christ is risen -- and because Christ has risen, we have risen, are rising, and will continue to rise. With God’s forgiveness, we can wake each morning with clear consciences, yesterday’s sins forgiven, a blank slate, our pasts wiped clean. There will never come a day when God might weigh our sins in one hand, our virtues in the other, and in the balance we are found wanting. Rather, each and every day and dawn bring us a blank, bright slate upon which we write our lives.

Christ is risen, as we are rising, continually striving towards something we can’t see -- No one knows where the finish line is; we cannot know the hour, the day, or the year of our passing. The Complete Cross reminds us that, as Christ rose from the dead, so too do we have the power to rise up out of sin, or even out of the sometimes small, sometimes sad realities from which are built our months, our years, our decades, our lifetimes.

Wearing the Complete Cross should help every Christian tell the true story of Christ, of his death and resurrection, and of our redemption. Strangers might ask why the cross you wear looks different than the ones they’ve seen before; this can be a perfect opportunity to explore different faith ideas, and to share the story of Christ as we understand it. Christ has died -- Christ has risen.Write your text here...