Brian’s Reflection: Friday, September 14, 2007


Relinquishing control is the ultimate challenge of the Spiritual Warrior.

- the Book of Runes


Today, in the Christian calendar, is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The cross on which Jesus was crucified has been the principle symbol of Christian faith since the very beginning.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the cross with the figure of Jesus on it became dominant. Does this mean that the death of Jesus is somehow paramount, along with His suffering and pain? It seems so to me. “Christ died for me” is more often heard in Roman Catholic devotions and books and sermons than “Christ lives for me”.

In the Protestant tradition, it was and is the empty or bare cross that dominates. Is this saying that Christ’s death is irrelevant in the face of the Resurrection? Personally, I think this is nearer the message of the Gospel. Yet, I do not see in any of the Christian expressions a clear focus on Being Alive in Christ, in living one’s life. Of leaving Death in all its forms behind. Of living every moment fully and without fear.

I appreciate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (and will say so again on Sunday) because it celebrates the Cross itself, not the Mystery of what God “did for us”.

Simply put, this Feast thanks the Cross - the two beams of wood that composed it - for its part in revealing a Mystery which, if we catch some understanding of it, frees us to live fully, fearlessly, freely.

In my mind, the Cross has come to represent each human being. We , like the wood of the Cross, can be so rigid, unyielding, made hard and rejecting by our egos, our character defects, our old behaviours, our fears. So much so that we refuse to embrace the gifts for Life that are being offered. We seek to control, We begin to believe that our humanity is incapable of great beauty. But a great early hymn addresses the Cross, in a sense thanking It for relaxing its rigidity and embracing the body of Jesus. By letting go of control, of holding on to a long-held way of being, the Cross broke a barrier, letting Life flood through. People have debated “how” for millennia, but the “how” is secondary to the gift.

Relinquish control. Let down barriers. Like the Cross, reach out and throw your arms around the Love which alone makes us fully human, and which “The Christ” universally represents. As we “exalt” the Cross, we are cheering on our own courage in letting down our defenses, allowing ourselves to be inhabited by the Life-force we call God”.

Brian+