OK . . . Stay!

Good Friday arrived.
And that remaining single trunk of the once glorious Christmas Tree stood tall and stately, still claiming its space, not giving up.
It was definitely not going away . . . not yet.
Over the past weeks attempts had been made to rid the building of that thing.
All failed!
Suggestions were offered in terms of why the thing still stood there. One reason was exchanged for still another.
All fell short.
And then, at last Good Friday arrived.
And the traditional Service for Good Friday began to unfold.
Scripture passages were proclaimed
John's Gospel once again related the greatest of love stories: For God so loved the world . . .
Ancient prayers called out to the gathered faithful: Let us pray . . .  let us kneel . . . let us stand.
And little by little we held in prayer all of the people, God's People, all for whom He gave His life in love on that cross.
And then it came!
Moments of silence were finally broken as from the rear of the church building musically the voice proclaimed:
Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the Savior of the world!
All eyes shifted to the back of the building.
And there it was!
That second trunk of the tree, that old Christmas Tree.
The second trunk; the one that had mysteriously disappeared days ago.
Now it was being carried horizontally, led by servers bearing lighted candles.
A pause once again in the middle of the Assembly.
And once again that proclamation in song, "Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the Savior of the world!"
And all sung in response, "Come, let us worship!"
And the procession moved on to the front, to the standing, remaining trunk of the old Christmas Tree.
And the carried crossbeam was fastened to the vertical tree trunk.
And we saw it!
As for a third time, now so much more powerfully than before the proclamation rang out.
Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the Savior of the world!
And we could see it right there before our very eyes.
 The old Christmas Tree had been transformed.
It was now a cross.
Come, let us worship!
That symbol of our joy at the coming of the Long Awaited One, the Promised One,
That symbol remanent that began more and more graphically to reflect the ugliness of our sinfulness, of our lack of love, of our many, many failures,
That symbol now stood before us transformed.
It was a cross!
It spoke now our the reason for His coming to dwell among us.
It spoke now of His willingness to embrace all of the ugliness of our sins.
It spoke now of His great love for us.
Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the Savior of the world.
Come, let us worship!



Still more to come . . . 


Meantime - Stay Safe! Stay Home!