This morning in church my little sibs, age five and nine, pulled out two paper-cutout crosses, turned them around and waged battle against each other with their "swords". The Cross of Christ as a weapon. So we made them stop, obviously a full out war in the back of the Sunday service would be disruptive. But more than that, I was embarassed, red-in-the-face that they would move to violence with such a terrible and sacred image.
This is the world we live in, this is in our broken-nature. Violence flows out of us as easy as a smile. And more than just their would-be war, I realized that we have never taught them that those who wield the Cross ought not to wield swords. And that our faith must never ever be a weapon, that the Way of the Cross is a way of Peace. Because Christ has called us to much more, and much better.
We all have so much to learn.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
A Sword
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2 comments:
I'm not saying that we should all turn our crosses upside down and stab each other, but the cross is a symbol of battle. At least to me. The cross is s symbol that reminds me, among other things, of the victory that is ours, over Satan. We cannot have victory unless there is a battle. I doubt that your siblings were thinking of our war against hell when they started fighting, but it might not be so bad to see the cross as a weapon.
I know what you were going for though, and I realize that my comment does not hold the same context, but I think the world, or North America for sure, could use some more spiritually aggressive Christians. I know that I tend to live with the armor sitting on the shelf.
love the new layout kim!
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