Thought for the Week

What does the Christian Cross represent?

I shared a house years ago with a friend who was terrified of snakes – even a photograph was too much.

She had an encyclopaedia with photographs and knew by heart the pages she couldn’t open: an- for anaconda; rat- for rattle-snake...

There is a cure for these phobias – it’s a gentle exposure: first to the thought of a snake, then a photograph of one, then maybe an actual snake-skin... and it works well.

My friend wasn’t going there, though. She knew a wildlife cameraman who’d had a terror of snakes who had done the course. He was so amazingly cured that he now spent his time in the Amazon filming anacondas – and she wasn’t going to risk that!

The Cross of Jesus can be a snake-figure like that. What on earth are we doing lifting up an instrument of torture? What does it say about Christians’ minds? It can evoke horror, anger, fear, hate, rejection – depending on someone’s upbringing, perhaps. It may provoke indifference or puzzlement. Or sorrow, compassion – and even consolation and inner strength.

The Cross does depict all the horrors we try to turn from: human violence; torture; rejection; pain; death. All of them.

It is a short-hand for Gaza, Palestine and Israel, for Ukraine and Russia... but does this make it a crass piece of sadomasochism? A way of controlling people to make new victims of them? Or can it really be a pathway to inner growth and human flourishing, as Christians claim?

To help you ask these questions, we invite you to an interactive exhibition, Journey to the Cross, in Ardrishaig Public Hall from Thursday March 28 to Saturday March 30.

Reverend Canon Simon Mackenzie, Lochgilphead Scottish Episcopal Church.