During Lent, I will be returning the Crucifix to the Fellowship Hall.
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For those perishing, the message of the cross is foolishness; but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”
I recently watched “James May’s Our Man in India,” a light hearted travelogue program. May, the British host, is taken around places of interest by local guides. In one scene, he visits a Buddhist temple, he remarks to the guide how there are no frightening statues in it compared to nearby Hindu temples. “Well, what about Jesus, bleeding on crosses in English churches?” she responded laughingly, “Those always frighten me.”
Now, before you shake your head in disapproval, you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to find people who are repulsed by the “foolishness of the cross.” In fact, you don’t even have to look outside the Christian religion itself. When I first came to Angola, I hosted a prayer meeting with pastors from a variety of denominations. Before we met, I gave a few a tour of the building. “Wow,” one remarked on seeing a crucifix, “you really have Jesus dying on a cross in your hall. That’s bold.” He wished his congregation was more receptive to having crosses in their building, but they don’t because, “It would be too shocking to visitors. We don’t even have a cross in our sanctuary. But we’ll project one on the screens from time to time.”
His sentiments represent what’s been called “seeker friendly” church methods, but I can’t say I agree. I’ve met other Christians who oppose crucifixes because Christ is risen and only empty crosses are appropriate. (Our main altar has a Christus Rex – a risen Christ btw.) The question arises, why do we have crucifixes in our building?
• They help us see the depth of Christ’s faithfulness.
• They help us to remember God is present to our suffering – and redeems them.
• They remind us of the historical reality Jesus’s life.
• They encourage us to repent from our sins.
They let us come to the same conclusions as Issac Watts in his great hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

1 When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.

2 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
save in the death of Christ, my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them through his blood.

3 See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?

4 Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.

Hymn 474