Have you noticed the five crosses that we've selected to use as icons here on the Worship website?

Embracing the Cross... 

Introduction:

We embrace the cross because it is a powerful, transforming symbol.  Symbols are making a comeback these days.  Most of us, by age and education, are products of the modern era that taught us that anything worthwhile was measurable.  Logic, reason, and science— not symbols— were the vehicles that would take us down the road to truth.

But ready or not, all that is changing. For we Christians, this can be a very good, timely thing, for we never did hold that science was the ultimate decider of truth in the first place. The modern era did some serious damage to matters of faith. You can’t measure God. And you really can’t measure a good Christian symbol.

We are now living in a time when much more importance is given to experience, when there is great openness to forms of communication other than the written and spoken word. And that’s another remarkable thing about a good symbol: It speaks volumes without using words.

This is true of the cross. The cross is the ultimate Christian symbol: It can’t be measured, and it speaks volumes without using words.

The cross is an icon in the very best sense of the word. Think of the icon on your computer screen. The computer icon is a little picture that you "click" on with your "mouse" in order to access a software program. The icon isn’t the program— it isn’t the destination— but it points you there. Ascribing power to the symbol rather than the power it points to is kind of like camping out at the road sign that points to the emergency room hoping to get treatment there, rather than going on down the street to the hospital itself.

And yet the cross— the wonderful cross— is a transforming, powerful symbol.

Crosses on Our Website: 

The first cross on our website is called the "Cross Crosslet". It's comprised of four crosses of equal length, joined at their bases, and pointing the four directions of the compass. This cross is meant to convey that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is go out to all four corners of the globe.

The next cross is the simple "Greek cross", another example of a cross with four equal parts. Historians believe that this may be the earliest form of the cross to show up in symbolism and art of the early Christian church.

The ornate "Jerusalem" or "Pilgrim's Cross" comes next. Can you spot the four smaller crosses in each of the quadrants of the main cross? Making a total of five crosses, the symbol is said to represent the "five wounds" of Christ" (of the nails and of His side). The cross was often worn by believers who were making pilgrimmage to Jerusalem.

The fourth cross on our Worship and Creative Arts main menu is the lovely "Celtic Cross", also called the "Cross of Iona". It was said to be taken from what is now Ireland to the island of Iona by Columba in the sixth century. The cross is often covered with ornate carvings and the "knot work" often used in Celtic art.

The final cross is called the "Anchor Cross" and was used by believers in the catacombs especially during the first three hundred years of Christianity when persecution was so heavy. It is believed that the origins of the cross is Egyptian.