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For the word of the 
cross is folly to those 
who are perishing, 
but to us who are 
being saved it is 
the power of God
1 Corinthians 1:18
 
 
 

Let us rejoice in the cross…
 
On September 14, we celebrate Holy Cross Day - a feast unique in the Church year as it celebrates the icon of the cross itself.
 
In the first century, the cross represented Roman brutality, oppression, and death. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus invites us to reimagine the cross, revealing how God can redeem even the very worst of humanity.
 
In the centuries following the crucifixion, the cross became a sign of God’s work in the world and the glorious way he turns everything upside down – the first shall be last, the lowly shall be exalted, the foolish shame the wise, God’s power is perfected in weakness, and in death there is new and everlasting life. 
Breathe
 
Inhale: I take up my cross
 
Exhale: and follow you
 
of Matthew 16:24
Pray
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the Cross that he might draw the whole world to himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer
Sing
Legend has it…
There are a number of durable and fascinating medieval legends that assert the cross of Christ was made from wood from Eden. In Acts 10:39, Luke refers to the cross as “a tree” thereby connecting the instrument which brought sin and death into the world (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) to the instrument which broke the power of sin and death (the tree of the cross). It seems that the Medieval scholars took this idea and ran with it:
  • In one story, Seth returns to Eden when Adam is dying and the sentinel angel gives Seth three seeds from the Tree of Life to put in Adam’s mouth at burial. The seeds grow into three trees – cedar, cypress, and pine – which merge into a single trunk. From this tree is taken Moses’s rod which becomes a beam in Solomon’s temple. Eventually, this beam ends up in Joseph’s carpenter shop where Judas somehow purchases it and gives it to the Romans for Jesus’s cross.
  • In another story, this Edenic tree is cut down for wood in Solomon’s temple but found unusable by the temple builders. They bury the wood in the spot where the pool of Bethesda was eventually dug and that’s how the pool has miraculous healing properties. Later, when Jesus is condemned, the wood floats to the top of the pool, is scooped up by the Romans, and fashioned into the cross for Jesus.
  • Some traditions claim that Adam simply took wood from either the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or the Tree of Life with him out of Eden and from it, carved a staff which he carried his whole life. According to myth, Adam was buried at Golgotha with his staff (this is why in Adam’s skull is often found at the foot of the cross in byzantine icons and medieval crucifixes) and somehow that staff becomes part of the cross.
While each of these legends is – to varying degrees – preposterous, the broader point relating the tree of the garden and the first Adam to the tree of the Christ and the second Adam is well-taken. 
 
Bonus

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