Crosses in Gardens

Cross on the Hill at Hot Springs
Photo Cred: Dave Driver

Crosses in gardens seem more real, somehow.

Yes, let's put them on our places of worship, and wear them around our necks, or hang them on the walls of our homes to remember, to identify ourselves with this Sacrifice.  

But we all know these are sanitized symbols.  

So it's good for us, sometimes, to go outside.  

To reflect beside the rough wood of it.  

To be more real about it.

Crosses in Thailand feel more real somehow.  

Inside or outside.

Maybe because they stand in stark contrast to golden domes.

But just in case I'm tempted to point fingers, 

we Christians tend to glitter too.

Drawn to the bigness of it, I guess.

Different ways to point to God.

Again, no pointing fingers.

There's room at the Cross for this.

But still.

Crosses in gardens seem more real.

In some ways of thinking, 

suffering is to be avoided at all costs.

There's another stark contrast for Thais.

Christian Thais.

We worship a God who suffered.

All the more reason for crosses in Thailand to feel more real.

Inside or outside.

There is no 'spring' in Thailand, either.

Nothing to 'cross' over between equinox and resurrection.

No cultural expression of a celebration of dying that brings life.

Not seasonal.

Not like we do.

All that's left is what is real.

Crosses in gardens.

And hope piercing a recycling of despair.

All of us at New Family Foundation wish you all the very best, 

most real Easter ever.

And if you get the chance,

go visit a Cross in a garden.

Some surprising encounters have happened there before.