A little encounter

On the beach this weekend, the cross was the subject of graffiti. On a beautiful stone thrust from the ocean was an ornate cross painted in silver sparkling spray paint. This was one of the last boulders pushed here from a huge glacier covering most of the U.S. at one point. I was in a prayerful place and the words came through loud and clear, "Perhaps the problem is that we decorate our crosses." I laughed, because I rarely use definitives like "the problem." So there was truth in the statement and an subtle indictment that I look for the quick understandings...

What happens when the crosses we bear become jewel-filled and made of precious metals? What happens when they are simply functional, torture devices. Designed to splinter, discourage comfort and breath, and capable of no message other than a cursed death?

I was moved by this painting of Orozco. Perhaps Jesus is ticked at what we've done to the cross...