Indeed. On this the day of the Holy Cross, we should remember the tree that gave us the chance at life.
Much to her credit, former Bishop Carol S. Hendrix of the Lower Susquehanna Synod, ELCA, always scheduled the annual Bishop’s Convocation to coincide with Holy Cross Day and began the day with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
Newly elected Bishop B. Penrose Hoover has continued that tradition this year, but, as the presentations (following Eucharist) will be nothing but a sales pitch for the “One Lutheran” campaign (the ELCA version of the UN Millenium Development Goals so ballyhooed by TEC’s PBp Katherine Schori) yours truly is conspicuously absent from the gathering.
I refuse to equate the MDG’s with the Kingdom of God!
The tree did nothing.
Do you also "venerate" the nails, the ropes, the hammer, the arm that drove the spikes, the hands the beat Christ's face, the whip that tore open his back, the bowl that Pilate washed his hands in? Where does it stop? Indeed, where does it begin?