A holding cross

This morning Stuart gave me a gift of a holding cross. For which thanks and appreciation both for the gift and what informs it. Wood is one of my favourite materials, though funnily enough I’ve never been very good at making things with wood. But I love its touch, its warmth, the flow and contours of the grain, the varieties of colour, tone and texture. One of my treasured possessions is a hand tooled beech wood bowl from the children and staff of Beechwood School in Aberdeen, a place where some of my most hilarious, holy and hilariously holy moments were enjoyed. Another is the Victorian Oak picture frame that holds one of my own designed tapestries of a stained glass window – think I’ll blog on it when I get a decent photo of it. So now to add to these, and other wooden artefacts (like Victorian hand carved book-ends in the shape of two parrotts), I have a holding cross.

The leaflet that comes with it has several prayers and readings. But nowadays when I think of the cross, and search for words that are anywhere near adequate, my inner default takes me to James Denney

When we look at Christ crucified and risen, the revelation of God it makes to us is this; God is redeeming love, in power of omnipotence; or God is omnipotent power in the service of redeeming love.