{"id":1323,"date":"2025-09-13T16:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:14:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:14:26","slug":"things-you-can-do-with-a-sign-of-the-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/2025\/09\/13\/things-you-can-do-with-a-sign-of-the-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"Things you can do with a sign of the cross"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clapham Village Newsletter, October-November 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went to the crossroad, fell down on his knees – did old Robert Johnson. He asked the Lord above, “Have mercy, save me if you please\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot of things you can do with a sign of the cross. You can make it a meeting place with the devil or with the Lord, like the blues singers do. You can make it a request for divine assistance in the manner of footballers, arriving on the pitch eyes lifted in petition, genuflecting. You can have it smeared in ash on your forehead to signal the start of your Lenten abstinence, or baked in to a hot cross bun when you break that fast. You can put it on a road sign. You can use it to direct people towards medical assistance or to signify a country on a flag. You can buy cross-shaped necklaces in all kinds of designs: I\u2019ve heard jewellers say that occasionally a shopper may request \u201cone with a little man on it\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In vicar training school they told us that following our ordination – the cathedral service when the bishop says special prayers for us – we would be uniquely empowered by The Church to bestow blessings on people by the simple cross-shaped motion of our hands. Now, I grew up with an understanding of \u201cthe priesthood of all believers\u201d so I venture to suggest that anyone<\/em>, with the genuine intention of blessing another, could do it in this way, to the same effect, should they so wish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which isn\u2019t to deny how much I cherish those moments at the end of our services where I\u2019m able to send people out with a blessing, or when I make the cross-sign as a greeting at someone\u2019s doorway, or on a baptised child\u2019s forehead, or at a hospital bedside, with a family bidding their fond, prayerful, farewells to their loved one about to depart this life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sign of a cross can be a sign of welcome – as when it flies above St James\u2019 Church tower, the Cross of St George signalling a church which is open for all. It\u2019s a sign of the Church of England, that is, a church here to serve everyone on this island, of whatever circumstance in life. For some onlookers this red-cross-on-white may signify this country which they love, whether for its cricket or its creatures, its shipping forecast or its peculiar weather, but mostly because, for them, regardless of its shortcomings (which are legion) it is familiar and it is home<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, you can also use the cross as a sign of hostility, as we see it displayed on the gowns of the Klu Klux Klan whilst going about their lynchings, or when painted onto roundabouts in antagonism against a maligned minority group. I suggest that this cruel inhumanity is the most faithful use of a sign of a cross<\/em>, because it is the closest in meaning to the cross\u2019s original intention. For in Christianity the original cross was the mechanism for Jesus\u2019 execution. In gospel times, crosses were how manipulative political players and aggravated crowds got rid of those they\u2019d demonised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three people hung at Calvary that day. Jesus and two condemned companions: were they each a scapegoat of sorts, the fatal violence inflicted on them a convenient way of galvanising the community? In this telling, the sign of the cross is a bloody, horrible, human, thing: this urge to “exterminate all the brutes\u201d, it is \u201cthe sin of the world\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why then would the Christian church turn the cross into a golden icon of temporal glory shining within some of the world’s most showy, expensive buildings? Some say because of Roman Emperor Constantine\u2019s vision of a cross in the sky, on the night before a big battle, which he won, and his consequent adoption of the motto, “In this sign you shall conquer\u201d. Thus the cross became an emblem of empire, a triumphalist symbol, a justification of state violence; with the notion of self-sacrifice at the heart of Christ\u2019s offering on Calvary now commandeered for military purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reason why the cross became glorified is that the Church came to see it as a sign of the success of the resurrection. Those necklaces with the little man on them only tell the start of the story. The empty <\/em>crosses tell it all: \u201cHe is not here – he is risen!\u201d Thus the cross becomes the sign of the possibility of redemption – and particularly for those who the world wants to crucify. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see this in bombed-out cities where at the sight of the Red Cross, the injured find cause for hope; we see it on stormy seas where at the sight of the RNLI flag – with the cross at its heart – those who thought themselves lost to the waves know that rescue is at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use the sign of the cross for any purpose. Who will use it as a sign of hope? Who will use it as a sign of healing? Who will use it as a sign of grace and of redemption?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clapham Village Newsletter, October-November 2025 He went to the crossroad, fell down on his knees – did old Robert Johnson. He asked the Lord above, “Have mercy, save me if you please\u201d. There\u2019s a lot of things you can do with a sign of the cross. You can make it a meeting place with the … Continue reading “Things you can do with a sign of the cross”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1323"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1337,"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions\/1337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johndavies.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}