Rev. Cliff Ritter

Center yourself on today’s reflection by lighting a candle and reciting this breath prayer:
Inhale – Guide us, Lord, in your good way
Exhale – that all our work might speed your day.

“Upon that cross of Jesus mine eyes at times can see the very dying form of One who suffered there for me; and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess: the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.”- Beneath the Cross of Jesus 

1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…

Reflection:
Beneath the Cross of Jesus is one of the most powerful hymns of the Christian faith. It tells the story of Christ’s passion and death in a way that draws us into a personal experience with the cross. We envision ourselves standing beneath the heavy beams of that instrument of Roman persecution. Yet, we are aware that the punishment is not rightly placed on the shoulders of this innocent man, Jesus. We should be carrying the load, to bear the weight, and to suffer the persecution he took upon himself.  

We are the guilty party, even though the generations that separate us from that moment in history conveniently veil our culpability in his death. From our personal shame we reinvent the cross to be something it was never intended to be. We have cleansed the image of the cross so that it now fits into our home decor or as a piece of jewelry around our necks. However, the cross was more like the bloodied edge of the axe of Roman persecution.  

We have managed to romanticize the symbol of suffering and shame. We long to remove the pain and the sorrow of the crucifixion, perhaps hoping to ease our personal guilt. But when I soak in the perfection of our Savior, my own unworthiness becomes difficult to ignore. Surely, he did not deserve to die for me. 

But, his passion serves a greater purpose. Broken though I may be, God calls me worthy of God’s love. I am the recipient of a grace that is undeserved, one extended not only to me but to the entire world. Christ’s completed work on the cross offers redemption and forgiveness to every individual and to all humankind. God’s creation groans under the burden of sin and the corruption of humanity, but, in the end, all that God made to be good is restored to its original place in God’s order.  

Christ perishes in order that we might live.  

“Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land; a home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, from the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day.”

Prayer:
Lord God, give us the courage to stand in places that relieve us of our collective burdens. Help us to see the anguish of the cross, so that we might embrace the call to surrender all to the One who gave His all for us. Reveal the power of the cross to us in our daily reflections. Bring the conviction of spirit that we need, so that we might receive the gift of redemption and unconditional love. By your blood shed on the cross, make us worthy of the forgiveness you offer. With humility, we pray. Amen.