You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully ... Deuteronomy 4:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 3, 2012): Deuteronomy 4

I admit that I have openly wondered if the church that I pastor has a cross problem. When we moved into the church building we now occupy, it seemed that whenever I turned around I found a cross. There were big crosses and small crosses and midsize crosses. There were crosses painted on pieces of cloth and engraved on future and often items seemed to be arranged in the form of ... a cross. So I started to take the crosses away, hiding them in various places. But I would be amazed at how people searched for them, and when they found them they would be returned to their place of significance.

The cross has also made tremendous inroads into our culture. No matter where it is that I go, - I see them. They adorn various necks and ears. They are tattooed onto arms and backs and ankles. They are used in mockery, misshapen and sometimes upside down. But they are all still crosses. And the thing that sticks with me is that the cross is really nothing more than an executioner’s tool. But to the Christian, it is loved because it was with a cross that Jesus was sacrificed for us.

And so crosses, the symbols of an execution, abound everywhere. But the question is - should they? I am not against crosses, but I do think we have to be very careful what it is that we think the cross that decorates our churches and our persons is really doing for us. As a remembrance the cross has a purpose. But when they multiply – I think we have problem. I think the cross has begun to mean something more – maybe even something more than it should.

Christians are not the only ones with a problem. In Judaism, sometimes I am as concerned about the way that the Torah or other written documents are handled during worship. I am not saying that it is wrong, but is it just possible that we have elevated these symbols above where God would have us hold them. Have they maybe even become idols in our worship?

Moses reminds Israel (in the Torah) that when God appeared, the people saw no form of any kind. As much as it is in our nature to raise objects until they become the object of our worship and veneration, God purposefully gave us nothing to elevate. There was no vision or symbol that could be formed that could represent God (and that is really my problem with the abundance of Christian crosses in the church and the ritual that surrounds the Torah in the temple or synagogue – they have come to represent God.) So that rather than worship an object, we would worship God. As hard as this is for some of us, the cross is not God. God is not in any piece of wood or artwork. He is in you. And anything that threatens to interfere with that understanding needs to be left behind – permanently.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 5