I was asked the other day about the cross I wear around my neck. My short answer was that "I wear a cross as simple reminder to me that Jesus Christ is Lord of my life … if only I'll let him". But then I started musing about other reasons; it seemed quite an appropriate subject for a Lenten reflection in the lead up to Easter. Lots of people like to wear a cross. Wearing a cross around your neck actually isn't always a faith statement. It can also be a fashion statement. Considering the cross a stylish, fashionable accessory may seem ironic, but we can hardly regard it as strange. Quite a few people have a beautiful cross lying around in a box somewhere. They're attractive.

In today's world though I do wonder how we are able to hear and understand the words of Jesus when he said: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Picking up your cross and wearing it around your neck isn't what Jesus had in mind. The cross was an instrument of execution back in Jesus' day. I doubt that many of us who wear a cross around our neck consider the fact that we are wearing an instrument of execution shaped out of precious metal and perhaps studied with pearls or rubies.

When we look at it that way, I wonder who would want to wear it. Perhaps it might be the sort of accessory that followers and fans of some heavy-metal band might adopt as a token of their grim loyalty. It most definitely does not seem like a sign of life. Yet that is precisely what the Gospel of Mark insists that it is. For those who would "save their life," the cross is the only way. Clinging to life fearfully, we cannot open our hands to receive the gift of life.

The Gospel of Mark first symbolized the Christian dynamic of saving one's life by losing it and pointing out that it had everything to do with bearing a cross. For in Mark, nothing is closer to the heart of the matter than the cross. Jesus' true identity is revealed publicly only after Jesus loses his own life on the cross and the centurion shouts, "Truly this man was God's Son!" Other scriptural sayings are a lot easier to accept, such as, "What will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?" That sounds like the tongue in cheek saying, "You can't take it with you". But what can we possibly make of "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me"? The words persist and haunt me. They are very unfashionable. Then the words of Isaiah came to mind. Speaking of the Messiah to come, the prophet wrote: "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him" (Isa. 53:2).

Our best attempts to glamorise the cross or tame its dreadful claim both ring hollow. There is no other way. So, wear your crosses; hold onto them. It is the only way.

Ladies Cricket training starts on Friday 17^th April 6.30 pm at Elstead Pavilion Thursley Road. Do come and join us for a fun time.

Mens Cricket training starts on Sunday 5^th April 3.00 pm an Elstead Pavilion.