Day 23: “Walking in the Way of the Cross”

Day 23

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

HOLY WEEK: 

MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020

“Walking in the Way of the Cross”

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Monday of Holy Week, The Book of Common Prayer

It was mid-afternoon and I had laid down to rest in my small cell at the Benedictine monastery of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, a place of spiritual renewal for over 1,000 years where I had gone for an extended weekend retreat. I happened to glance up and realized there was a crucifix above my head on the wall. Instinctively I reached up, took it down and, grasping it tightly with both hands, held it tightly to my chest and began to weep. I was overwhelmed with an awareness of what He had done for me on the cross. I said nothing, but there was rather an internal meeting of my sinful nature and His saving nature, a conversation too deep for words.    

What does the cross mean to you? Perhaps you wear one – large glitzy crosses are common hung around the necks of rock stars and gang members. However, ‘walking in the way of the cross’ has nothing to do with wearing a cross but rather with how we live, how we ‘walk’ from day to day in the presence of the Triune God and in the presence of all those persons with whom we interact in a given day.

‘Walking in the way of the cross’ yields invisible internal consequences nothing in this world can offer, for as we walk ‘in the way of the cross’ we find in it ‘the way of life and peace.’

Reflective question: What does ‘walking in the way of the cross’ mean for you at this time in your life? Try explaining it to someone else and listen to what you say.

Reflective scripture: Galatians 2:20 (KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”   

Reflective hymn: “Near the Cross” – Fanny Crosby (1820-1915)

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day, with its shadows o’er me.

In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever,

‘Till my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.