19 September 2005

From the rite of "Welcome of Inquirers"

Eight times during this brief rite the sign of the cross is traced on a different body part. It begins with an image from baptism and the tracing of the cross on the forehead. These words accompany the action: Receive the cross on your forehead, a sign of God's endless love and mercy for you. Learn to know and to follow Christ.

When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, the pastor traced the sign of the cross on our foreheads. Though most time that cross is made with oil, sometimes pastors simply use the water from the font. At that time our name is announced again and we are call "child of God. Then we are told that "you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever." Forever is beyond our imagination and beyond the touch of any power in the world. Forever is the love and mercy of our God that is available within our lives - without a doubt. It is a promise. When I see that cross being traced on a forehead and hear those words "Learn to know and to follow Christ," I think of how a young child begins to walk. The child tends to have a goal to which s/he is moving. As you have probably seen, the child's head goes first. The whole body follows the head that leans out toward the goal until the body is enough off balance and on its way that the legs begin to move. At first, those legs cannot keep up with the pull of the head and there is a dynamic crash to the floor unless it is prevented by a fast moving adult. But the head keeps leading the way again and again. This image is made more powerful when we remember that fact that as each of us goes forward in this day, the cross of Christ leads us, call us forward, and gives us the knowledge of the life that has been given to us forever.

Connection: It is a good reminder to begin the day with something as simple and private as retracing that cross on our foreheads. We can never have too many reminders of whose we are and who it is that pulls us into the future that is already at hand.

Lord of New Life, by the power of the Holy Spirit we face the opportunities of this day with the stories of our Lord, Jesus, helping to shape how we enter them. With that endless love and mercy in mind, we begin to follow you alone. Amen