The Easter Cross
Growing up in Southeast Texas, spring brought with it flowering trees like dogwoods and magnolias as well as an amazing array of azaleas. My parents cultivated azalea beds all around out house, and on Sunday morning they would help my sisters and I collect flowers from around the yard for the Easter Cross. The Easter Cross was a pretty ugly cross that stayed in a dark closet most of the year. Then the altar guild would put the cross out, and as families showed up, children of all ages would rush in and tuck their flower stem through one of the little holes that were all over the dark green cross. By the time the service started, the ugly cross would be covered with flowers; a colorful symbol of resurrection; a beautiful announcement that Jesus is risen! Symbols of resurrection are all around us, and sometimes it takes such a sweet gesture of a beloved community to help us see them. Resurrection doesn't come until after the crucifixion and sometimes we get stuck sitting at the empt...