Holy Cross Sunday

Fr. Dunbar provided today's sermon on Holy Cross Sunday at ECOOS. He did a great job providing some historical background and traditional meanings of the cross as well as more modern looks. Fr. Dunbar spoke about the vertical member of the cross being a visual representation of our favorite word, "I". With the horizontal crossing out the I, or a way of looking at the cross as a symbol of surrender of self to God.

I present to you the following quotation. Your job will be to guess the author and his/her denomination.

"Now the beautiful fact of the matter is that, at the core of Christianity, is the cross. It stands as a balance between earth and sky. It demands both a vertical and a horizontal. It demands both the love of God and the love of Man. It demands both worship and action. It demands both fine liturgy and fine fellowship."

"The horizontals need to be reminded of the need for reverence in worship, the need for contemplation and study and adoration and tradition. However, being more conservative/vertically minded myself, I (and others like me) need to be reminded that service of others, love of others, fellowship, peace and justice, and all that horizontal stuff is also true and necessary and good."

Can't guess, well it is Fr. Dwight Longenecker from Greenville South Carolina.
Former Anglican priest, now Catholic priest. His blog is "Standing on My Head" .

Today was also commissioning Sunday and this year things were done a little differently in that everyone present was asked to stand at the same time and be "commissioned" in their various ministries of service and/or worship. Even the pewster was asked to stand and be commissioned!