The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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Holy CrossMany churches are dedicated to Saints, but the Parish Church here in Wool is dedicated to the Holy Rood, or Holy Cross - the cross of the crucifixion. It was on this day that Jews in Rome were compelled to go to church to listen to a sermon, a custom abolished in 1840. September 14th is Holy Cross Day; it is the patronal Festival of Holy Rood Church. Many of us wear crosses around our necks with little thought to their significance. There is a story of a conversation overheard in a jeweller’s shop, in which the assistant said to a customer, ‘Are you looking for a plain cross or one with a little man on it?’ Sadly for some the cross has simply become a jewellery design. Of course it is a strange thing to wear around one’s neck; it is after all a gallows. Few people would even think of wearing a hangman’s scaffold, a guillotine, or an electric chair, around their necks. For some wearing a cross is making a statement of witness, saying to the world that this is a symbol of my faith. The cross is also associated with the St. John’s Ambulance - a sign of caring for the sick. The Red Cross, is a sign of neutrality of those who tend the wounded on the battlefield. The cross has become a sign of courage, and we see medals of bravery in the shape of a cross. The cross is a symbol of all these things, caring, courage, faith, compassion, but perhaps most of all it is a symbol of suffering. The cross did not abolish suffering, but it identified Christ with those who suffer. It was the sins of the world that crucified Christ and today wherever there is sin, cruelty, betrayal or suffering Jesus is in the midst of it. Jesus was crucified at a particular moment in history, but the outstretched arms of the crucified Christ embrace the whole of history and reach across the centuries, from the beginning of time. God Bless Judy |
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