When I look at a photograph of my wife an image in my mind and heart is evoked. I feel the emotion of love in my heart and my mind is filled with an ocean of memories. I remember laughs we have shared over the years, but I also remember tears as we have navigated through difficult times. I feel joy for the laughter, but sadness for how my brokenness has caused her pain. A photograph is an example of an icon or form of symbol that fortifies reality for me. It is a form of symbol that connects me to something much larger than my own small self – in this case, my marriage, my wife, friends, family, larger concepts like love, family, hurt, friendship, and forgiveness. I let photographs bring these ideas to my mind because I know that we humans want to feel deep connections. Similarly, there are symbols and imagery in Christianity that we easily overlook, but if we care to, they also offer us an amazing avenue for connecting with something larger than ourselves.

In Christian symbols, the crucifix is revered by some and overlooked by others. But the importance of what it represents cannot be debated. During his final week in Jerusalem, Jesus announced to his disciples that His hour had come. The cross is the hour—everything took place on the cross. The cross is the fulfillment of everything—death, and resurrection. The cross is a mystery. Jesus while enduring such great suffering by hanging on the cross, knew there was nothing else to do but put Himself into the arms of God. Jesus had to endure the cross for our sins, so that we could have the hope of salvation. When I look at a crucifix, that symbol fortifies the reality for me of salvation. In this sense, the crucifix represents a vital and fundamental principle in my beliefs.

To even use the word “symbol” can summon in the Protestant mind idolatry. But a sound understanding of the Scriptures elicits true imagery within our hearts, and grants sound theology to our minds. For me, having grown up in a religious denomination where Christian symbols and imagery were rarely present, I did not understand the importance of Christian imagery until I entered a process of deep suffering.

In my suffering, the crucifix became a very important symbol. Sometimes when I pray I hold a crucifix because it is a visible reminder to me not only of the price Jesus paid for my salvation, but also of God’s Presence. The Christian symbol of the crucifix strengthens my sense of reality. In that symbol, I find the revelation of God through Christ and the Scriptures. I have discovered as I look at the Christian symbol of the crucifix, I move out of my false self in whom rules pride, selfishness, and a multitude of other vices, to discover my true self in the resurrection’s healing power of the Presence of God in Jesus. It is a mystery. I do not hold the crucifix in idolatry to it, but as a powerful reminder that moves me to grasp reality more firmly and more passionately.

The Holy Eucharist or Holy Communion is another important Christian symbol, which for a number of years was lost to my Protestant mind. Jesus spoke the words at the Last Supper, “Take and eat, this is my body given for you.” Indeed, in Christ God had taken a physical form so that we could touch God and become whole. The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, or Holy Communion is a mystery, but in that mystery we find healing for our wounded souls because we are brought into the healing Presence of God. It is the intimate communion with God that reveals to us how to live in the world and how to act in God’s name. Taking the bread and the wine symbolizes receiving God into ourselves. It gives us a tangible symbol of what it means to truly believe in God’s life-changing Presence.

Symbols are a powerful tool to greater intimacy with God if we allow them to be. Focusing on the concept or event behind common Christian images such as the crucifix or the Holy Eucharist can lead us to better comprehension of who God is. Rather than taking for granted the Christian symbols around us and allowing them to remain disconnected from their meaning, we must train ourselves to look beyond the superficial and into the deeper well of God’s Presence.

November 2007