I’ve been tagged by Kim of Hiraeth for the passion quilt meme. Here are the instructions.
- Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures that about which YOU are most passionate for students to learn.
- Give your picture a short title.
- Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt.”
- Link back to this blog entry.
- Include links to 5 (or more) educators. (I won’t be doing this. Tagging people is not favorite thing.)
If you’ve read here for a while, you won’t be surprised by where my passion lies.
The Cross
This depiction of Christ being lifted up on the cross is by the French illustrator, Gustave Dore.
I’m passionate about the cross of Christ and here are a few of the reasons.
- The cross is the solution to everything that’s not right with the universe, including what’s not right with me. No matter what the human need, it is, ultimately, met at the cross, and all real hope is grounded there.
- So many of God’s attributes are seen most fully in the cross. The cross is, for instance, the pinnacle of the expression of God’s grace. It was also a public display of God’s mercy, love, holiness, righteousness and justice. Do you want to know God? Look through the lens of the cross.
- What happened on the cross is, in one sense, simple: Christ died for our sins. He bore the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven by God and reconciled to him. On the other hand, there are so many layers to the work of the cross! Or maybe it’d be better to say that the work of the cross can be seen from many different angles and they all fit together to paint one picture that grows more and more glorious as it is viewed from additional angles. That makes it an infinitely fascinating work and an infinitely satisfying work.
- The work of the cross is the center of everything: the gospel, God’s plan for history, our Christian faith.
- The cross is powerful: it transforms lives; it gives meaning to life. It is because of the cross that we are new creatures; and the cross, in turn, calls us to live out our new-creaturely lives in “the way of the cross.” It is because of the cross that we are to “take up our cross daily.”
- For those who are redeemed by it, the cross of Christ will be an enduring passion, a passion that only increases in eternity. Christ’s work on the cross is the centerpiece of the new song:“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God…
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”