Cross Talk

Trevor and Kate continue on their sabbatical, so this time we hear from our Pastoral Coordinator, Sheena Marx ...

I must admit that I do a great deal of talking - a fact supported by many I am sure!

One of my desires this year is that I would ‘talk’ the Cross ... I am constantly being reminded that my talk has no power, my words change nothing and no one. But Cross Talk is potent, power-filled, and inhabited by the Spirit of God. I want to talk the Cross, the redeeming, healing Cross, where lives are made new.

Speaking of the Cross is speaking directly into peoples’ lives - scripture meeting messy, broken, pain-filled lives. Cross Talk is where life and scripture meet. Cross-less Christianity is where many are entrenched because they have not experienced the true love and transformation there is at the Cross and how it impacts our lives on a daily basis.

I have come to the conclusion that there is no recovery at the Cross. Recovery is where surgeons put you after an operation; the Cross is where we put ourselves and take others. What we receive there is so much more than recovery, which implies self-improvement. At many recovery and self-help meetings Cross Talk is not allowed; the onus is on self and the strength of our will to bring about change.

One of the central themes of Christianity is that God wants us to be transformed into a new creation in Christ Jesus. Our transformed self looks nothing like our old self; we are completely different to what we were and open to all we are becoming. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to recover my old self!

The Cross changes everything! In our own strength we may or may not recover; surrendering to Christ at the Cross we are transformed. Cross Talk is transforming talk using The Word that has power to heal, restore, forgive, free ... But more than that, we take people to the Cross as we speak words of life to them, sharing the Gospel - the Good News - because at the Cross people are transformed by power and grace. This is no Happy Place to go to in your head! The Cross is a real place, a place of salvation, transformation, grace, peace, healing, freedom and so much more! Talk the Cross! 
 

Sheena Marx