Monday, March 06, 2006

Do you wear a cross?

Do you wear a cross?: a meme from st. casserole.

Do you wear a cross? 99.999% of the time.

Is there a particular time or place that you consider wearing a cross? all the time. i sleep, eat, shower, do everything with it on.

Where do you wear it? I wear a cross on a necklace, outside my clothes if it's a long chain, or just at my throat if it's a short chain.

What does the cross look like? I have several crosses. The one I am wearing right now is a silver Jerusalem cross, about 1/2 inch square.

Who gave the cross to you or did you choose it? I bought it in Jerusalem on the METS trip in 2004.

Is this your favorite cross, if so, why? umm, yes? I have two crosses that are my favorite, for different reasons. (out of three crosses, this is a significant percentage that suggests I am bad at win-lose situations.) I like this cross because it reminds me of Jerusalem, because I feel connected to the cloud of witnesses and to the Christians I know in the Middle East, and because it's very similar (ie identical) to the Orthodox cross used by Christians in Egypt. I also have a cross from Tiffany that I coveted for a long long time before my pastor gave it to me upon my graduation from seminary. I love that cross too.

What does wearing a cross mean to you? I wear a cross to remind me of Whose I am and because I'm grateful for my calling. (I totally copied that from St. Casserole's answer.) I also wear my cross here, so blatantly, because to be a Christian in this culture means several things: 1, it means I am likely to be treated poorly by the majority of people I meet on the street; 2, it means I am identified as a minority (even more than I already am with my white skin and blonde curls); 3, it identifies me with those who are oppressed in this culture; 4, it means I can enter the Christian-only areas (like the Orthodox Cathedral). This is also about the only "evangelism" I can do. When I treat people well, when I help others, when I speak kind words, they know who I am and what I believe. Conversely, when I treat people badly, they also know. And when I stand up for myself against a Muslim man acting inappropriately on the street (touching, etc), they know who I am and they know what community I represent and they know better than to touch another Christian girl. (I would like to think they learn not to touch any girls, but that would be overly optimistic.)

Wanna play? Tag yourself and tell us if, when and why you wear or don't wear a cross.

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