How near-sighted I can become

I've been excited about Good Friday services coming up this week. As I said before, it's coming together to be a very meaningful service.

I'm excited about the huge cross we are building. I've shown some people the logs and laughed with them about how big of an endeavour it is to build something this size, and how neat it will be when done.

And as I sit here capturing film clips from "The Passion" movie to use as "flashback" scenes in our service, I suddenly realize how nearsighted I can be.

I'm so concerned about making a good service, and building a cross - and excited about all this - that I can quickly forget that this huge hunk of wood I'm putting together commemorates an instrument of INCREDIBLE TORTURE!

God, make me more mindful of the horror of this thing as I put it together tomorrow, and let us not celebrate the majesty of the monstrosity of it. Let us build it, and then stand back and weep as we remember the torture that you chose to bear on our behalf.