I have discovered a new word that I really like: cruciform. It’s not really a new word to me, but I find myself thinking about it a lot lately. It means cross-shaped, shaped like a cross. Which then makes me think about being shaped by the cross as a disciple of Jesus trying to live in a global pandemic.
To be cruciform shaped is to be formed by a pattern of living, formed by following the steps of Jesus. It means patterning our lives as a disciple on his life, and remembering that sacrifice is essential to this shape. We are formed in this shape not only by the pattern of Jesus’ life, but also by his sacrificial death on the cross and his glorious resurrection on the third day.
This weekend we enter the three-day remembrance of the church of all the saints. All Hallow’s Eve on October 31 was traditionally a time to allow the boundary between death and life to be more porous. The Feast of All Saints on November 1 is a time to remember and celebrate the saints who led exemplary lives following the pattern of Jesus, and to make their example our own. And finally, on November 2 is All Souls’ Day when we remember all who have died, all the faithful departed.
I think the communion of saints is also cruciform shaped. The people whose lives offered in the service of Jesus. The saints understood the sacrifice of the cross. All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’, and All Souls’ reminds us that we can do so, too. Or, as the song reminds us, “for the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one, too.”
We remember too – especially living in a global pandemic, living in a politically divided election season, living in a time of high tension around racial justice, living surrounded by the reminders of lives lost because of Covid-19 – that the cross is shaped by love.
Though there may be a great deal of uncertainty next week, we are still shaped and formed by love.
No matter what you read in the news, we are still shaped by love.
Even when the world feels darker than ever before, we have been, are, and will be shaped by love.
Look around you. Where do you see the saints at work? Where do you see cruciform-shaped lives? Where do you see the patterns of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection at work in the world?