You know it has been years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and almost as many since the Soviet Union collapsed but there are still many places in this world where darkness, death, and defeatism still reside, where the people are made to keep silent, and religion is squashed. But even in these places the church maintains a vigilant protest.

On May Day, 1990, in Moscow's Red Square one such protest took place. "Is it straight, Father?" one Orthodox priest asked another, shifting the heavy, eight-foot crucifix on his shoulder. "Yes," said the other. "It is straight." Together the two priests, along with a group of parishioners holding ropes that steadied the beams of the huge cross, walked the parade route. Before them was passed the official might of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: The usual May Day procession of tanks, missiles, troops, and salutes to the Communist party elite. Behind the tanks surged a giant crowd of protesters, shouting up at Mikhail Gorbachev. "Bread!...Freedom!...Truth!"

As the throng passed directly in front of the Soviet leader standing in his place of honor, the priests hoisted their heavy burden toward the sky. The cross emerged from the crowd. As it did, the figure of Jesus Christ obscured the giant poster faces of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin that provided the backdrop for Gorbachev's reviewing stand. "Mikhail Gorbachev!" one of the priests shouted, his deep voice cleaving the clamor of the protesters and piercing straight toward the angry Soviet leader. "Mikhail Gorbachev! Christ is risen!"

Even within the oppressive regime of Soviet Russia the cross is raised and so it is within our lives. When darkness creeps into our heart and we are tempted to hate. When death calls for a loved one and we are left behind. When loneliness threatens to take over every waking moment of our lives the cross emerges from the crowd. And as it does the figure of Jesus Christ obscures all that hate, death, and loneliness can muster.

Phillips Brooks' short poem illustrates this:

Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger;
Stronger than the dark, the light;
Stronger than the wrong, the right;
Faith and Hope triumphant say,
Christ will rise on Easter Day.