THEOLOGICAL CLUE

Depending on the lectionary being followed and the calendar of this particular year, Holy Cross Day will soon be celebrated. It's a festival that is relatively new to many Protestants, but quite familiar to Roman Catholics. To celebrate the cross and the crucifixion of Christ in August or September seems like a liturgical anachronism; Jesus' passion and death are remembered annually in the spring of the year, along with Easter, of course. But Holy Cross day comes at a propitious time in the church year, halfway through the cycle/season of Pentecost, and it reminds us that the suffering and agonizing death of Christ on the cross is built into the every-Sunday celebration of Jesus' resurrection. The "little Easter" content of every Sunday is unitive, combining the death, re…