This week offers the challenge of confronting the scandal of the cross head-on. In order to prepare for Easter, the Church must first recognize just how shocking Jesus'' death by crucifixion is and be able to make some theological sense out of it.

At almost no other time of the year does the church become such a cesspool of stagnant clichés and phantom phrases as during Lent. Perhaps, then, Lent is a good time for some doctrinal preaching that can help your parishioners come to a renewed appreciation for the scandal of the gospel. If the cross is the "criticism and criterion" of all theology, we had better be clear about what we mean when we sing "The Old Rugged Cross." In the words of Frances Young, whose chapter on the atonement entitled "The Outstretched Arms" provides this Sunday’s se…