Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles!

George Macleod, the founder of the Iona Community, once wrote,

“I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek . . . at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where he died; and that is what he died about; and that is where church people ought to be and what church people should be about.”

Three Words That Mean A Lot To Me Today

"God's words make mountains tremble, scatter kingdoms, and move the whole earth. That is a language different from ours. When the sun rises, when the sun sets, God is speaking. When fruit on the tree grows in size, when human beings are born, God is speaking. Accordingly the words of God are not empty air but things very great and wonderful, which we see with our eyes and feel with our hands. Whe the Creator said, 'Let there be...,' things happened. His Word accomplished its intention." - Martin Luther (Lecture on Psalm 2 - 1532)

Three words which God spoke on a dark Friday afternoon mean more to me than anything. "It is finished." To me they are the greatest words ever spoken by the greatest man who ever lived. they are three little words that terrified hell and its minions forever. I am a "NEU mann" because Jesus faced the cross for me and finished the work he had come to do. What took place on the cross was an amazing transfer of my life and his. He took my wretched sin and impoverished failed life and gave his holy, innocent, perfect obedient life for mine! God doesn't see the "old man" when it is finished. He sees the life of his Son in me. It's a righteousness that perfectly satisfies the Holy God who wants me to live in his presence forever! It's the amazing "GOOD" in Good Friday. It's Jesus! ...my Savior, my Lord, and my Treasure forever! It is finished and I am forever the NEU mann*.

* I like using these two little German words for some reason Neu=New and Mann=Man