The Sign of the Cross

"The sign of the cross is a Christian practice and is associated with the catholic side of the church --Roman, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and some United Methodists and Presbyterians. There is nothing in United Methodism that either forbids or encourages the practice.

Since The United Methodist Church is, generally speaking, a product of the Protestant Reformation, it has a piety that tends to be iconoclastic--that is rejecting statues, icons, and many of the catholic practices. Again, this is a church cultural thing and not something that is in print.

All of that being said, I strongly favor making the sign of the cross and do so regularly in my private prayers and when receiving communion (just before taking the elements and just after) and, as a pastor, I made the sign of the cross toward the congregation when blessing them at the end of the service. In order to do that, I had to do some teaching about what it meant and why I chose to do it.

The sign of the cross will, I predict, come to be more accepted in places where we recover a sense of our having been united with Christ in his death and resurrection in baptism. It is a sign often made on the forehead at baptism, when praying for healing and when a person is dying. I encourage you to use the sign as a remembrance and claiming of your baptism and as a sign of encouragement to follow Christ as one of his own. If people are uncomfortable with it and you notice their attention and puzzlement, be a teacher and share with them why you do it. Invite them to feel free to make the sign too.

I believe we need to be free to raise our hands in praise in worship and to not do so. Why not be equally free to make the sign of the cross, kneel, touch water in the font to our foreheads. Worship is about bodies and movement, not just words and thinking!"

The above text is in keeping with the Protestant churchman, John Wesleyan, founder  of the United Methodist Church.Taken from the Book of Discipline

The Light That Reveals: I Am There for You.

"...the energy of the Holy Spirit is in us, we are truly alive." --Thich Nhat Hanh

Buddhist monk and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, intimately familiar with spiritual traditions beyond his own, from both study and long experience, writes competently in his book Living Buddha, Living Christ, about the indwelling, or incarnation of the Spirit within the Christ.

He writes in the essay The Light That Reveals, "When John the Baptist helped Jesus touch the Holy Spirit, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and entered the person of Jesus." When mindfulness is born in us, we need to continue to practice. "Children have little difficulty recognizing the presence of the Holy Spirit. "When the Spirit is in us, we are truly alive, in love with life itself; capable of understanding, we desire to be of help and service to others.

Approaching God through the Holy Spirit "seems to be a safer way to approach the [Holy] Trinity." When the Spirit rests within, we are "living mindfully, touching the light of our awareness in everything we do, we touch the Buddha, and our mindfulness grows."

"I am There For You," writes Hanh. "The most precious gift we can offer to others is our [simple] presence. When our mindfulness embraces those we love... they bloom like flowers. If you love... and rarely make yourself available... that is not true love... Mindfulness relieves suffering, anxiety and worries... by doing that, you already offer some relief. Mindfulness is filled with understanding and compassion.

When you are really there, the energy of the Holy Spirit is in you." In Hanh's words, the Holy [whole, unified, One] Spirit is very much about mindfulness; both help us to touch the ultimate dimension of reality.