Symbols

Today I saw a man wearing a cross on a long beaded chain.  It’s not the first time nor is this the only man I've seen wearing a cross in similar fashion.  It means something.  I just don’t know what it means.

            Symbols are important that way.  A true symbol always points to something larger or greater than itself - even if we don't understand the symbol! Doctors of all religious persuasions use the symbol of a snake on a pole to point out the high call of their healing mission (probably unaware that the snake on the pole was first recorded as being used by Moses in the desert).

            The wedding ring, various colored martial art belts, stripes on a military uniform, even the golden arches that are found in most every city in America and most every country around the globe – all these are symbols speaking of greater realities. 

              Yet the Bible claims God has gone beyond all our recognized symbols.  In the book of Romans it is declared that everything you and I see from the smallest to the greatest are actually symbols that point to the reality of God.  I find that amazing. 

            Perhaps that is why the cross in the center of the Jewish Star of David, while offensive to some, works for me.  Then again, so does the smoke used in Native American ceremonies, retreats, vision quests, candles, peace pipes, foot washings and a myriad of other symbols.  Symbols can have incredible value.

            And then it hit me.  The dream catcher.  A wonderful symbol of our good dreams ascending to the heavens while the bad ones get caught up on the web and burn up with the rising of the sun.  What if the cross were placed in the center of the dream catcher?  Sound crazy?  Offensive you say? Yet for those who believe Jesus is the Son of God, to what better place could our dreams (and our prayers) ascend? 

            Symbols.  Have you given them much thought lately?