Transitions at the Cross: From Foe to Friend

I looked in the cupboard this week and saw that our Easter Bunny had bought the Candy-coated Milk Chocolate Eggs. They are making their procession from Hershey to the grocery store to our cupboard to the Easter Basket. The Shields family is heading quickly toward Easter.

You and I are doing something similar. We’re not stocking up on chocolate bunnies here at church, but we are progressing from Sunday to Sunday on our way to Resurrection Sunday. And as we travel this road, we are giving thought to some transitions brought about by the Cross of Christ. We’ve talked about the transitions from…

  • Fear to Freedom.
  • Remembering to Rejoicing.
  • And Impossibilities to Realities.

In this podcast, I talk about the Transition from Foe to Friend. It’s the Cross of Christ that makes this transition possible.

From Remembering to Rejoicing

I believe that the cross of Jesus changes everything.

A symbol of intersection, it actually stands for transitions: transitions from death to life; transitions from sinners to saints; and, as this podcast notes, transitions from remembering to rejoicing.

The cross gives us much to remember and many reasons to rejoice, and Communion concentrates those elements in our lives.

As you listen to this podcast, give some thought to how much we have to be thankful for because of the Cross of Christ.

Transitioning from Fear to Freedom…

There are transitions at the cross of Christ.

That word, transitions, reminds me of the old film strip projectors. Film strips didn’t try to hide the transitions. They just went from one image to the next in a very linear way. The old 35 mm slide projectors tried to hide the transitions. But still, the transition was an abrupt click. Some technicians used them in tandem, causing the images to fade or dissolve from one to the next.

The personal computer made all of that obsolete. We haven’t had a missionary show up with 35mm slides in well over a decade. And fewer and fewer churches use hymnals, chorus books, or song sheets.

While all transitions are unique, one thing they generally have in common is this:

What was is no more.
And what was not now is.

The Bible teaches that transitions occur in every person who comes to Christ.

This podcast speaks of transitions that occur when we come before the cross of Christ.