For some, the cross is a decoration mounted on church walls. For others, it is a golden ornament to be worn on the wrist of rich Christians. For still others, the cross is a prop used to illustrate someone’s theory of atonement through the shedding of blood.
For me, the cross is a reminder that love is stronger than hate. The cross was a method of capital punishment used by the Roman empire, much like our weapons and prisons symbolize the coercive power of the state today. The cross then, is a reminder of a love that refuses to participate in the hierarchy of oppression in its day, is therefore crushed by that power, but whose example reveals and releases the power of the one life we share with all.
For me, this is resurrection, not that bodies resuscitate after we die, but that love is invincible. Love is invincible not because it meets evil force with good force, but because it will not hate and does not die even when someone has killed the lover.