This is my great-grandmother Cossette and her dog, Rover.
Cossette and Rover, her dog
Cossette was from Provo and grew up in the Church. Do you notice anything about her, though, that would not fit in to a modern Church setting? Maybe her puffy sleeves or high collar, but I was struck by the sizable crucifix around her neck. I suspect that our Mormon rejection of the Cross evolved over time, and that earlier members of the Church likely resembled other Christians more closely than we do in dress, song, and worship.

While I understand the sentiment behind not using crosses and wanting to focus on the resurrection (or at least, that is the reason I have always heard), I wonder how effective that strategy has been. It is a common complaint here in the bloggernaccle that our Church is not Christ-centered enough. Even if we do want to focus on the resurrection rather than the death of Christ, do we? When did you last hear a substantive discussion of the resurrection outside of General Conference?

I kind of like the cross. Once upon a time, I had thought it somewhat gruesome, perhaps because the body of Christ is often included in the rendering. Not only is the cross a reminder of the death of Christ, but it is a symbol that unites us with other Christians, which most of the time doesn’t seem like a bad thing.

I may be moving the way of my great-grandmother in terms of crosses, but don’t look for any portraits of me and my dog anytime soon. That’s never going to happen.