Symbols Speak Volumes

A simple cross - A chance encounter

This afternoon I was walking down Bridge Street in Cambridge. It passes over the River Cam (obvious, huh?) near Magdalene College. As I passed by All Saints-St. Mary’s (also known as “The Round Church”) a man in what I guess was his late fifties or early sixties, hard ones, came up to me and asked me simply, “Are you a believer?” At first, I was a bit non-plussed. But then he repeated himself and pointed to my chest where peaking out from behind the sling of my daypack was a cross that I had been wearing for the last few days.

Today the cross was more obvious because it was a beautiful and warm, sunny afternoon and my seater didn’t need to be zipped up. Once I collected myself I answered him in the affirmative. He followed up, “Born again?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“You share your faith?”

“With anyone who asks,” I replied.

“Good. God bless you,” he said as he smiled and walked away.

This has happened to me before, but for more obvious reasons. I’ve been in COSTCO with my clerical collar on as I stopped to pick up something on my way home to Harrisburg from Lebanon one evening when a lady in the check-out line asked for special prayers. Again, in a grocery store, a man inquired if I was a pastor. When I told him that I was, he asked me to pray with him then and there for a special need that he shared with me there in the produce aisle. These occasions are almost predictable. It’s one of the reasons we wear the distinctive garb we wear – so that people can recognize not only the role we play but the One we represent in an authentic and sacramental way.

This time was different. The cross I was wearing could have been merely an ornament, a piece of jewelry. For this man, for some reason, it signified that another disciple walks the same walk he did – or so I surmise. There is something mystical about that connection. I will never see this man again. Was it an angel? Was it a test of my willingness to give witness to the One I profess as Lord and Savior? Was it merely a chance encounter? I will never really know. But what I do know is this: it once more reminded me that we, all of us who profess to follow Jesus Christ, in all places and in all times, are sacraments, signs of his love for the world. We must always be ready to do as St. Peter admonishes:

Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you (1 Peter 3:13, Good News Translation)