The symbol of the Cross is central to Christianity. It was also central to Hildegard’s spirituality.

Her writings (including those focused on theology, music, herbal remedies, and even many of her letters) centered on the salvific work of the Paschal Mystery (incarnation, suffering/death, and resurrection).  She was immersed within medieval Catholicism and she wove her understanding of the Cross (as well as her apocalyptic visions) into her holistic worldview.

Over the years, we have spent many hours as a community wrestling with how to understand sacramental theology, in particular, atonement theology. We have been weaving Hildegard’s concept of viriditas (the renewing greening power of God) into our theology.  In a nutshell, we profess the same faith which flavors most of Hildegard’s work: God incarnated into this world to restore the viridity that was lost when creation (angelic and human) fell.

In her last theological work, Book of Divine Works, Hildegard communicated the following vision words she received from the Living Light:

“Yet the blooming of the vineyard of hosts – the bloom that came forth from the flower of Aaron’s staff, unburnt by the serpent’s spume – withered when my Son suffered on the Cross. For the eyes of the [people] were heavy in the shadow of death: when they heard the words of the prophecy, they cast them aside with the true Flower whom the entire earth itself recognized when he breathed his last upon the Cross… So too he said to those who lamented him, ‘If they do this with the green wood, what will be done with the dry?’ The meaning of this passage is to be taken in this sense: Jesus himself was the green wood, because he bore all the viridity of the virtues, but still he was rejected by the disbelievers. The Antichrist, meanwhile, is the dry wood, because he crushes underfoot all of justice’s viridity and dries out what is green in unrighteousness… Indeed, heaven and earth will be moved in the judgment to come, as was prefigured in the green wood, when the firmaments wheel that holds the many signs within itself withdrew the radiance of light when he died… Indeed, in the days just described, sweetest clouds will touch the earth with sweetest air and cause it to exude the viridity of fruitfulness, for people at that time will hasten towards all justice… And as at that time the clouds will release rains gentle and right for the fruit of the just sprout, so too the Holy Spirit will pour forth the dew of its grace among the people, together with prophecy, wisdom, and holiness, so that they will then seem to be changed into a different – a better way – of life” (452-454).

In anticipation of Lent 2024, we commissioned local wood artist and member of our community, David Linn, to create a wooden cross for our sanctuary space. We were interested in a piece that could be moved from inside to outside as the liturgies and seasons required it. Rather than exposing our indoor cross to the elements, David created a separate one for outside resulting a gift of two handmade wooden crosses to be used for worship.

The indoor cross resides near the baptismal font (except for Good Friday when it is placed in front of the empty altar) for our Liturgy of the Passion Service. The outdoor cross was installed by our front steps.

We begin and end each of our liturgies with the following blessing:

In the name of God our Creator, Christ our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit our Sanctifier, who sustains and enlivens us. Amen