Feast of the Holy Cross: “The lynching tree is the cross in America. When American Christians realize that they can only meet Jesus in the crucified bodies in our midst, they will encounter the real scandal of the cross.”—James Cone
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“The lynching tree frees the cross from the false pieties of well-meaning Christians. When we see the crucifixion as a first century lynching, we are confronted by the re-enactment of Christ’s suffering in the blood-soaked history of African Americans.”
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“Thus the lynching tree reveals the true religious meaning of the cross for American Christians today. The cross needs the lynching tree to remind Americans of the reality of suffering—to keep the cross from becoming a symbol of abstract, sentimental piety.
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Before the spectacle of this cross we are called to more than contemplation and adoration. We are faced with a clear challenge: as Latin American liberation theologian Jon Sobrino has put it, “to take the crucified down from the cross.”

Sep 14, 2019 · 11:58 AM UTC

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“Yet the lynching tree also needs the cross, without which it becomes simply an abomination. It is the cross that points in the direction of hope, the confidence that there is a dimension to life beyond the reach of the oppressor.” —James Cone bit.ly/2mgB5gy
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