The Flowering of the Cross

As we entered the Church on Easter Morning, we all came forward and placed our flowers (many grown at home) on the bare cross at the front of the Sanctuary.




The flowering of the cross has been traced back to the 6th century.  It is an especially striking and beautiful way to symbolize the new life that emerges from the death on Good Friday.  Traditionally before the Easter Sunday service, the cross is covered with real flowers and the top draped in white.   The entire cross is covered with flowers and is placed prominently at the front of the church to symbolize the new life in our risen Lord to all the worshippers present on Easter Sunday morning.  The contrast between the starkly bare cross that worshippers have seen for 40 days and the living flower cross of Easter Sunday dramatically and visually represents the new life that we are celebrating after witnessing the very instrument of death and endings transformed by Christ's rising.