Dudley Wood Methodist Church will have to pay a planning permission fee for erecting a free-standing cross, since it counts as advertising:
BBC NEWS | England | West Midlands | Church is cross over £75 charge
So in what sense is the Cross an advert for the Church and the Gospel? The old Lenny Bruce comment that if Jesus had been born ‘today’, people would not wear crucifixes but jewellery shaped like an electric chair, reminds us of the offensiveness of the Cross. It is the offence of the Cross rather than its attractiveness that is at the heart of the Gospel. We advertise Christ crucified, a stumbling-block and a foolishness to all except those who are being saved. If we’re not advertising the offensive Cross, we’re not proclaiming the Gospel. We need to embrace the offence.
Technorati Tags: Dudley Wood, Methodist Church, Cross, planning permission, advert, advertising, Lenny Bruce, jewellery, electric chair, Gospel, Christ, crucified
Big Circumstance 
Reminds me of the Dylan Lenny Bruce song, Dave! “He sure was funny and he sure told the truth/and he knew what he was talking about!” What you’ve said of the cross is true. The more I’m doing the Lent lectionary stuff, the more I’m beginning to realise just how offensive the cross is! For myself, I’d have a crucifix with Guido Rocha’s “The Tortured Christ” in my church if I could.
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