Christ Became Sin For Us

When you walked into the sanctuary there was a huge cross with a bunch of small holes in it, front and center, larger than life. As the service and message went on we realized it was going to be part of the service itself. As the ushers walked through they gave everyone a piece of paper, a pencil, and a large nail. As the sermon went on we listened to the normal Easter scriptures and the message of how Jesus was crucified. Then the pastor asked everyone to write down their sins on the paper provided, fold it up, and then walk up to the cross one at a time and nail the paper with our sins to the cross.

I was leery at first but went along like most everyone else. One at a time, each person came up to the cross (which was very large, far taller than any of us) and took a hammer and hit the nail into the cross with the piece of paper crushed in between the nail and the cross. One at a time the cross started filling up with nails and paper. Once every one was done and we all sat back down it was an incredible site. The pastor then said, “this is what Christ did for us, he became sin”. It was a powerful site, one I won’t forget. Never before had I seen an image like this of what Christ did for us.

He didn’t just die for my sins and no one else’s, he died for all our sins, and became sin. This was only a small church, I can’t image the weight of humanities sin that was placed on Christ at the time of his crucification, incredible. One of the more memorable Easter services I have been to over the past 10-20 years, and today, it is my Creative Chaos.

This is my post for Creative Chaos // 14 (see also guidelines) over at Ragamuffin Soul for this week. This is from a past Easter service when I was visiting a small church in Alabama.