Ruthwell Cross

KP and I journeyed into Scotland this month. We called at Ruthwell Church near Dumfries. There, in a rather wonderful, baptistry-like area of the church, stood the eighteen-feet-tall carved cross, perhaps 1400 years old. Upon it are scenes from the New Testament, including the Lord Jesus having his feet washed by the woman, and an intriguing scene upon which He stands upon the heads of beasts, a likely reference to His desert temptations. Latin explanations and Old English runic poetry are found upon it also. Well might Professor Pevsner describe it as one of the greatest achievements of the Europe of its time.

A special Act of the Scots Parliament decreed that this ‘idolatrous monument’ be broken up and destroyed, which happened in 1642, and which saw its burial under the church floor. It was resurrected in the nineteenth century and eventually moved into the kirk to protect it from the elements. Although my theological sympathies are with those staunch Presbyterians who felled it, I am rather glad that it was saved and restored. I was not brought up in a time of aggressive, superstitious Catholicism, so its erection in the church troubles me not. If anything, it serves as a reminder to contemporary church-goers of the Cross’s central place and the scriptures’ pivotal role in our theology. At a time when many churches -and the Scottish Kirk in particular- seem to have forgotten these vital tenets, an ancient sculpted reminder could not have been better placed. Whoever stands in that place to lead worship and whoever sits in those pews to be led, cannot but notice that gigantic stone cross peering down upon them.