Wholeness in brokeness

Angela gave me this cross for my birthday this weekend. I absolutely love it.

Several months ago as we were driving to church, we had a conversation about what the cover of my book should look like. The conversation went from there to the idea that we should develop some sort of cross that could become symbolic of our journeys as gay Christians. A few days later, Angela produced a rough sketch of this cross. We gave it to a jewelry designer who created the line drawing that ended up on the cover of the book, and in the past month she created the mold for this sterling silver replica.

I love the feeling that this cross carries. The pieces are imperfect, jagged, and broken when separated, but when they come together they illustrate a profound wholeness symbolic of the type of all-encompassing love that Jesus died to give us. And there is a heart in the center that--no matter how many pieces it may be broken into--still manages to hold the whole thing together.

We're still playing with sizes and types of metals, but we hope to reproduce it in greater quantities eventually. If you have any input, please feel free to email or comment. So far the general sentiment seems to be that it's a bit large to wear on a short chain (it's about an inch and 3/4), but it might be perfect on a longer chain. That's how I'm wearing it this week.

What a great gift. In so many ways.