The Most Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church says “I am humbled by a Lampedusa Cross which I was given in Rome. Lampedusa Crosses were made by a local carpenter on the Italian island of Lampedusa. He used wood from the smashed boats of migrants who had set out on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean from North Africa and foundered on the way. The rough wood of the cross and its flaking paint reminds me of the suffering of the migrants and refugees. In this holy season, I think too of the continuing suffering of the people of Syria and of a world where what once seemed stable and predictable is no longer so.
“Good Friday is the ultimate story of suffering. All the dark forces of the world came together and bore down upon the innocent and obedient figure of Jesus Christ – arrested, tried, mocked, tortured and crucified.
“But the resurrection of Jesus changed everything. The whispered news that ‘Christ is Risen’ has become the central proclamation of the Church throughout the ages. It is a statement of hope in the power of God to overwhelm sin, pain, suffering and death. This Easter and every Easter Christians proclaim it with joy because the Easter message of hope promises transformation for the world.”
