Polishing the Cross
Rev Gabriel J Snyman, November 20th 2019
Her name was Patricia She was a black woman but of the kind we in South Africa used to refer to as “coloured” people, historically mixed-race people from Cape Malay slaves, European and Khoi-San descent. She lived in a suburb called “Heidedal”, a traditionally coloured part of my hometown Bloemfontein. Such is the legacies of Apartheid. Heidedal also had a high rate of alcoholism and drug abuse, the twin brothers of unemployment and poverty. And this woman sat at a desk, facing me at the opposite side of it because she was in a rehab program at the facility where I did part of my practical work at, as requirements for my Theology degree. I was to be her spiritual counsellor. I would later in the week met with the phycologist, nurse, occupational therapist and physical instructor who also worked with her during her treatment.
Most coloured people in South Africa speak Afrikaans, which is my native tongue. They speak a dialect of it which is at times amusing for those who do not speak it. They have a beautiful way to express things vividly which is hard to illustrate in English. Anyway, we were supposed to discuss faith, religion and God and it’s role in her recovery. I asked her about her church background. She told me she was Anglican and quite involved in her church. I knew vaguely at the time that Anglican churches generally were quite “high church” and liturgical, also in poorer neighbourhoods. I also knew they have names for certain assigned duties that mostly had to do with preparations for the worship service. Patricia was indeed in one of these roles. I asked Patricia about her duties and she gave me quite a list of things she was responsible for. I asked her what she liked most to do. She said that it was polishing the one golden cross with Brasso before church. She said she liked the smell of the Brasso, and the feeling of the cloth in her hands as she polished it and how it shined after she was finished. When counseling someone, I always look for things that make people’s eyes lit up when they talk about it. Talking about polishing the cross was the source of fire in her eyes. She almost looked like a mother speaking about a child, while she talked about this cross and how she polishes it.
To make a long story short, this cross and the responsibility she took to polish it, became the guiding theme of our conversations. I guided her to explore about why this means so much to her. We discovered that it gave her this break from her hectic life and problem filled household where she could sit in silence and ponder how great Jesus’s love for her and all people is. It also made her feel that she assit Jesus in Him calling people to the cross and it’s meaning. The shinier she manages to polish it, the better the changes are people will be attraceted to it and appareciate it’s meaning. I asked her how she think that cross would look now after she hasn’t polish it for the past six weeks. “Still beautiful but not as beautiful as it would be with my input”, she replied. Strange as it may seem, the opportunity to again go out and polish that cross became a big driving force in Patricia’s recovery. The other therapists remarked how she contantly mentions it in her sessions with them.
A good eight years later, I got a phone call. Was it not for the distinct dialect, he would not have recognized the voice speaking to me. I lived in Johannesburg at the time. She told me that she is still sober and still polishing the cross every Sunday. She got a new job and her life was at a much better place.
We polish all kinds of things. Our possessions and our social media profile. These are all things that make us shine on the outside. But there is a higher calling that fills a gap inside and puts a fire in our eyes that comes from inside our soul.
Polishing the cross mean to do something that make people notice and pay attention to the beauty of grace.
I needed Patricia more than she needed me. I still try to join her polishing the cross. And she’s right sometimes the rhythmic motion of it and the smell and the simplicity of it centers one’s life and realigns one with what is truly important.