Denver Seminary

ENGAGE 23 Scottish preacher George MacLeod (1895–1991) was a pastor and the founder of the Iona Community. His target audience was Scotland's poor, and he made it clear that the cross of Jesus was the center point of his faith. The cross MacLeod preached about was not a religious icon mounted in a church sanctuary. And it was not a piece of junk jewelry hung about someone's neck. MacLeod's cross was positioned (as they say) in the real world where people (sinners!) of every generation could be exposed to the saving message of Jesus. Here's George MacLeod at his preaching-best: The cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am claiming that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles but on a cross between two thieves: on the town garbage heap, at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble, because that is where He died and that is what he died about and that is where [Christ-followers] ought to be and what [Christ-followers] should be about. As with George MacLeod, so it is with the Denver Seminary community. If you visit our main campus, you'll see a physical representation of the cross on the top of our chapel building. It defines us. But, more importantly, you'll meet a faculty and a seminary president who all believe unequivocally that the Christian gospel begins at the cross (Jesus died for our sins!) and the empty tomb (Jesus was raised from the grave). And you will meet a student body that anticipates going into every part of the world to proclaim that cross as the doorway to eternal life. BENEDICTION Gordon MacDonald, DD CHANCELLOR These days when I think of the cross, I think of Hebrews 12:2 and fix my eyes on Jesus, "who for the sake of the joy set before him endured the cross." Jesus knew that what God had in store for Him was worth the suffering He endured. We will inherit a share in Jesus' joy because He submitted himself to death on a cross. So it seems that we, too, can endure suffering and hardship for the joy set before us. Because of the cross, temporal suffering ends in eternal joy. This is what I remind myself when our shortsighted "culture of entitlement" tempts me to avoid any of the hardships that God might like to use to conform me to the image of His son. Elodie Emig, MA In like manner, because of His great love for the world, He redemptively moved toward us, sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins so we may experience life eternal in Him (John 3:16). Dr. Mark Young God in Jesus paid the ultimate price to defeat evil, sin, and death at the cross. So when the question is asked in the midst of tragedy and suffering, "Where is God?" we can point to the cross saying, "God has taken all the evil of the world upon Himself in order to defeat it." Howard Baker, MA As the Lamb of God, Jesus was destined for the cross. As He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life" (Luke 9:22). Dr. Douglas Groothuis WORD FOR WORD

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