Christians find badges of faith

Sun., April 8, 2007

Story And Essay By Virginia De Leon Staff writer

RESURRECTION

There were tears, certainly, when they buried Cleo Juanita Bithell, who died last month at the age of 92.

But her funeral also was a time of great joy.

"We rejoiced because we knew she had gone to heaven to be with her Lord," said her daughter, Susan Lyons, of Deer Park. "She's in heaven."

Fueled by a fervent belief that Jesus rose from the dead, most Christians also have faith in an afterlife – that they, too, will someday join loved ones who have died before them.

"We'll see grandma again in heaven," the Rev. Dale Williams, Bithell's grandchild, reassured the family during the funeral service at Deer Park's Church of the Nazarene.

Others in attendance – including Bithell's 12 other grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren – found solace in those words.

"Without Jesus, there is no hope," said Lyons, as she pondered the meaning of Easter.

"We know where my mom is and I know where I'm going to be along with most of my family. We're all going to meet up there and it's going to be a time of rejoicing."

In the early days of the Christian Church, Jesus was often depicted only through symbols.

An anchor. A fish. The intersecting of the “X” and “P,” the first two letters of the Greek word, “Christos.”

In later centuries, the cross – the Roman device of torture upon which Jesus died – emerged as the universal sign of Christianity.

Today, Christians still look to the cross to memorialize Jesus’ suffering and death and to symbolize their belief in resurrection.

But just like the earliest disciples of Christianity, today’s followers of Jesus also have found other emblems, other means to manifest their faith.

As people worldwide observe Easter, the most sacred day of the Christian year, we explore both the ancient and contemporary signs that point to Jesus and the ultimate sacrifice that Christians believe saved the world. Through photographs and short essays, we offer a glimpse of Christianity through the eyes of people who have made Jesus a central part of their lives.