C.N.Tower

The C.N Tower is perhaps the iconic image of Toronto. It is an amazing structure, and in 1975 while still under construction, it became the world’s largest freestanding structure. After it's completion in 1976, it remained the tallest structure...that is until 2008, when the Barj Dubai surpassed it. the Barj Dubai was completed in 2009 and still retains bragging rights as the world’s tallest freestanding structure. I have to admit that upon hearing this I became a little defensive and even jealous. Being a proud Canadian and living near Toronto all my life I enjoyed the bragging rights. As I think abut it, however, it is a bit of an odd thing to be envious about, and a strange thing to want to brag about.
This week will begin the season of Lent in the church calendar. I know that different traditions place a different amount of emphasis on celebrating this season, with different rituals and ceremonies. Although I don’t tend to follow any strict rituals during this time, I do like to try to use these weeks leading up to Easter to add some specific and intentional times of reflection on the cross. With this in mind, I have decided to use some of the great hymns of the cross as springboards to reflection. Each day I hope to read and reflect on a stanza of poetry. The first hymn to come to mind was "When I survey the Wondrous Cross," penned by Isaac Watts. It is definitely one of my favourites. So what does all this have to do with the C.N. Tower? Well, one of the stanzas of the great hymn reads like this:

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

Pride in the C.N. Tower is hardly the root of all evil, but it did spur on a great reminder about where my true boasting should lie. As the Apostle Paul put it: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14 NIV) The amazing thing about the cross, is that unlike the C.N. Tower, it will never loose its position, its unique status and it will never loose its victory!