Not Much

Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

It seems to me, that this is kinda a central text - and I have no idea what the heck to do with it.
Sorta disconcerting.
Perhaps part of the problem is that there is not much you CAN do with it.
It does something to you though. . .
We might well wonder together at the theology of the cross.
It is much easier to talk about what it is NOT, than what it is.
It is so dang elusive. The moment you start talking about it. . .
Like a lot of things in the Church.
I don't want to denigrate talk.
Words are our only tools. That's it.
Unless you're one of those "ministry of presence" types.
If your presence is as depressing as mine, you'd have set that aside a long time ago...
Here's a quote from Berntsen Cross-Shaped Leadership

For Luther, “true theology and recognition of God are in the crucified Christ” (Forde) God reveals God’s self not by lifting us out of this world, but by hiding in its midst, and exactly in the thick of things as they have been disfigured by human sin. In Christ, God does not bypass fallen human existence but enters into it as God’s dwelling. Our “vision” of God, therefore, shines forth from an unwelcome baby in a manger, a criminal on the cross, and a body in the grave. Knowing God in this way is a “knowing’ in the bliblical knowing: not a theory or even information, much less a blueprint, but rather God’s act of radical and intimate trust. We know only as we are known. Our knowing isn't’ something we do, but something we undergo. Our knowing is cruciform, partial and patiently awaiting the promise of its completion not in this life but in the next. So, too, any vision for mission is cruciform. We don’t “lift up” the vision; it call out from the depths of the assembly’s often tangled existence. True vision is always blurred and unfinished, and it emerges from below, not above. Visionary leaders are made - indeed, forged - by their solidarity with the Body’s suffering in the depths of its crucified Self. pg 72