The Crosses
Today, more than 150 crosses and crucifixes from all over the world occupy the walls of our church entryway. Our collection includes crosses from five continents, over 50 different countries, and 15 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.
All of the crosses can be viewed on the church's Flickr site, HERE
History of the Crosses
In 1995, while Robert Moore was serving as interim Pastor, American University student Rebecca Davis presented Georgetown Lutheran Church (GLC) with a cross as a gift. It came from El Salvador and clearly revealed in its decoration the part of the world from which it came. Pastor Moore asked Church Council members during a break in their work where to hang it. While not a small cross, the walls in the Narthex were generally so large and bare that the cross just didn’t look right hanging by itself.
Like the population of the DC metropolitan area as a whole, the Georgetown Lutheran congregation consists largely of people with roots in other parts of the country. They also tend to have jobs requiring travel across the country and around the world. Noting these facts, it was suggested that people be asked to look for additional crosses to hang with the El Salvador cross. Any cross would be accepted, but people were asked to look for those that somehow reveal or reflect the places where they were made. Current examples where this guideline was clearly used include a Belgian cross made of lace, a Pennsylvania cross made of coal, an Italian cross made of hand-blown glass, and a Hawaii cross made of palm leaves.
You can read the rest of the history of the crosses, HERE
