Making the Sign of the Cross

"(Name), child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever."

Those words were spoken at your Baptism as a cross was marked upon you, perhaps with oil. That same cross is made upon you with ashes after your confession on Ash Wednesday. With that cross, we are blessed forever. Under that cross we live. And by that cross we are brought to eternal life.

As Christians, we are proud to bear the cross of Christ and to show that sign before all, whether that cross is in jewelry that we wear or embossed upon a book that we carry. For the same reasons, Christians since the second century have marked themselves with the cross, as a sign of allegiance, as a sign of blessing, and as a sign of remembrance of their baptisms.

To make the sign of the cross, one touches the forehead, the mid-section, one shoulder, then the other. It doesn't matter which shoulder is touched first, nor which hand is used in making the sign. The sign of the cross is made at the beginning and end of private prayer, at the Invocation of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, at Communion, and whenever the cross symbol + is seen in the liturgy.

Because of Lent's focus on the cross of Christ, it is a good time to make use of this ancient Christian custom. Many Lutherans have "tried it on" and find that "it fits" their piety.

Other topics in the Handbook Of Lent:

• An Invitation to Lent 
• What Is Lent?
• The Discipline of Lent
  • Lent and Repentance
  • Lent and Prayer
  • Lent and Fasting
  • Lent and Works of Love
  • Lent and Beginning Your Discipline
  • Lent and Keeping Your Discipline
• Lent And How To Make the Sign of the Cross
• Lent and Confession: Should I Go to Confession?
• How to Go to Confession During Lent
  • from Martin Luther's Small Catechism
• Lent and The Tradition of the Stations of the Cross
• Lent and The Triduum - The Three Sacred Days
  • Lent and Maundy Thursday
  • Lent and Good Friday
  • Lent and The Great Vigil of Easter
• Lent and Blessings over Food at Easter

Source: The Rev. Thomas L. Weitzel - Evangelical Church in America

• Handbook For Lent - Making the Sign of the Cross