Power of a symbol is in its simplicity

Whoever it was who came up with the idea of using pink to highlight breast cancer awareness, whatever marketing genius developed that idea, deserves a big bonus every year.

During October, we see pink everywhere. Drive past my place of business, Chateau Girardeau, and you'll see decorative pink as you drive along Independence Street all along the frontage to our property. I'm even sporting a polo shirt with a pink emblem. I assure you that pink would not be on my clothing for any other reason.

We respond to symbolism. It's even more basic than that, I suspect. We respond to the complicated made simple. In an ever more complex world, we gravitate toward what is easily grasped. We can all remember a day when we'd walk into a restaurant and ask for coffee. A server came over and poured you some. One request, one response. Now, when coffee is purchased, we need to specify regular or decaf, cappuccino or espresso or latte.

We can all recall when a television set had less than a handful of options: three VHF stations and one UHF. Even then, the UHF came in poorly and rabbit ear antennae were necessary to make it watchable. Today, we are able to receive hundreds of channels in crystal clear high-definition quality.

We respond to the simple. Tony Sparano is the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders, a winless pro football team. The Raiders are terrible. Sparano met with his new squad a few days ago, and instead of a speech outlining a strategic plan with bullet points, he did something incredibly symbolic and simple.

Sparano took a football and dropped it into a hole he'd created with a shovel. "This, gentlemen, is our season so far. Four games, four losses. We bury the season today and start again."

His players responded by grabbing the coach's implement, and one by one, they pitched dirt onto the football -- representing the poor start to their season -- and, in so doing, they symbolically vowed that in the next 12 games they would do better. The Raiders may get better; they may not. They probably will not. Just the same, the gesture was incredibly powerful -- and simple.

The faith that animates my life and that of many others on this planet can be made complicated and complex by those with a desire to do so. It is by turns impressive and troubling to see the vast publishing and cinematic empires built by the purveyors of apocalyptic gloom: the Hal Lindseys, the Tim LaHayes, the John Hagees of this world. They warn that the end of the world is fast approaching, which is a song so old that you'd think we'd tire of hearing the refrain.

Hey! We're all still here. It's a wonder to me that we can't take the plain words of Jesus in Mark chapter 13 on their face: "Watch out that no one deceives you." (v. 5) and "...do not be alarmed." (v. 6) and "About that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (v. 32).

I'm fully aware that apocalypticism is popular with Christians; it grips the imagination. Instead of a focus on the end times, which Jesus himself warned us not be obsessive about -- why not make the complicated simple. Look at the cross, a symbol far more powerful and enduring than a pink polo shirt or a football dropped in a hole.

See that cross; unearth its symbolism. Do that and your mind will be pricked to remember that God loves you enough to die for you.

I yearn for a simple faith. The cross reminds me not to make the simple complicated.

Dr. Jeff Long is executive director of the Chateau Girardeau Foundation, is a teacher of Old Testament at South East Missouri State University, and a part-time pastor.