Picture of the week· 31 August 2026
All the crosses of this world
All the crosses of this world
My image of the past week is marked by the immeasurable suffering that the flood disaster in Nepal has now again washed into our news channels. The chosen weekly photo carries a story within it that contradicts the stereotypes in a surprising and moving way.
The crosses come from a bicycle mechanic who, alongside his work, processes wood scraps in his workshop. While he repairs and advises customers out front at the shop with expertise on everything from a simple children's bike to a top e-bike machine, he has a box of wood scraps in a back room. In quieter hours he files and works by hand these seemingly worthless remnants into wonderful wooden crosses. Not only that, he ennobles the brittle, the ugly, with gold.
He shows these handworks only to selected customers and so we too were once allowed to hold a few examples in our hands. They lie softly and smoothly in the hand. The different structures fascinate. From cumbersome wood waste, the mechanic puts parts together, solders and sands them, until they become such a strong symbol of the cross.
When asked how he came to this and whether he might be a Christian, he says:
He believes in God, but is no Christian. "Even in the passport there stands something else". But when he held the fragments in his hands, it was clear to him that they were to become crosses. "What all the religions prescribe does not interest him," he remarks in passing. And yet: crosses, so gentle and strong at once, come into being. They gather all eyes.
Back to the catastrophes of our time: summer heat 2026, fires on the edges and in the midst of Europe, wars, famines and now this terrible flood disaster: All crosses, which the mostly already poor population in many countries must additionally suffer. These crosses cry out to us. They overwhelm and force us out of our snail shells of indifference.
I look at the cross in my hand: there is One who makes something whole out of all the fragments and suffering of this world and feels with us to the depths. Much strength to all the desperate!