Sign of the Cross

[Birdie1214]

My husband and I have recently started attending an ELCA church. We come from a Baptist background. We saw that they make the sign of the cross during worship. What is the correct way to do that - right to left or left to right, or does it matter? It seems like we've seen people do it both ways. Thanks!

 

[Tigger45]

Lutherans are not dogmatic about which way you cross yourself or if you cross yourself at all. Typically Lutherans do it left to right like the RCC and the EO does it right to left.

 

[Arcangl86]

Lutherans are dogmatic about which way you cross yourself or if you cross yourself at all. Typically Lutherans do it left to right like the RCC and the EO does it right to left.

You mean are not dogmatic correct?

 

[Tigger45]

You mean are not dogmatic correct?

Yep my bad

 

[NebraskaLuke]

Yeah my church is hardly dogmatic about it. I've never seen anyone do anything but left to right, but it's not like you're gonna get tossed out if you do it right to left. The biggest variance that I've noticed is who does it and when. About half seem to do it whenever the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are invoked, a smaller percentage after receiving communion, and a very small handful dip their fingers in the baptismal font and cross themselves before and after the service. In short, whatever feels right to you.

 

[FireDragon76]

At the church I attend, mostly former Roman Catholics practice this; a small minority. I am not formerly Roman Catholic but I use the sign of the cross sometimes. It is not something one must do, merely a pious habit.

 

[asimplerway]

I have only been to a handful of Lutheran liturgies, but when I do I'll sign at the opening, absolution, Creed, I guess normal times. I didn't see a soul besides the pastor and ourselves use the sign of the cross at the parish we visited this morning. Lol.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Lutherans are not dogmatic about which way you cross yourself or if you cross yourself at all. Typically Lutherans do it left to right like the RCC and the EO does it right to left.

This. I also understand that some of the Eastern Churches come back to the middle of the chest. I actually started making the sign of the cross in my personal prayer life long before I ever stepped foot into a Lutheran church, so when I cross myself I usually go left-to-right and back to the center. The back to the center is to include the words "one God", so "Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God" head, chest, shoulder, shoulder, chest. It's also something I do when I pray the Gloria Patri in my personal devotions, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, one God. As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be. Amen."

Honestly, I'm usually really nervous to cross myself in church.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Constantine_Orthodox]

My husband and I have recently started attending an ELCA church. We come from a Baptist background. We saw that they make the sign of the cross during worship. What is the correct way to do that - right to left or left to right, or does it matter? It seems like we've seen people do it both ways. Thanks!

This is a very interesting article about the sign of the cross. Sign of the cross - Wikipedia
It seems that historically the Catholics crossed themselves in the Eastern Orthodox manner until at least the 13th C.

 

[mark46]

When attending a Lutheran Church, I have always made the sign of the cross. As others have noted, this didn't seem to be very common.

Do you all, touch the thumb to the first two fingers when making the sign of the cross. It is a custom that goes back to the 5th century. As was stated, the Roman Church changed its method.

The Sign of the Cross

 

[tampasteve]

I always cross in the RC method, as I started crossing myself at the RCC. The amount of people at our parish that cross is probably around 60%, mostly in the RC method, but no one would judge anyone for doing it differently, or not at all.

 

[dzheremi]

Just to throw a monkey wrench into any easy categorization, the Oriental Orthodox, unlike Roman Catholics, have always crossed ourselves left-to-right. So you are doing it the Coptic, Syriac, Armenian or Ethiopian/Eritrean way, not the Roman Catholic way.