Sunday after the Elevation of the Cross

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters,

I'm so pleased to see you today. It gives me

strength to be together, to worship together,

to commune together. So pleased also and delighted

to welcome those who are here, perhaps for the

first time. for the first few times. I hope you

will join us at our agape meal or lunch later.

If you were to ask me today, specifically today,

what would be my favorite scripture verse from

St. Paul, from the epistles of St. Paul, I would

probably say that scripture from 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. deacon read for us so beautifully.

For it is God who commanded light to shine out

of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give

the light of the knowledge of the glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ, so that we have

this treasure in earthen vessels, that the power,

that the excellence of the power may be of God

and not of us. Today, at least, it's one of my

favorite verses because it's a verse of promise,

a verse of consolation. It's a message of God's

love and presence with us in our hearts. But

we have a different verse today also, which probably

is mistakenly not appreciated to the same degree.

Those who wish to save their life will lose it.

Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny

himself, take up his cross, follow me. For whoever

desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever

loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will

save it. It's a difficult and challenging message.

But it is the same message as the verse that

I told you is my favorite today. It's the same.

Two weeks ago, we had the Sunday before the cross.

Last week, we had the Sunday of the cross. Today,

we have the Sunday after the cross. The message

of the church insisting we pay attention by giving

it to us three weeks in a row. Just in case we

missed it or just in case you weren't here. The

church wants you to know the message of the cross

is God's love. Father Michael would say the hands

outstretched on the cross are the embrace of

the entire world in God's love. I'm going to

steal some words from a sermon by Bishop Irenae

of London on this feast day. Some of you have

heard this before. What he tells us is that with

the cross here in the midst of the church, week

one before, week two of, and week three after,

the church is placing before us and spells out

in very plain terms the cost of what it means.

to be a Christian. That there is a price to be

paid. St. Paul's letter, which he read today,

tells that the cross is what allows us, that

allows the life of Jesus to be real, active,

engaging, and challenging in this, my mortal

body, my existence on this earth. But that having

been crucified with Christ, he says, not literally,

He did not die that way. Peter did. But by baptism

and by denying himself, which is open to all

of us, it is no longer St. Paul who lives, no

longer I who live because of my baptism, but

Christ lives in me. This is why it's the same

message, the light of Christ shining in our heart.

Of course, we follow the same path as the apostles.

confused and dazed much of the time. We follow

the path of the Pharisees and the Sadducees who

want to debate with Jesus and oppose him and

the message he has. We follow Peter, who on hearing

this message of the cross says, no, Lord, it

can't be this way. This will not work for your

message. You are the Messiah. But I have to listen

to the Lord because he knows better than I do.

And Christ spoke explicitly in the gospel. Those

who wish to save their life will lose it. To

be a child of Christ, to be a Christian, costs

one simple thing. Your life. Because, in fact,

that is all we have to give. Nothing else matters.

It's our life. We give it. You don't have to

have wealth. You don't have to have education.

You don't have to have social standing or power.

You don't have to have influence. You don't have

to be of a certain age. You don't have to have

stature or stability. You just have to have a

life that you are willing to give. Everyone has

that life. And you and I did not create it. It

was the gift to us in the beginning anyway. It's

the universal reality that every human, we all

have the same thing, we all possess whatever

else our circumstances might be, whatever injustices,

A person may have suffered whatever terrible

circumstance that makes some people weak and

some people strong in this world. Everyone has

that which can be given and offered to Jesus

Christ. No one is deprived of this opportunity.

But we can't follow the Lord without giving it.

Paying the price, so to say. And we want to give

the Lord. Just a little bit of what's in our

wallet. Not all. I don't mean money. I mean our

life. He who wishes to save his life will lose

it. He does not say. Jesus does not say. Those

who wish to save their life might lose it. Will.

It's a vain attempt to think that we can work

our way through this life to some kind of balance

with self -help. with all the alternatives out

there, the billion -dollar so -called health

and wellness business. That's all about saving

myself in this life only, wanting to be God and

to control things. True joy, true happiness,

true healing, and the acquisition, the gift of

God's kingdom, the light of Christ shining in

our hearts, cannot be acquired by any other means.

Then... That which Christ lays before us, and

he does it openly. He tells you this way is death.

It's death, spiritual and bodily. Annihilation,

meaninglessness, and a dead end. This way is

the life. It's a vain attempt to think we can

work our way through it. Now look at the cross

here in the middle of the church. We put it in

the middle of the church for a reason. This is

the way we go. This is the sign of the Christian.

Now we choose each one freely. There's no compulsion.

God does not force. Whether we follow it or not,

no one can force us. God himself will stand beside

you weeping. Like the father waiting for the

prodigal son, but he even will not force. And

you cannot be pressured into it. The message

of the cross, this message is foolishness to

the world. And like the Pharisees in the gospel

today who thought it was their turn to best Christ

in a debate, being justified by their law. Jesus

responds to them by speaking of love, love of

God and love of neighbor as the absolute highest

thing in which we give all our self to it. But

we think of self -preservation. And rather than

grow angry with us and impatient with us and

frustrated with us and the incredible capacity

of our human nature to be dense and thick and

not see what lies before us, the multitude and

the witness of the saints and the glory of God.

Our Lord, in his infinite patience and his infinite

love, places again and again and again before

us the signs of redemption. Every illness, every

struggle, every sorrow, every difficulty, every

obstacle. In your life. When you don't know what

you're doing. You have the cross. And the Lord

is there. Helping. This is the second message.

Of the message of the cross. That it is not just

us. Denying ourselves. And giving it all the

way. But we're giving it to the one who gives

us life. And who is love. So here in the midst

is the cross. But not just the cross, but one

that is decorated beautifully with branches and

leaves and flowers so that it is beautiful. So

that when you look at the cross, you see the

power of the cross to create beauty and new life,

fragrance. These are the signs of life, these

flowers and plants. Sign of birth. and newness.

So this is why we don't look at the cross as

the thing of grief and sorrow or despair, but

we look at it so that we might be reminded that

through the cross, my brothers and sisters, joy

comes into the world if you will let it. How?

How? How is this joy? We sing about it at Matins

every Saturday night when we do that service.

Because the cross of Christ, and your crosses

too, it is the testimony of God's love. The experience

of God's presence when it seems that he has abandoned

us. He hasn't. He cannot. He has gone to the

grave in Hades for us. Yes, his presence. We

call it a life -giving cross. We call it the

tree of life. And what was the source of pain

and death becomes the source of joy and healing,

the source of understanding. But we have to listen

to ourselves. You know, we like to go everywhere,

but inside ourselves. And we prevent that from

happening to discover the cross that the Lord

has planted in our heart by all the noise, the

TV, the radio, all the blah blah we do, all the

defensiveness, all the justification. We need

to take a trip into our heart to see what's really

there so that the cross of Christ can pull us

out of that despair. Our Lord Jesus Christ who

sits at the right hand of the Father making his

and our enemies, the devil and sin, his footstool.

That's the message of the cross. Let's not be

like the thief on the other side who rejected

the cross, who blamed God for his problems and

spoke abusively to Christ. and like the Pharisees,

wanted to debate and interrogate the Lord. But

let us imitate the grateful thief and acknowledge,

like he did, the justice and the wisdom of God.

And because we are never closer to Christ than

when we are on a cross in our moments of difficulty

and pain and sorrow, let's speak to him. And

let us ask him to remember us so that we too

may hear him say, today you will be with me in

paradise. For all things, says St. Paul, are

for your sake, that grace through the cross,

having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving

to abound to the glory of God. Amen.