The Weight of the Cross

Sermon Introduction –

The Weight of the Cross

—Being a disciple of Jesus is not a hobby. You cannot buy a membership ‘club-like’. It is not buffet style where you can pick and choose which items work for you and which don’t. St. Luke reminds us that this is an ‘all in’ endeavor and will be hard. Like Jesus, it even means carrying a cross.—

Introduction to our readings –

Called to contemplate the cost of discipleship, we might be helped by translating Paul’s request to Philemon into our prayer of the day: Refresh my heart in Christ. Strengthened by the company and forgiveness of Christ in holy communion and recalling God’s grace in remembrance of baptism, we can be strengthened in this hour to “choose life”—to choose life in God as our own.