Living in grace by carrying your cross
By Chris DelCol
Saint Mark writes, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
Many songs have been written about the need to carry your cross and the reason is quite simple — in order to Live each day in God’s Grace, we must carry our cross every day.
One of those songs is performed by Ray Boltz and the words go like this, “Take up your cross, and follow Jesus. Take up your cross every day. Don’t be ashamed to say that you know Him, so, count the cost, then take up your cross and follow Him.” And then the song presents us with questions that we need to answer as we carry our cross, “What are you doing for the King? Have you given everything for the one Who gave His all for you? Don’t be satisfied just to know that the Lord has saved your soul. Have you forgotten what you need to do? I know sometimes the road is long, and sometimes you feel like you can’t go on, but just go on and carry your cross, and follow Him.”
The reality of those words put us face to face with the challenges we will see when we take up our cross.
Crosses are heavy sometimes … and maybe we need a little help to carry them … and that is where Jesus comes in. He says in Matthew 11, “29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Those are comforting words when we face the reality of the need to take up our cross, for as we do, the yoke or the cross becomes easier and the burden light.
So, what does it really mean to carry your cross? And what does a cross look like for us? Is it made out of wood like the one Jesus carried through Jerusalem and was eventually nailed to and died on for our sin?
That was a real heavy one, one that few would ever want to carry.
So, the question we address this Sunday at our 11 a.m. worship service is this, “How many of us are out there carrying our cross, making a difference?”
As we look around us throughout Lake County, we see poverty beyond belief, we see drug and alcohol abuse, we see homelessness, mental illness, unemployment, crime, kids who need direction but are often getting it from the wrong places and end up doing the wrong thing, and we see a desperate need for people to hear and experience the Good News of Jesus Christ, the very Gospel of sin forgiven and eternal salvation. Lake County is in need of more people who are willing to take up their cross and make a difference here.
That is what we will focus on this Sunday.
So, please join us this Sunday and every Sunday for Bible study at 9:30 a.m., worship at 11 a.m., a hot lunch immediately following worship. Our Food Cupboard is offered every third Sunday of the month. First Lutheran Church is located at 3863 Country Club Drive, Lucerne., phone 707-274-5572. All are welcome so please, come as you are as we reach out to this community and beyond to spread the healing Word of the Gospel.
Chris DelCol serves as pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lucerne
The challenges of wilderness
By Melissa Hurley
Ahh, the challenges of the wilderness. Now if you are someone who enjoys the outdoors you may have a broader understanding of what it means to be challenged by wilderness. You may yourself have braved elements that seems unbearable, you may have explored incredible heights and hallowing depths. You may have spent days surrounding by nothing but nature, with little resources, and you might have loved every second of it, and I applaud you. Or, you may be on the other end of the spectrum. You may deplore the wilderness, spending as little time as possible in the “less than great” outdoors, where even the idea of having to survive anywhere outside seems like truly the worst. I also applaud you.
Some of you might be in the middle of these two, and yes, you guessed it, you get applause as well.
The reality of this journey of faith that we are on is that it is a lot like the different ways that we view wilderness. For some of us, it might feel very natural to be part of a community of faith. For others, it might take some serious work, and that leaves some of us in the middle. And just like the wilderness, wherever you are in that journey of faith, I applaud you.
Because faith comes with challenges, it comes with moments of uncertainty. It comes with questioning. And at the Kelseyville and Middletown United Methodist churches this week, we will talk about just that.
This sermon will explore the challenges of the Israelites in the wilderness, the resources they were lacking, the struggles that they faced in this time of uncertainty. Jesus also faced challenges in the wilderness, challenges of temptation and hunger. What are the challenges that we face in the wilderness? In this season of Lent as we walk through what it means to experience struggle, we will also look for the ways that those who have come before us have adapted to their wilderness experience. What can we take from the challenges present in these scriptures to impact our faith? No matter where we may be.
Melissa Hurley is Pastor at Kelseyville United Methodist Church and Middletown Community United Methodist Church. Please join us in Kelseyville at 9 a.m. or Middletown at 11 a.m. as we explore what it means to be in the Wilderness during this Lenten season. All are welcome.
