Crosses at the Crossroads

February 26, 2017

Where is the mercy of God found?  Where do we begin to experience it?   In our Gospel today we are invited to the crossroads of our lives.  We cannot serve two masters.  This statement brings us right to the heart of the matter.  It is in the intersection of the things of this world and the things of heaven.  Many times daily we are at the intersection of choosing our spirituality over societal pressures for what is right.  We face intersections on our journey of being persuaded by popularity and popular views over what we know to be true.  We live in a world of fake news and false facts.  The list goes on and on.  At this crossroad, at this intersection, we as a people of faith find the cross.  When we follow the cross we realize at this intersection God provides mercy; mercy for the waywardness that is ours.  If we are looking for the fact, we may find it here-at this intersection where the fully human and fully divine Son of God paid the ultimate price by dying on the cross.  This is the fact.  We must choose not only to believe it but we must choose to follow it.

This Wednesday we are marked in the Sign of the Cross and we bear that cross into the crossroads of our lives and society.  We bring this cross into the difficulties of our workplaces, which sometimes are filled with gossip and jealousy.  We wear this cross into our homes where the silent treatment is sometimes deafening and the disrespect of language may run rampant.  In these crossroads we stand with the real fact, the mercy of God is given to ourselves and to all around us.  These are the crossroads of our lives.  Into these are the places we are to bring the cross of Christ.

It begins Wednesday.

Reverend John J. Ouper