The Rector’s sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent, Lectionary Year B, is now on the internet:
Jesus calls each of us to take up our cross and follow him; he doesn’t in any way offer to carry our cross for us. Now, please be aware that Jesus is not saying simply, “Deal with the annoying details of your personal life.” Those burdens of our everyday lives are not our “crosses” – if anything they are those thorns in the flesh of which St. Paul complained in the Second Letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 12:7). Listen again to Christ’s full statement: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” It’s not about the little details of our own lives; it is about our service to others. Just as Jesus took up his cross and struggled and suffered for the benefit of others, taking up our cross is about working for the benefit of others.