Blessed be God. Praise be to Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen
Come Holy Spirit, fill us with joy and set us ablaze with the fire with your presence.
This week has been full of tragedy and evil.
It’s in the world. It’s in our country.
It’s in our community.
We can talk about the tragedy of political and religious assassination.
We can talk about school shootings.
We can talk about threats made against HBCUs.
We can talk about the hateful words spewed against those and by those who don’t look like us, think like us, live like us.
But friends—
Maybe we should focus on the ones we touch.
This week, in Ouachita Parish and North Louisiana, we had three gun incidents in our schools.
This is not to speak about gun control. It is to speak about the control we do have.
What kind of world teaches a middle school child that it’s okay to play with a gun?
What kind of culture tells a 16-year-old girl that her infatuation justifies violence?
What kind of media makes a young man think that threatening to shoot up a school is a way to be seen?
Too many video games. Too much vulgar music.
Too much glorification of death—until it happens.
Then the world screams foul.
So many do not know God, especially our young people. I asked a middle schooler recently where did he sees the beauty of God’s creation.
He said, “Video games and anime.”
How far we’ve wandered.
In the Book of Numbers, the people of Israel were tired.
Tired of the journey. Tired of the desert.
Tired of the same old manna.
So they complained against God and Moses.
And in their rebellion, they were bitten by serpents. Attacked by the evil of the world.
But when they cried out and humbled themselves,
God didn’t abandon them.
He told Moses to lift up a bronze serpent on a pole.
And anyone who looked upon it—lived.
Jesus says,
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14–15)
This is the Cross.
This is the feast we celebrate today.
The lifting up of Christ—not in glory, but in suffering.
Not in triumph, but in surrender.
And yet—this is our salvation.
We forget God’s goodness, especially in hardship.
We turn to complaint, to self-reliance, to distraction.
But God’s justice is always tempered by mercy.
He responds to humble intercession with healing—even when we don’t deserve it.
The Cross is not just a symbol.
It’s a call.
To remember. To believe. To respond.
Not just with words,
But with lives shaped by mercy and surrender.
God’s saving love is for all people.
Not just the righteous.
Not just the chosen few.
But for the broken. For the angry. For the confused.
For the children who think violence is a game.
For the young who don’t know where to find beauty.
So today, we lift up the Cross.
We lift it high—not to condemn, but to heal.
We lift it in our homes, in our schools, in our hearts.
We lift it for the ones we can touch.
Because when we look upon the One who was lifted up,
We live.
Let your life lift the Cross.
Live with mercy.
Love with surrender.
Let the way you speak, serve, and forgive
preach the good news of Jesus Christ
to a world aching for healing.
Blessed be God. Praise be to Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen
Lifted to Heal
Lord Jesus,
You were lifted high—not to condemn, but to heal.
In our broken world, we turn our eyes to You.
We forget. We complain. We wander.
Yet You respond with mercy.
Lift our hearts.
Lift our children.
Lift our communities.
Let Your Cross stand tall in our sorrow.
Let Your love shape our response.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You,
because by Your Cross,
You have redeemed the world.
Amen.
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