Sunday of the Exaltation of the Cross
This Sunday's Summary
Today on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross we raise up the church's greatest and most powerful sign. The job of signs are to point to something else greater than it. The cross points to God who formed us for great good, and his Son who reforms us by his sacrificial love when we lose our way. The cross summarizes the relationship of God and humankind over 1000s of years, and is the template for our own relationship with him. In today's Epistle reading, Paul says that the self-sacrificing love of the cross seems foolish from the outside, but works miracles for believers. In the Gospel reading, Jesus says that his words and sacrificial love are not 'one and done' but echo in every heart forever, till the end of time.
This Sunday's Readings
Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 49:13-23
Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For theLordhas comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.
But Zion said, “TheLordhas forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
“Cana woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See,I have inscribed you on the palmsof My hands;
Your wallsarecontinually before Me.
Yoursons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather togetherandcome to you.
AsI live,” says theLord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them allas an ornament,
And bind themon youas a bridedoes.
“For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
The children you will have,
After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The placeistoo small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, wherewerethey?’ ”
Thus says the LordGod:
“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up Mystandard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons intheirarms,
And your daughters shall be carried ontheirshoulders;
Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you withtheirfaces to the earth,
Andlick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that IamtheLord,
For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”
Epistle Reading
Galatians 6:14-18
But God forbid that I should boast except in thecross of our Lord Jesus Christ, bywhom the world has been crucified to me, andI to the world.Forin Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercybeupon them, and upon the Israel of God.
From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christbewith your spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading
John 3:13-21
No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven,that is,the Son of Manwho is in heaven.And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even somust the Son of Man be lifted up,that whoeverbelieves in Him shouldnot perish buthave eternal life.For God so loved the world that He gave His only begottenSon, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.And this is the condemnation,that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.Foreveryone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have beendone in God.”
This Sunday's Lesson Plans
Ages 5-8
Ages 9-14
Ages 14-17
This Sunday's Sermons
This Season's Saints
Tuesday, Sep 22
St. Shoushanik
Saturday, Sep 26
St. George
Saturday, Oct 03
Seventy-Two Disciples of Christ
Saturday, Oct 10
Holy Translators
Saturday, Oct 31
All Saints
Saturday, Nov 07