Religion & Spirituality
On the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross the Gospel includes the Lord's invitation, ”Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” In order to make a voluntary decision to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Jesus, we must know enough about life, and what is good and what is bad in order to make an informed decision. This knowledge must include understanding what is to save one’s life and what it is to lose it, and the answers to the questions: ”For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Near the end of the sermon, there was the patter of little feet and the distraction of the children caused a very important conversation about the importance of children in the church, and the admonition that all Christians in the church must consider all children to be their responsibility and their joy, and the absolute necessity of praying for one another.