Faith, Grace, and Hope

A Sermon for Holy Cross Day  ( Numbers 21;4b-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-24; John 3:13-17) Look up! Moses says to the snake bitten children of God.  Look up and live!  You are being poisoned by a false memory. The scars of the lashes of slavery are still with you, yet you want to remember the grimaces and call them smiles.  Look up, cries Moses, look up at the truth.  The truth of God’s provision, the truth of walking in freedom, the truth of hope – these truths are indeed a new landscape, but your eyes can adjust. Your body can adjust. Your breath can adjust.  But for these truths to do their healing work, you must look up.  Lift your eyes to the one who heals you, past the medicine in its curious form. Look to the One whose power is over you, whose love is around you, whose Divine desire is for your healing.  Tell them to look up, says the Lord to Moses, to look up from their pain, to turn away from lies, to want healing as much as I, the Lord, want t...