The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19:1-14
Second Reading: James 3:1-12
Gospel Reading: Mark 8:27-38

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

It is on the way that this whole matter comes up. This is an insider incident.  We are the insiders.  We are the one on the way with Jesus.

Jesus keeps telling us this is not an easy life.  It is a blessed life.  It is a good life.  But it is not an easy life.

We are so Peter, and we want to shush him when he starts to remind us that it is a life that calls us – each and every one of us – and all of us together – it is a life that calls us to the cross.  We take up that cross as we give it all way.  We take up that cross as we risk our life for the sake of Christ.  We take up that cross at great cost—the cost of our life as we would have it be.

We take up that cross every time we welcome someone that no other church would have.  We take up that cross every time we help a child to know that God is love and that God made them good.  We take up the cross when we, as the Church, let the world see just that—that love, and grace, and hope are what is really real.

When we are bold…when we are disciples…when we are most alive is when we are cross-bearing, faith-giving, Christ-life living—when we do that, we are the Church.

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk