Today's Sermon in a Nutshell:

Today's Sermon in a Nutshell:

Carrying the Cross Forward

Contrary to popular belief, when the Church was formed, things were going pretty badly. The Jews were actively hunting down Christians in order to stone them and the Romans weren’t too far behind. The forces of evil were working vehemently to destroy and stamp out this fledgling New Testament community purchased by our Savior’s blood.

As the Christian Faith suffered defeat after defeat, a great number of people thought we were finished. We weren’t; but not because we were lucky.

The Church endured those first waves of Christian persecutions from the pagan emperors Nero, Domitian, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Maximinus, Trajan, Valerian, and Diocletian. Later it suffered under the brutal Muslim persecutions of the 9th and 14th centuries. In more recent times the Church withstood the persecution of such infamous figures as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and many other Communist leaders who tried to rid the world of believers. Even more recent, in Mousil – the city in Iraq where my wife’s father was born – ISIS threatened the Christians of that town to either, convert, flee, or perish by the sword. Yet through all of this, the Church has survived!

It survived because when such dire moments arose, certain individuals stood the ultimate test and paid the price with their own blood; becoming martyrs who witnessed for Christ with their very lives.

Being a Christian and wearing a Cross is an honor – and you’re allowed this honor not because of what you did, but what others before you did. They won the right for you wear the Cross as a symbol of what you believe and to Whom you belong. And as faithful members of Christ’s flock, I pray that if the time should ever arise, you’ll do as well as they did by not shirking your sacred duty or minimalizing their sacrifice; and to do so without, cowardice or hesitation.

I don’t suppose many of you will ever be blessed to endure the fiery furnace of Christian persecution as others have, for this seems to be a right reserved for the honored few. However, if you do, you’ll be looking to those around you to not let you down, and vice versa. And if you’re lucky, you’ll have steadfast brothers and sisters supporting you just as so many before us did; committed Christians carrying the Cross forward for future generations just as our Faith dictates, no matter the challenges, no matter consequences.

Very Rev. John Memorich