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<P><FONT size=4>So I have been thinking of illustrations of people who have been
carrying genuinely heavy crosses. I will tell several, brief stories.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>I know this man who is carrying for his ninety-four year old
father who is dying. The burden is heavy. I know of a family who recently cared
for their ninety-eight year old mother as she slowly died. The burden was heavy.
I know of a young woman who took family leave from Boeing to carry for her dying
mother for weeks and months. The burden was heavy. None of these crosses were
made out of lightweight aluminum; none of them were made out of soft foam
rubber. These crosses were all heavy, heavy like wood. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>A second illustration. Let’s talk about parents who care for
their sick children. To truly love is to carry the burden and pain of childhood.
It is at the heart of love. Now, I could use many examples, but I am thinking of
two sets of parents who cared for their children when their children were having
seizures. These two children from two different families were having seizures.
One particular child has as many as eighteen seizures a night. Then it got down
to twelve. Nasty seizures. Day after day, night after night, week after week,
month after month. Every night of every week of every month, these parents took
care of their children with his nightly episodes of seizures that could not be
medically controlled. Both mothers were nurses and both knew of medical
resources but those medical resources did not stop the seizures in their
children. None of their crosses were made out of lightweight aluminum; none of
them were made out of soft foam rubber. These crosses were all heavy, heavy like
wood. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Then, there are illustrations of “I want to help you carry that
heavy cross.” I am thinking of this woman whose husband had Alzheimer’s Disease.
The burden was genuinely heavy and friends said to her, “Let us help carry that
cross. Let us help you carry that burden. It is too much to carry for person.”
Not light-weight aluminum. Not painted foam rubber but wood. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>I think of a friend who had hepatitis and was dying of a liver
disorder. The people in our parish said, “Let us help you carry that cross. Let
us help you carry that burden. It is too heavy for one person to carry.” Not
light-weight aluminum. Not painted foam rubber but wood.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>I think of a woman whose husband was dying of cancer and friends
said, “I want to help carry that cross. That cross is too heavy for one person.”
Not light-weight aluminum. Not painted foam rubber but wood.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>St. Francis of Assisi said; “It is in giving that we receive. It
is in dying that we are born to a new and living hope.” Jesus said, “He who
loses his life will find it.”</FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_brrr_the_water_is__cold.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_brrr_the_water_is__cold.htm</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Pastor Edward F. Markquart</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Having come from the seventh grade retreat recently, I am aware
again that seventh graders have enormously big hearts that feel the power of
suffering. And as these seventh graders talked about the power of death in their
lives, the reality and painfulness of divorce in their families, you knew that
it hurt. If anyone says, “O, go and head and get a divorce. It doesn’t create
pain.” Such people haven’t listened to seventh graders share their pain having
lived through divorces. That does not mean that people shouldn’t get divorces
but let’s not pretend that divorces do not cause pain in the children. And I
hear those kids say and I am quoting, “I don’t know what I would have done
without God. I would not have made it through without God. I would have gone
crazy without God.</FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_if_i_were_god.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_if_i_were_god.htm</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Pastor Edward F. Markquart</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>A man by the name of Harold Luccock, a pastor and theologian,
wrote the following words about this passage. I found his words illuminating.
“Taking up the cross of Christ is a deliberate choice of something that could be
evaded. To take up a burden that we are under no compulsion to take up except
for the love of Christ living inside of us. It makes the choice of taking upon
ourselves the burdens of other people’s lives. Of putting ourselves, without
reservation, at the service of Christ and the world. Of putting ourselves into
locked struggle with evil, whatever the cost.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>We have parents in our congregation who have mongoloid children.
The children have pretty several limitations from birth. I have seen the quality
of love and care that these parents possess, these parents who have children who
suffer from mongoloid disorders. I notice Wendy and Marlys, as parents, who care
for their son, Cail. These parents have been carrying for Cail for thirty-two
years and it has not been easy. You think of the sacrifices, the millions of
little sacrifices, that were given to Cail during the past thirty-two years. Or,
I am thinking of a set of parents who have been taking care of their disabled
son for years and these parents came in because their disabled son had died. It
was the Kraus family in our church. I think of this family carrying for their
child and grandchild for all these years. I think that this was a family who
knew what it meant to deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow Christ. In
the Bible, in this sentence, is the word, must. We must deny ourselves, pick up
the cross and follow Christ. The “must” is not simply a legalistic command but
an invitation of compassion. It has a “compulsive compassion,” and I simply have
to do this. I have to do the work, the job in life, that God has given me to do.
</FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_peter_the_stumbling_block.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_peter_the_stumbling_block.htm</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT size=4> Pastor Edward F. Markquart</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>