The Community of the Cross
"Whoever does not follow the cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple," Jesus said. To carry the cross means at least this: to
take on vulnerability as a way of being. To care about those outside
our own inner circles of relationship. I've gotten into a habit in
Atlanta of referring to the Trinity Presbyterian congregation as
our church family. Makes me feel good. I wonder if that is an
adequate description of our community of faith. To be a Christian
community is finally to be a community of the cross. The core value
of that kind of community is never comfort; it is always courage.
The community of the cross is less interested in maintaining safety
than in standing up for the right thing and in speaking out for
those whose voices have been silenced by prejudice or poverty or
just plain meanness. We should be the church of the cross, my
friends, never insulated from the world, but the place where we
receive training and empowerment to confront society and help to
humanize the world.
--From the sermon "No Man Is an Island"
by The Rev. Joanna Adams

Read the sermon in its entirety.