The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

 John 3:13-17

¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The familiar passage, John 3:16, is a fitting one for this feast which commemorates and celebrates the finding of the true cross in 320 A.D. by St. Helena, and it's finding again in 649 A.D. after having been lost.  There are relics of the true cross in our churches, and hopefully in our hearts as we remember the suffering Savior giving his life for on this ignominious instrument of death. We take time today to honor the cross, and thank Jesus again (can never do it enough) for his sacrifice made so lovingly in order that we may live.  Thank you, Jesus!

Bro. Rene