The cross offers hope! It offers hope for those who are trapped in the terrible grip of addictions and is the hope for this sin steeped world. At the cross the overwhelming impossibly colossal barrier of sin met the infinite power of love, There Jesus “bore in his body” the sin of the World, past, present, and future! There justice and mercy met and there as the sky turned black the veil (symbolising the separation of sinful humanity from a Holy God) was torn from the top to bottom. This was God’s initiative! Reconciliation is available because of the cross. It is God’s doing and not our own. “All we like sheep have gone astray; …. And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) At the cross Christ did what we were powerless to do.
This powerlessness is at the heart of addiction and every other sin that plagues humanity. We have fallen and we cannot get up by our own power. Try as we might, we cannot lift ourselves from the miry clay. We have few options. 1) Spend our lives in futile struggle failing time and time again to do what we cannot. 2) Give up and wallow in muck and mire as we sink lower and lower. 3) Cry out to the Lord for help. This help is offered free and fully through the cross!
At Threshold House we firmly espouse this third way, the way of the cross. What is impossible for us alone can be done through the victory won at the cross.
This week we are hosting a visit from the Director of the New Brunswick Teen Challenge and the Addictions Counsellor from that centre. We hope that soon we can become a landing spot for graduates of their program, and we look forward to strengthening out ties with them and the men who live there. In the near future Morris, the pastor of our church, and I are planning to make a trip down to the centre in Memrancook to visit with all the residents offering our support for their ‘next steps.’
We are taking a break over the easter weekend from our Men’s Breakfast. Next week will be the final week of our five-week series “Finding Your Way Back to God.” It has been nice to get back to this type of event.
I am hoping that the weather permits us to go ahead with our Sunrise Service this Sunday. I have the opportunity to share as the dawn breaks symbolising the dawning of New Life through the Resurrection!
Last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach “The Cross” to a gathering at Edith Avenue Church. This is a message I never tire of sharing. “In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o’er the wrecks of time.”
Hope & Reedemption 