The Cross at Groom, Texas
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November 23, 2025The Cross at Groom, Texas
A Homily for the Feast of Christ the King
If you live in the Texas panhandle,
you’re familiar with the gigantic cross
that stands along Interstate 40
near the town of Groom.
The cross rises twenty stories
above the windswept plains.
Each day, a thousand people pull off the highway
to visit that Cross.
That’s impressive!
Whether those travelers are stopping
out of curiosity
or to pray at the foot of that cross,
a thousand individuals
is a significant number of people.
However, if you continue to research information
about the cross at Groom,
you will learn that, each day,
approximately nine thousand people
drive right on by.
Now, of course, this is understandable.
Not everyone has time
to stop and pray
when the business of life
gets in the way.
Nevertheless, on this Feast of Christ the King,
those vehicles whizzing pass the cross at Groom
have an important message to convey.
How so?
Well, if you have visited the cross at Groom,
you’ll recall that there are life-size statues
of the fourteen Stations of the Cross
surrounding the base of it.
The image of Christ’s third fall beneath the cross
is quite stark.
It depicts our Savior
spread-eagle on the dust,
his face in the dirt,
his Body crushed
beneath the weight of the wood.
Imagine that scene in your mind for a moment.
Now place yourself next to that statue
As you do so,
note the endless drone of nearby traffic
on Interstate-40:
Eighteen-wheelers and cattle trucks.
Motorcycles and moving vans.
Distracted drivers.
Fidgety children.
School buses.
Police cruisers.
Cars with drugs
stashed into secret compartments.
You got the picture?
You hear the traffic?
Now, with the hum in the background
ponder these words from today’s gospel:
The rulers sneered at him…
Even the soldiers jeered…
"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself!"
Friends, today you and I gather before a cross
above the altar of this church.
We do so not to jeer, but to worship.
Not to sneer, but to render praise
to Christ, our King.
Yet, the moment
that we leave this church and step outside,
we’ll hear the rumble of traffic on Interstate-27
less than two miles away…
the endless drone
of a distracted and secular world.
Given frantic, frenetic world in which we live,
how might we stay focused
on that which truly matters
once we leave this house of prayer?
How will we manage to maintain our grasp
on the immortal words
that Jesus spoke to the criminal hanging next to him:
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Surely that message echoes louder
than any eighteen-wheeler or blaring horn.
Today.
You and me and Christ.
Together on the road!
Even with your four-year-old
screaming in the car seat.
Even with the fuel gauge getting low.
Even though you are running late
for work
for band practice
for a doctor’s appointment.
Today, you and Christ, on the road.
On the road to life without end!
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you!
Because, by your holy Cross,
you have redeemed the world.