1 Cor 1:17 "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (NRSV)

Have you ever noticed how excited people get about sports? I have seen people get excited at a sports event when they didn’t even understand anything about it. Like the one gentleman who was asked his opinion of a Football game after he watched one for the very first time. His reply: "Seems like a lot of trouble for 25 cents." "25 cents?" "Well they all kept yelling: ‘Get the quarter back!’"

I will never forget attending a football game in Ashe county with a couple of friends. My friend’s wife was so excited about the game! She was yelling and screaming and jumping and clapping. When "our team" went into the end zone we all thought we had just won the game. But there was a penalty which negated the score. I will never forget her words to me that day - "What happened? Did they take the homerun away?"

I can just picture the Miami stadium today. People all over the world are going to be jumping and screaming and shouting as Denver and Atlanta battle for the right to wear a superbowl ring. I promise you that there will be those people present at the stadium today, gathered in sports bars and around televisions throughout the world who will not understand why the homerun was taken away but they had never had as much fun in their life!

Just a comment here. Have you ever noticed how people involved in ministry act like their in pain rather than experiencing joy. I must confess I peeked during a prayer the other day while I was involved in a worship experience at school. As I watched the student pray - he looked as if he were going to die! It made me aware of my own need to not look like this worship is killing me! I think churches throughout the world could probably use a little more joy and life in their worship.

The Andy Griffith Show is probably my all time favorite show in the world. I will always remember one show where Mr. Weaver, a grouchy business owner was going to evict this lovely couple who had fallen on hard times. Andy and Barney had decided to fill up the jail house with yard sale type items and raise the rent for these people. In this show someone picks up an item off the table and takes it to Andy and says: "Andy? What ya reckon this is?" Andy replied: "I’m not really sure." To which the gentleman says: "Me either but I always wanted one."

"For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

This week I have continued a pilgrimage of mine - to locate David Simmons. This is very important to me. I haven’t heard from or seen David Simmons in over twenty years but it occurred to me a few weeks ago that I had never thanked David Simmons for something very important. If he had not done this one thing for me I am not certain I would be here today. It was David Simmons who was on the other side of an alter helping me to respond to Christ’s invitation. I can still see the tears in his eyes as he said: "The Lord is getting a good man." The sad thing in all this is that I am learning that David went through a divorce and his family has basically shunned him. Which has made it almost impossible to find him. After learning this I now understand why God has made this such a high priority in my life.

I was like the man with Andy that day - I didn’t quite know what it was but I knew I had always wanted it! I didn’t understand it all but I knew the power of God had come over me and I could no longer resist Him.

The sports world is filled with experts and many times even the experts don’t understand all the rules or factors of the game. So it is with Christianity.

I am so glad to be "almost" through school. I began to use the word "almost" the day after I had reached halfway. But I have sat in a lot of classrooms and absorbed a lot of information regarding God and His Word. I will be the very first to tell you that I don’t completely understand it all.

Today churches throughout the world gather to worship. In those pews, chairs, floors, and pulpits are people who simply do not understand it all. Someone asked me yesterday for my views on the Sabbath. I said: "The Sabbath is a day that we set aside to honor and worship God." Then this person asked me why some worship on Saturday and some worship on Sunday. I again responded: "The Sabbath is a day that we set aside to honor and worship God. According to the Hebraic calendar it is Saturday but do you really think God is all that concerned about a certain day of the week? I think God is perhaps more concerned about our worship than He is the day on which we do it." It’s the same with salvation. If we waited until we understood every aspect - we’d never be saved. There are some thing about God that our minds can never comprehend.

Why would God choose Raymond Osborne to preach? Why would God choose to forgive Raymond Osborne for all the wrong he has done and all the mistakes he has made in his life? Why does God choose to forgive again and again and again? I don’t know. None of us do. All that we can possibly know is that He is God and He has the power to do for us what we can not do for ourselves.

As I read our text this morning I discovered one way that I am like the Apostle Paul. Paul said to the church at Corinth: "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power." (1 Cor 1:17 NRSV)

Christianity as we know it is rich with symbolism. We light candles every service which symbolizes Christ as the Light with us. When the service is over the wick on the candle lighter is lit, then the candles are extinguished and the acolyte leads the way of the Light going out into the world. We Baptize those who accept Christ and desire to become part of His Body. When I place a candidate under the water it symbolizes the death of the old life and as they are raised it symbolizes the resurrection into new life. Remember this last baptsm I also handed each one a lit candle and said: "Take the Light into the World?" another symbolic act rich in meaning.***

This morning we celebrate Euchrist - Holy Communion. It is a reminder to us of the Grace of God. A reminder of the Forgiveness of God. A reminder of the Sacrifice of God. Ultimately a reminder of Christ being nailed to a cross. The Bread creates in our minds a picture of Christ as he is tied to a whipping post and a Roman soldier is beating him with a whip. Not an ordinary whip but one which had steel balls placed periodically throughout. We see the hands and feet of Christ being mailed to a cross. We can almost identify with those who watched that day as the Son of God died the power which accompanied that act which caused the earth to quake and the sky to become dark. Power to save. Power to forgive. Power to heal. Power to transform lives.

The world doesn’t understand that power and if you and I are completely and totally honest this morning we don’t either. But you know? That’s okay. We don’t have to understand it we need only to accept it. To know that there is true power that came and continues to come to you and I through the cross of Christ. Even thgough they did not understand that power that day they knew the implications for it is recorded that they said among themselves, "Truly this was God’s Son." (St. Matthew 27:54 NRSV)

This morning I invite you to participate in Eucharist. I not only invite you, but Christ invites each of us to His table, to remember and experience for ourselves God’s grace. God’s forgiveness. God’s love. God’s acceptance. Christ’s sacrifice. But more than anything else - the power of the Cross!
Amen.

***Special thanks to Dr. Robert Fulbright for this idea shared with us during Chapel at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity Community Eucharist.