[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. [19] For it is written,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

[20] Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? [21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, [23] but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. [25] For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

INTRODUCTION:

A little boy who was just learning about addition and subtraction in school looked up during Worship one Sunday, saw the cross on the altar and hollered, "Look, Daddy! There's a plus in our Church."

The cross really is a plus, though there are some folks who think it's a negative. For them, Paul is right, the cross is "foolish." They think it's a negative because they can't understand a God who would let his own son die like that.

Crucifixion was the cruelest form of death ever devised. It's not the nails, you don't bleed to death, you drown as your lungs slowly fill with fluid. Being whipped before hand was actually a blessing and a cruel way of shortening the persons time before they died. The same with the breaking of the condemend persons legs. With broken legs, the pain wouldn't allow you to hold yourself up and prolong your agony. Though cruel, they actually sped up the dying process.

Folks who see the cross as a negative can't fathom the depth of love it took for God to do that; nor the spirit of sacrifice born of that love. These folks don't see love tied with the cross. They can't get beyond what the cross is and was and move to what God, through Christ, transformed it into being. All they see is abuse and cruelty and pain. All they see is an instrument of death, they don't see God's grand irony.

And the irony is that through Christ, God transformed an instrument of death into a symbol of life. God transformed tragedy into triumph; humiliation into glory; despair into hope. God took what was ugly and cruel and violent and transformed it into a thing of beauty and a symbol of peace.

I. THE BEAUTY:

Because of that transformation, the cross IS a plus. And it's beautiful. I have a friend who collects crosses. He has crosses of all shapes and sizes. I don't collect crosses like Mike but I do have a few favorites. They are favorites, not because of their outward beauty but because of who made them.

This cross was a gift on my Walk to Emmaus. It was made by a former member of a former church. We both moved about the same time, me to a different Church, Emerson to a different Conference. He had always wanted me to go on the Walk to Emmaus and kept up with our conference until I did, and made these crosses for that Walk. That's why it's special.

This cross is special because Mary's grandfather made it. It was one of the last things he made in his shop. It's red oak. He made it out of lumber that he and I made there on the farm. We cut down the trees, we had our own mill and sawed the lumber. Most of it we used for trim in the house we built. But there was enough left over for Grandpa to make this cross for me. It's dated and has his initials on the bottom It was 20 years old on Ash Wednesday.

II. THE FOOLISHNESS.

Both of these crosses a special because of who made them They are special because of the love involved and the sacrifice of time and effort that went into making them. There is another cross that is special for the same reason. And it's the one that both of these crosses and this one here represents, and that is the original cross of Calvary. The cross of Christ.

No greater sacrifice has ever been made. No greater sign of love has ever been given. The Son of God willingly and knowingly gave his life and faced the cruelty of the cross so that we might know how much God loves us. Through his sacrifice we find forgiveness. Through his brokenness we find wholeness. Through his death we find eternal life.

It might sound foolish, and to some it is the very heart of foolishness, but in the words of Paul, "we proclaim Christ crucified, . . . the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." It is a foolish gift that shows us the extravagance of God's love for us.

CONCLUSION:

We remember that foolishness and extravagance every time we worship. This morning we celebrate God's foolish and extravagant love in two ways. First through our response. Through the Commitment Cards that we lay on the altar, we are proclaiming to God, to ourselves, and to everyone around us our love for God and our commitment to God and God's work through this Church. When we lay those cards on the altar, they become a symbol of our faith. They are the physical representation of our intent to serve God.

And second, we remember and celebrate God's foolish and extravagant love through the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. In word and symbol we relive the moments of Christ's death and resurrection. We remember the cost of our salvation. We rejoice in our forgiveness. And we experience new life once again.

It may seem foolish to use broken bread to celebrate wholeness and forgiveness. It may seem foolish to use an instrument of death to celebrate life, but that's the irony. We are fools for Christ, for "the foolishness of the cross is the power of God."