# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2023_S76
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Ted [Krey] said, “Just walk among them and pray with
them until we get the food and water squared away.”
I had my [clerical] collar on. I had a crucifix on. … [Later,
coming home on the airplane], I looked down, and the
body of Jesus had swung off the cross and was just
hanging upside down by the feet. That was the week we
had.
[At the MASH unit I prayed] with a little girl with three
casts. I couldn’t speak Creole. I couldn’t speak Spanish. I
couldn’t speak French. She grabbed hold of the crucifix as
I was praying the Lord’s Prayer with her. She grabbed
hold of my crucifix and would not let it go. She would not
let it go.
My dear friends, Christ crucified has you by the neck.
Christ crucified has you by the neck. Let us press on to
know the Lord. He will come to us with His showers. “For
it is written,” says St. Paul [in 1 Corinthians 1]. Stick to the
Bible. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.” Stick to the
Bible and Christ crucified. “And the discernment of the
discerning I will thwart.” Stick to the Bible and Christ
crucified. “Where is the one who is wise?” Stick to the
Bible and Christ crucified. “Where is the scribe?” Stick to
the Bible and Christ crucified. “Where is the debater of
this age?” Stick to the Bible and Christ crucified.
“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
[continues St. Paul]. The word for “fool” here is the same

76 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION

as our word, “moron.” Jesus says, when salt has been
“moronized,” how can it gain its saltiness again?
“Moronize” means to lose its being, to lose its sense, to be
made nothing.
Stick to the Bible and Christ crucified. It makes the
wisdom of the world nothing.
“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God
through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what
we preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:20–21).
We preach, no matter who calls it folly.
We preach Christ—Christ forgiving you, Christ hanging
on the cross for you, Christ taking His last breath for you,
Christ paying for your sins.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. No
matter who calls it folly, it is the wisdom and the power
of God Almighty. We preach Christ crucified. Grab hold of
Christ. Grab Christ’s cross in the Word, in Baptism, in His
Sacrament. Christ has grabbed you, my dear friends.
This convention will be about many things. We, together,
preach Christ and Him crucified for our own salvation
and the salvation of the world. God grant us that this
week, even as we bear witness, in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Convention Sermons