A vivid introduction marks this sermon, using a popular TV personality, local color, and the hint of grace that is in it all.

The introductory material keeps surfacing throughout the sermon, giving it a unifying force. Biblical examples do their work economically, not permitting the listeners to go their own way because the instances have been needlessly stretched out in the telling.

The vision and the memory and the presence of the crucified and risen Christ enkindle the desire to choose a better way.

Go in any restaurant in town,

Read any local paper,

Visit any area mall,

And soon you will see his picture -

The wavy black hair barely under control,

The wide crooked smile more gentle than silly,

The huge beaked nose, as indelibly etched in your memory as on his face.

In Toledo, Ohio, no …