Preached on Sunday, April 16, 2017.

Just about this time 5 years ago, an accident happened here in Tuscaloosa ...

and this is how the Newspapers described it:

“Alabama loved its Crystal football to pieces!”

For you many Alabama football fans, I’m sure you remember the story.

You see, after winning the 2011 College Football Championship, the University of Alabama received a very beautiful trophy … made in the shape of a real football.

It was hand-made in Ireland of Waterford Crystal ... at the price of $30,000.

Well, after the A-Day game that  Spring ... a Dad of one of the players had just finished holding and admiring that trophy that was on display and had returned it to its stand when it rolled off the stand and onto the counter and onto the floor!

It smashed into a million pieces!

Talk about wanting to disappear, that man had to feel so awful …

knowing that the very trophy that was handed to the team that January ...

for their Championship season … was now completely broken.

Has that ever happened to you?

Have you ever accidently dropped something precious and broken it?

What was your first thought?

Oh, my gosh ... can this be fixed?  

Oh, my goodness ... I hope it can be fixed!

But what about that crystal trophy?                   It smashed into a million pieces …

can you imagine the effort it would take to put it back together!

Let me ask you something … what do you think would be more difficult …

making a new crystal trophy … or fixing the broken one?

Well, to make a new one, you take silica sand … fire it into a liquid … then blow it into a mold … let it cool … and walah … you have a new beautiful work of art.

Whereas, to fix the broken trophy, you’d need hours and hours of painstaking inspection with magnifying lenses to match the broken pieces to one another.

And then you’d have to delicately place just a minute amount of glue between each piece to form it back into its original shape.

And when done, it probably wouldn’t be as strong or as beautiful as it once was.

So I think you’d agree that of the two choices …

creating a new one ... or re-creating a broken one

Re-creating would be a far more difficult job.

And that’s exactly why this day ... is so very special.

Because today we’re remembering how God re-created …

a humanity that was broken.

You see,  just as an artist blows life into crystal glass,

God blew life into Adam ... and made His pinnacle work,

a creature made in His image and likeness.

But in no time at all, Adam and Eve committed the Original Sin,

and smashed man’s relationship with God into a million pieces.

Throughout the ages no one was ever able to put us back together …

no one was ever able to re-build us back into a right relationship with God.

Until, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son to accomplish this most difficult job.

And what was the glue that Jesus used?

It was His precious Blood … poured out so that all people of all time

could be a part of God’s family … here on Earth ... and forever in Heaven.

The difficult work of re-creation … has been done … by Jesus!

And we get to experience this great work through the gift of Baptism …

where sin is washed away and we become brothers and sisters with the Lord!  

St. Paul tells us today in Colossians,

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”

It’s through Baptism that we are re-created into ... the image and likeness of God.

And it’s through the other Sacraments that we get to repair and strengthen

our relationship with Him throughout our lives.  

Last night, 3 people were baptized at Holy Spirit Church.  

In doing so, their souls were made new … truly reflecting the image and likeness of God.

Prior to last night, 9 adults who had already been baptized ...

 made their First Confession ...

and were re-created again … by God’s lavish mercy!

All 12 people from the RCIA class are serious about keeping their souls like new

and so they entered into the Catholic Church ... where

they have access to the Sacraments of Confession, Communion and Anointing

to keep their souls like new all throughout their lives.

All of this was made possible by our Loving Father and His Divine Son Jesus.

God took something that was completely broken ... and put it back together.

That was a lot of work!

More work than gluing a million pieces of crystal back together!

It involved nothing less than the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar,

the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross,

and the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus!

You see it’s only by meditating on the Passion and Death of Jesus,

that we can clearly see …

that God’s greatest work wasn’t the Creation of man…

His greatest work was Redemption ... the Re-creation of man!

We human beings were broken beyond repair … and He fixed us!

Alabama may have loved its crystal football to pieces …

but Jesus loved us even more

He loved us … not to pieces … but to union ...

union with the Father and with Him.

Today we rejoice that Jesus accomplished this great work for us.

Let’s carry that Easter joy …

the joy of being put back together …

to the whole world!