Allow me this morning to begin with a short reading from a classic novel written by the incomparable Charles Dickens. It’s called “Oliver Twist.” Written in 1838, it was made into a play and then a movie titled “Oliver!” and in fact won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1968. But even if you’ve never read the book or seen the movie, you’ve probably heard something about this particular scene, a scene in which young Oliver, an orphan living in a home for boys picked up off the street, gathers the courage to ask his cruel master for more food.

A mom and dad were getting ready to go to a wedding. Their four year old son didn’t really understand the concept, so the dad got out the pictures from their own wedding. Together they went through picture after picture as the dad explained what a wedding is all about. When he finished the father asked his son, “Now do you understand?” “I think so,” the little boy said. “So is that when mommy came to work for us?”

A mom and dad were getting ready to go to a wedding. Their four year old son didn’t really understand the concept, so the dad got out the pictures from their own wedding. Together they went through picture after picture as the dad explained what a wedding is all about. When he finished the father asked his son, “Now do you understand?” “I think so,” the little boy said. “So is that when mommy came to work for us?”

Have you ever heard someone’s name and thought to yourself, “now that’s a name!” It was a name so powerful that no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t get rid of the name. I am drawn to a movie from the early turn of the millennium that won multiple Academy Awards including best picture and best actor; the movie in question is Gladiator. The main character is played by Russell Crowe the star of the recent controversial film Noah. In the movie Crowe’s character is certainly a man to look up to and a man who indeed has a powerful name; his name is Maximus. I am assuming considering the age of the movie most of you are familiar with the plot line so I’m not worried about having to post a spoiler alert. Maximus served the Roman Empire as a general of the armies of the North. The murderous new Caesar Commodus sends Maximus away to be killed because of his knowledge of Commodus’ evil deed in killing his own father. After narrowly escaping death at the hands of Roman soliders Maximus finds himself sold into the life of a gladiator. In one of the most powerful scenes of the movie Maximus reveals his identity in front of the crowds at the Coliseum and Caesar himself who had assumed he was long dead. As he announces his name you get a sense on the value of this man’s character as he states, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” ooh in your face Caesar. What a powerful name and it was so powerful that in the following scene Maximus is surrounded by his closest gladiator companions and one of them comments, “You have a great name, he must kill your name before he kills you!” And that’s what’s in a name…it doesn’t matter if you cannot live forever you can still live on in the memory of your name.

Have you ever heard someone’s name and thought to yourself, “now that’s a name!” It was a name so powerful that no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t get rid of the name. I am drawn to a movie from the early turn of the millennium that won multiple Academy Awards including best picture and best actor; the movie in question is Gladiator. The main character is played by Russell Crowe the star of the recent controversial film Noah. In the movie Crowe’s character is certainly a man to look up to and a man who indeed has a powerful name; his name is Maximus. I am assuming considering the age of the movie most of you are familiar with the plot line so I’m not worried about having to post a spoiler alert. Maximus served the Roman Empire as a general of the armies of the North. The murderous new Caesar Commodus sends Maximus away to be killed because of his knowledge of Commodus’ evil deed in killing his own father. After narrowly escaping death at the hands of Roman soliders Maximus finds himself sold into the life of a gladiator. In one of the most powerful scenes of the movie Maximus reveals his identity in front of the crowds at the Coliseum and Caesar himself who had assumed he was long dead. As he announces his name you get a sense on the value of this man’s character as he states, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” ooh in your face Caesar. What a powerful name and it was so powerful that in the following scene Maximus is surrounded by his closest gladiator companions and one of them comments, “You have a great name, he must kill your name before he kills you!” And that’s what’s in a name…it doesn’t matter if you cannot live forever you can still live on in the memory of your name.

Cornerstone Community Church, San Jose CA

Cornerstone Community Church, San Jose CA

“I believe.” Two simple words. Not at all hard to pronounce. They’re words we’ve said with some ease many times before. “I believe in love,” we’ve said. Not controversial – most everyone we know would say the same thing. “I believe in love at first sight,” some say. A bit more controversial – some of us would agree and some of us wouldn’t. But there’s not much risk in saying you believe in love at first sight; people might disagree with you, but they’re not going to shun you for your romanticism.

“I believe.” Two simple words. Not at all hard to pronounce. They’re words we’ve said with some ease many times before. “I believe in love,” we’ve said. Not controversial – most everyone we know would say the same thing. “I believe in love at first sight,” some say. A bit more controversial – some of us would agree and some of us wouldn’t. But there’s not much risk in saying you believe in love at first sight; people might disagree with you, but they’re not going to shun you for your romanticism.

Did you ever wish you were somewhere else? If you’ve been in a traffic jam, then you know the feeling. We’ve all been in them at some time or another. For some reason all traffic has come to a stop, and you have no idea why. At first you just sit and wait. Then you get out of the car to see if you can figure out what’s wrong. Then you try to see if there’s any possible way to turn off onto an off ramp or a side road. But eventually you accept your fate – there’s nothing you can do but wait. And I imagine you’ve been in some traffic jams that seemed like they’d go on forever. But have you heard about the world’s longest traffic jam? It was on the road from Beijing to Inner Mongolia. I know – why would anyone want to go to Inner Mongolia? But this traffic jam, caused by construction, was 60 miles long. Some drivers spent five entire days in their cars, unable to get off, unable to turn around, unable to do anything but wait. Had you been there, I’m pretty sure you would have wished you were somewhere else.