On Sunday, February 2 the pastors of First Presbyterian Church in Hammond and Albany Hungarian Presbyterian Church switched places. This sermon was preached by the pastor of the Hammond church in Albany.

Paul says that the message of the cross is scandalous and considered foolish (1 Corinthians 1:17-31). However, today there are crosses everywhere and even people who do not go to church, read the Bible, or pray regularly consider themselves to be Christians. Is it good that we are no longer scandalized by the cross? Has familiarity bred contempt? Or maybe just apathy? This week we turn to the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-16) and 1 Corinthians to help us understand why Flannery O'Conner said that the truth will make us "odd."