Every college football team, as you know, has its own traditions and personality. So growing up close to Columbia, South Carolina, I oftentimes heard about the “chicken curse,” where the University of South Carolina knows what it means to lose close games. And Amanda Heckert, a Gamecocks fan, writes about the first time she ever was able to storm the field. It was the season opener of the year 2000. They had not won a game in two years. They had suffered through so many noon kickoffs, high temperatures, extreme humidity, they started to refer to themselves as the “Shamecocks”. But at the end of 1999, they went out and hired the legendary football coach from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Lou Holtz. And in the season opener, they beat New Mexico State 31 to 0. And they stormed the field in celebration.

The second time she remembers ever storming the field after a Gamecocks win was one week later. They played the ninth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. And they won 21 to zero, snapping an 18 SEC game losing streak. Now, 26 years later, she’s still waiting on the third time to storm the field. That chicken curse. There are these glorious moments of celebration. The kick six, the prayer in Jordan-Hare, where you storm the field, you celebrate, but there’s also more to game day than just storming the field.

There is watching the eagle fly. There’s the band high-stepping its way onto the field. There’s sitting next to your grandparents in their season tickets they’ve had for decades. There’s your favorite stadium food. There’s tailgating with friends. They are less obvious, but no less meaningful. And if we pay attention, as in life, we discover the importance of what is oftentimes overlooked. As Evelyn Underhill writes, “For lack of attentiveness, a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day.”

The book of Acts shares with us the story of the church. And it talks about that grand day, the beginning of the church, which we call Pentecost, that whirlwind of celebration, where people gathered from all over. And Peter stands up, invites the people into the waters of baptism. It says 3,000 were added that day, a glorious celebration. But so quickly and quietly does the story then unfold into a thousand overlooked daily acts of grace. That they started to gather on the Lord’s Day, the day of resurrection, that they brought their gifts and talents for the benefit of all. They broke bread. They shared stories. They supported one another. They gathered around the table of grace.

And the legs of this table take us on a journey, a journey of a thousand forms of loveliness, like the road to Emmaus, where those two disciples traveling still in the long shadows of crucifixion, but before the sun set on Easter day, they were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And along the way, Jesus joins them. But they can’t recognize Jesus. They could not believe how this stranger had not heard or was aware of all the events that had taken place, referring to the tragedy of Good Friday, where this prophet, Jesus, to whom so many had pinned their hopes, was now gone.

And as Jesus walked with them, He also walked them through the pages of Scripture, pointing out all of these overlooked ways for how the Messiah was to endure suffering for the sake of the steadfast love of God for this world. And then they got to that fork in the road. And Jesus seemed to be going on without them. But these two disciples offered hospitality to this stranger, come, stay with us. So they all go into Emmaus and then gathered around the table. They broke bread and they caught a glimmer of who Jesus really was. Whenever you do this, do this in remembrance of me.

The grace of God was undeniable and they asked themselves, were not our hearts burning along the way within us. And it is that question that invites us to pay attention to where God might show up along the way, seeing a thousand forms of loveliness that might elude us otherwise.

And it’s along this journey that we might pick up and receive all of these gifts of grace and goodness. Growing up, my favorite television show was MacGyver. That Mack, as everybody called him, would go into the field on these dangerous missions. But the only thing he ever took with him was a pocket knife. In fact, there was one of these early episodes where he’s going into this dangerous location and he’s got this small bag around his shoulder and someone says, is that all you’re taking with you? And he says, oh, this isn’t for what I’m taking with me. It’s for what I find along the way. That he would pick up a paperclip, grab a rubber band, just happened to have some spearmint chewing gum in his pocket, and he disarmed the bomb.

That likewise, along the road to Emmaus and in our lives, we pick up along the way gifts of grace and goodness. And so oftentimes, we find those gifts through one another. But we have to look beyond the postcard in order to see them. That those pictures on those postcards are always pristine and perfect. Sun is always out. It is never raining. Everyone is always smiling. But there’s so much to see beyond the postcard and not just the rainy days or the family arguments on vacation. That happens to all of us. But there are gifts of grace and goodness to see beyond the picture on the postcard.

It’s the smell of the street food cooking in the market. It is the feel of the history of standing in an ancient place. It is the experience of hospitality from the locals that you meet. And it is the same with the church. That beyond the postcard, there are gifts of grace and goodness that are oftentimes overlooked. That there are the saints of this place that teach us so much. There is standing there sharing a hymnal and that feeling of community. And there is that peace which exceeds our understanding and sharing our prayer concerns with one another. There are the questions which are raised and we cannot put them down until we experience God’s presence. And there is the forgiveness that we finally muster up enough strength to offer to somebody else. And there is that laughter that erupts even in a committee meeting, and there is the music that speaks to us of God’s love in new ways.

That it is the journey where when we look back, we think to ourselves, were not our hearts burning along the way. Because it’s in this place that so often times we find what one friend has called courage-friends, that we all need courage-friends, people whose presence and prayers give us courage for the day at hand. They are part of the gifts of grace and goodness that we receive along the way. And so often we find courage-friends in those with whom we worship.

It’s like that story that Carlisle Marnie, that great Baptist preacher, tells about his father, where in the later years of his father’s life, he confesses to his preacher’s son how in so many seasons of life, his faith felt rather frail. And Marnie was quite surprised, always seeing his father as someone who was so strong. So he asked his dad, “What kept you going?” Marnie’s father said, “I would always be alright, if I could just make it to the meeting.” That many times we just need to make it to this meeting where we are surrounded by our courage-friends. That it is a gift that we receive and it is a gift that we can offer one another. And perhaps it’s one reason our hearts are burning along the way. Amen.