The Bungee Cord
7-24-18

Hello,

     “Pastor, I am a Christian, but I don’t think I need to go to church every week.”

     I can’t tell you the number of times that I have had this said to me.  And you know what….I agree.  I agree, that is, if one thinks that going to church makes one a Christian…or if going to church makes God love you more….or if the point of being a Christian is to be a good person and going to church helps you be good.

     So, why go to church every week….or ever at all?

     This morning as I was leaving to go to my weekly pastor’s Bible study in Latrobe (famous for being the home town of Mr. Rogers and Arnold Palmer), my wife asked if I could take the recycling to the recycling center which is also located in Latrobe.  

     No problem.  So instead of driving my Mini Cooper, I took our old pick up, the bed of the truck carrying a full load of recycling.  I had to drive a bit more cautiously and slowly so as not to leave a wake of empty plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and paper behind me on the 20 mile winding path over the ridge.  As I neared Latrobe, I was slowed down even further by road construction.  Finally, I reached to recycling site.  I turned off the main road, drove into the center, and was greeted by a vacant spot where the blue recycling bin usually sits.  No bin, and a sign that said, “Do not leave recycling if no bin.”

     With no bin, no unloading of recycling.  So, I turned my pickup around and drove off to my Bible study, still hauling my garbage (albeit recycling garbage) around.

     Maybe you have never considered it to be so, but I believe that the church is meant to be a recycling center…not in the sense that you go there to recycle stuff into your life…..but in the sense of dumping the garbage out of your life, so that it no longer clutters and stinks up your life.  Life is not lived without the acquiring of garbage….some of it really stinky and some of it just unneeded clutter.  

     You don’t need to go to church every week to be a Christian, but everyone needs a place to dump their garbage and get on with life without it. That is why the church doors are thrown open every week.  That is why worship service times are posted so everyone can see them.  That is why churches try not to cancel their worship services, even in the worst of weather.  The last thing that Jesus wants is to have what happened to me this morning….to have a load full of garbage to dump, only to find out that the dumping place is closed.

     It is true that there are other places to dump your life’s garbage each week, many of them also open on Sunday morning, or late Saturday night. In all honesty, some of those places are pretty good dumping grounds….but none of those places do I find someone who loves that I am there as much as God loves that I am in church.  Nowhere else am I welcomed by the one who so loves me that he keeps track of the number of hairs on my head.  Nowhere else am I welcomed by one who would leave 99 just to find me when I am lost.  Nowhere else am I greeted by one who loves me so much that he will let me dump even the most toxic and deadly stuff at his feet.  Nowhere else am I greeted by one who so loves me that he would willingly be nailed to a cross, and die for me.  Nowhere else am I greeted by one who loves me so much that he wants me to be with him forever.

     When I think of the dumping grounds in life, why wouldn’t I want to go to such a recycling center as the church.  No, you don’t have to go to church every week to be a Christian. But every week, God says to you and to me, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

     This Sunday, and every Sunday, a church will be open…and the recycling bin will be there!  Its worth the weekly trip.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace. (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger