The Bungee Cord
8-7-18

Hello,

     Do you know  why hummingbirds bear their name?  I think It is because they humm when they fly.  Before we lived in our current house, the only experience that I had with hummingbirds was in the wide open and from afar.  But in this house we have a covered front porch that is edged with flower boxes, and when I sit on the porch I find myself visited by hummingbirds who are investigating the flowers.

     One time on the porch, my attention was directed at some computer work that I was doing when all of the sudden it sounded as if a helicopter drone had come to spy on me.  Not so, however.  As I looked up I saw the generator of the noise; a hummingbird.  Apparently, the rapid flapping of its wings, so fast that they are almost invisible to the human eye, stirs up enough turbulence that they make a humming noise.  A rather loud humming noise.  I guess that if I had been around to give them a name, I, too, would have appropriately named them “Hummingbirds”.

     Do you know why Jesus bears his name?  Well, “Jesus” means, “God saves”, and that is what Jesus did when God incarnated himself on earth.  I suppose that akin to my experience with hummingbirds, from afar it is not clear as to the reasoning for the name.  From afar, all one sees in Jesus is a simple, mid-eastern man, who stirred up enough trouble to get himself crucified, and whose followers said had risen from the grave.  From afar, it is hard to see much saving going on or believe it.

     But when Jesus draws near…when the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” are spoken and you are hit with the waters warmed with the grace of God…..when the words, “This is my body, given for you…This is my blood, shed for you”  fall upon your ears, and your ears only, as bread and wine are place in your hands….when there is a knock on the door, a door that never gets knocked on because of the judgments of the world on you, and it is a neighbor who when asked by you, “why are you here?”, and the response is, “Well, it just seemed like you needed to know that we still care about you.”….when the person sitting next to you in church looks at you straight in the eye and says, “the peace of the Lord be with you.”….when these things happen, happen near to you, there is a fluttering of God’s grace that makes it clear why Jesus bears his name…God saves.

     Contrary to the impression that is given when Jesus is seen only from afar, Jesus is not about making people good….Jesus is not about making people rich….Jesus is not about condemnation and exclusion….Jesus is not about making everything go ok…………Jesus is about saving, saving with divine mercy and forgiveness.  Jesus is about saving people from the undertow of life.  Jesus is about saving people from the jowls of life’s lions. Jesus is about saving from the wildfire flames of judgment that are boxing us in.  When Jesus draws near, it is clear why Jesus bears his name, clear because we experience it, Jesus is about saving.

     There are plenty of things in the world that can throw a life-ring at us that makes us good, that makes us rich, that makes us feel important, that makes us feel like everything is ok.  But unfortunately, those life-rings still leave us where we are at; in stormy waters, filled with sharks, frigid and cold.  Jesus, instead, has dove into this life, gathered us up in his cross stretched arms, and carried us out of death’s lifeless grave. Jesus, you see, saves.

     Hopefully this Bungee Cord has met you today as you sit on the porch of your life, being a vessel of Christ drawing near to you, and you have heard a flutter of God’s grace that will cause you to see why Jesus bears his name……God saves….you.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger