The Bungee Cord
11-10-19

Hello,

     TODAY IS A HAPPY DAY.  YOU ARE IN A HAPPY PLACE.

     Any guesses where I spotted these sentences?

     I spotted them, as I was enthroned, on the interior door of the bathroom of the hotel in which I stayed this past week when I was on vacation (thus the reason for the lack of a Bungee Cord last week.)  They covered the entire door, and they tapped my funny bone when I saw them.

     I snickered at their size, their location, and their content. So big were they that they felt like an order being issued by a marine drill seargent, “You will be happy!”  Located on the interior side of the bathroom door made me think of my time in that room in a way I had not thought of before, and the message they gave seemed an unusual one for a hotel to plaster on a bathroom door.

     TODAY IS A HAPPY DAY.  YOU ARE IN A HAPPY PLACE.

     As I have talked to folks, it seems to me that maybe these words might be expected  somewhere else, too: on the front wall of the church.  I say that because many operate with the impression that Christianity is all about being happy.   Somehow folks have gotten the message that you need to be happy in order to come to church, you need to have a happy face when you’re there, and when you leave you should leave with a smile on your face.  True enough, a great place to bring one’s happiness is to the place from where all blessings flow.  And true enough, who can help from smiling when good news is announced, especially the good news of Jesus Christ.  And true enough, a skip in your step comes quite naturally after dining on a foretaste of the feast to come.  But I am not too sure that happiness is the measure of the worth of having come to church, nor the measure of the depth of a person’s faith.

     I say that because in the Bible happiness isn’t always the result of an encounter with Jesus.  Just think about how the disciples must have felt when Jesus ate his last meal with them, a meal that carried the shadow of his death.  Or, how about what the disciples felt when they gathered in the post-Easter room, hiding for their lives.  Or how about when the Apostle Paul was imprisoned for his faith.

     Likewise, there are times in life where happiness is hard to find….when a loved one dies, when your life has fallen apart because of what you have done, when hopes and dreams evaporate and crumble.

     Clearly, Jesus didn’t come to bring sprinkles to life so that we might be happy, that would make his presence pretty trivial and very fleeting.  Jesus came to bring something far more essential and substantial for life: hope.  As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8, “I am convinced that …… nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sometimes life is hard.  Sometimes life is sad.  Sometimes life is wearisome.  When we read scripture we find that Jesus, like insects to a light at night, is drawn to those times.  And when Jesus inhabits those times, Jesus doesn’t say, “don’t worry, be happy.”… or, “you have to look on the bright side of things”…. Or, “it’s not that bad, just think about what other people are going through”.  No, what Jesus says is this, “I am with you.”  And if Jesus, the embodiment of God’s power and love, is with you, there is hope.

     With that in mind, maybe there is a message that should be emblazoned on the front wall of every church, a message that can’t be missed when a person sits down on their pew, a message that declares with Christianity and Jesus is really all about:

     TODAY IS A HOPEFUL DAY.  YOU ARE IN A HOPEFUL PLACE.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger