The Bungee Cord  2-1-21

Hello,

 

The thing that I think I miss the most in these mask wearing days is the smiles.  I miss the smile that awakens on a person’s face when I say, “Good morning,” to them.  I miss the smile that greets me from the cashier at the grocery store.  I miss the smile of engagement while I am talking to someone.  I miss the smile that comes with a good-bye wave, “See you soon.”  I miss the smiles.

 

They are there, at least I think they are, but I can’t see them.  To know, or guess, that they are there does not generate the same level of joy in my spirit as does seeing them.  If you are like me, a smile can the spark from a spark plug to get my weary engine going.  A smile can be the dabble of glue that secures a relationship.  A smile can be the thing that slices through a dark future, knowing that someone is there and truly cares.  To see a smile does powerful things , but  to guess that a smile exists, because of a mask,  is just not as powerful.

 

We Lutheran Christians say that God is one who we encounter wearing masks.  Even though they are certainly true attributes of God, all of the “omni’s” are actually masks that keep us from seeing God.  Omnipotent.  Omnipresent.  Omniscient.  They function as masks because they are things that our human minds cannot perceive.  Think how often you have heard, “If God is all-powerful (omnipotent), why did this tragedy happen?  Or from a young student trying to stump the pastor, “If God can do everything, can God make a rock too heavy for God to lift?”  Or, ”If God really knows everything about me, how could he love me?”  In a real way, these attributes of God hide God from us, like masks, making us hope and guess that there is a smile on God’s face behind them.

 

But just like we, who can hardly wait to get our masks off so that we might breathe easier and experience the depth of our connections to one another, God also takes God’s mask off.  When God sent Jesus into the world, God ripped off his “omni” masks so that we might see what lies behind all those masks.  And what do we discover?  A smile!  Jesus is God’s smile to us!  Jesus is the smile of God’s power that grins with God’s joy in loving us.  Jesus is the smile of God’s presence that is with us in every moment of life, good and bad.  Jesus is the smile of God’s shepherding care, leading us in every step of life, and even leading us out of the grave.

 

It isn’t that God started smiling upon us when Jesus came.  No, it is in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that we see the smile that has always been there.  In Jesus, God took off God’s mask so that we need guess and wonder if God smiles when God looks upon us.  We know….we know…that God is smiling.  And in knowing that, there is a powerful effect that comes with that knowledge.  A spark to ignite our day.  A drop of super-glue to give us hope.  A high-powered fan to clear up a cloudy future.

 

The time will come when we can all discard our Covid masks and be empowered with our mutual smiles. But take a look at God, that time has already come with him , and that is what Jesus is all about!  Thanks be to God!

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger