The Bungee Cord.  4-19-21

Hello,

 

I am pretty bad when it comes to remembering names.  A bad deficit for a pastor to have.  I try to concentrate when someone gives me their name, but unfortunately my concentration doesn’t seem to be concerted enough for the name to get thumbtacked onto my brain.  The hardest names for me to remember are the names of kids from the same family for whom the parents have decided to have all of their kids names start with the same letter.  Charlie.  Chester.  Charlene.  Chip.

 

Yesterday, I preached on my focus verse (a verse that I believe best articulates my relationship with God), 1 John 3:1.  “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”   What is about this verse that brings everything into focus?  Well, it tells us that we have a God who so deeply loves us that he would use the power of his voice, the voice whose power began creation, to make us his children.  “You are my child.”  All God’s doing.  All God’s decision.  All God’s decree.  And who can change what God has done?  Who can steal away from God?  Who can override what God has decreed?  No one.  Nothing, and not even me.

 

And what in the universe could match being called by God, “My child.”?

 

“And that is what we are.”  That is what we are…not what we could be, might be, or should be…but it is what we are.  God has staked his claim on you and me, claiming us as his children, and that is what we are.

 

When we fall into a hole of our own making, that is what we are.  When we bring pain to God or others, that is what we are.  When we wander and roam, that is what we are.  When we encounter someone struggling in life, that is what we are.  When we get beaten and bruised by evil and woe, that is what we are.  When doubt is easy to find, and faith is hard to find, that is what we are.  And even when death draws the last breath from our lungs, that is what we are.  “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”

 

When yesterday’s service was over, I told the people to be seated, and I would come around and dismiss them for communion….trying to keep a good air flow and safe distance when receiving the sacrament.  As I made my way through the worshippers, I came upon a family that had visited once before, on Easter.  It was great to see them worshipping with us again.  They were a family of five who was in the process of buying a house in our area, and were also looking for a church to become their spiritual home.  Of course, they had given me their names on Easter, but did I remember them?  No.  So, I apologized for my lack of memory and I asked if they could remind me of their names.  I was determined to remember their names!  So, when the first boy, a third grader, gave me his name, I said to him, “Now, how am I going to remember your name?”  And he said, “Well, I am a child of God.”

 

An answer that I wasn’t expecting, even though I had just preached 10 minutes about that.  His mother said, “I guess that he was listening.”  Ah, that we all could listen as attentively as that third grade boy!

 

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is…and that is what we are.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger