The Bungee Cord 9-20-21
Hello,
In my mind, it is one thing to be welcome, but it is quite another thing to be welcomed. And it makes all the difference in the world.
When I lived in small town in Ohio, I would wander up to the big town, Findlay, on my lunch times to get some exercise by playing pick-up basketball at the YMCA. The Y was located right next to the Marathon Oil office building, so the majority of the basketballers were from there. It was a busy double court. At the time, I was in my thirties, and still had a small remnant of my high school basketball skills. But there were others. Some who were young, right out of college and they carried their more recent skill set. And others were my age or older, but had far more skill in their younger years, so what they had left was far greater than mine.
When I got in a game with the more skilled and competitive guys, I discovered that I rarely had the ball passed to me, and when I shot and missed, I was verbally reprimanded. It was clear, that although the YMCA advertised the pick-up basketball to be welcome to everyone, I certainly was not welcomed to play in those games.
The Bible tells us that when Jesus was in his hometown of Capernaum, he took a young child….maybe a newborn, but no older than a toddler….and he gathered that child up in his arms and welcomed it into his embrace. Now we might think that such an act would be cute or sweet, but not so in Jesus’ day. Children were on the bottom rung of importance and worth in Jesus’ day, a place they assumed because by the age that they would 16 years old, 60% of them would die. The life investment that they required, especially in lean times, was great, and the return for that investment offered a 60% failure rate. At best, children were tolerated…at worst they were treated as dispensable.
So, when Jesus took that young child into his arms and welcomed it, it wasn’t a cute thing….it was a shocking thing. By his action, Jesus made it crystal clear that the world’s judgment of worth and value was not his. He welcomed ones who the world considered the lowest.
if you ever might wonder if you are worth anything to Jesus, the ones that the world considers of least value Jesus considers worthy of his embrace….and not only his embrace, but his life. The cradle of his arms said to that child, “Welcome, unwelcomed one.” And when Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross, that was the stretch as welcoming as of a grandmother greeting her three year old grandchild that she hasn’t seen since Covid struck. That is the welcome that Jesus likewise gives to you…no matter who you are, what you have done, or what you think of yourself.
It is my hope, that at the church at which I am a pastor, we carry on that welcoming embrace of Jesus. I hope that we are like the father in the story of the prodigal son, who when he sees his son coming back home, he runs out to that son and embraces him with a bear hug. Now, I don’t instruct the people of my church to give bear hugs to those who come to worship, but I do tell them that we get the chance to be a place where people – no matter what anyone else thinks of that person – find out that there’s at least one place in the world that they are not only welcome, but welcomed.
The world can be a rather unwelcoming place….and so can the church, sometimes….but that is not the way that Jesus intends his church to be. So, if you haven’t been to worship in a while because you weren’t welcomed….don’t give up, because Jesus hasn’t given up transforming his flock into his likeness. And I have confidence that the day will come when you walk into a church and experience a welcome (maybe not a bear hug) that will take hold of you with a love that you have never felt before….the love of God Almighty who considers you of such worth that he would die for you….and that will make all the difference in the world.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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