The Bungee Cord 2-7-22

Hello,

Dum dum da dum dum dum dum, dum dumty dum, dumty dum dumty dum dum dum. (sing to the Olympic song)

I’ve been watching the Olympics over the last several days, and that tune has rumbled through our house with every commercial break. Over and over again, I am astounded at the skill, courage, and determination that the athletes bring to their events. Skiers slicing down the mountain, around moguls, their knees bouncing to their chests. Figure skaters who glide across the ice and leap into the air with perfect precision and apparent ease. Curlers who can make a rock stop on a sheet of ice where they want it to. Snowboarders Speed skaters racing around a track with reckless abandon. Ski jumpers soaring through the air and landing on their feet a football field beyond where they took off. And the daring of bobsledders and luge riders. It is a feast of visual amazement.

In the 14th chapter of John, Jesus tells his disciples an amazing thing, “:Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” More amazing than turning water into wine, feeding 5000 people, raising Lazarus from the dead, and giving sight to a blind man?

When Jesus spoke of “greater works than these”, I don’t think he was speaking about the amazing things that are being done at the Olympics. I think he was talking about something as amazing as speaking the words of forgiveness to someone who has ruined their life and watch that forgiveness set them back on their feet to live again. I think he was talking about something as amazing as telling a grade school child that gets teased the moment he gets on the bus that there is someone who has loved him so much that they died for him, and watch that child get out of bed, get dressed, and courageously step onto that bus again. I think he was talking about something as amazing as telling a middle aged person who has just been told she has cancer that nothing…not cancer, and not death….will ever be able to separate her from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and then see her look square into death and say, “Death, be not proud!” I think Jesus is talking about something as amazing as standing by the bedside of a dying older loved one to whom you have just read the 123rd Psalm, and have that loved one close their eyes in peaceful hope.

In these next few weeks of visual amazement, keep your eyes open for the amazing things that Jesus is going to do through you….things so amazing that it makes Olympic feats seem like nothing more than jumping rope.

“Dum dum ditty dum, di dum di dum, di dum ditty dum di dum” (Sing to Amazing Grace)

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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