The Bungee Cord 1-15-24

Hello,

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK’S BUNGEE CORD….

…. As I have come to see, the object of the Christian faith is to be transformed and freed by the grace of God, and to live and die in that grace.

It seemed to me that that group of young adults, living in a stage of life that carries life-long decisions, was hoping that the Christian faith might provide for them a clear path on which to move forward. A neat and tidy road, rid of boulders and potholes, bounded by strong and sturdy guard rails, well-marked with signs and directions, gently sloping and relatively straight. That, of course, is what well-meaning folk who believe that the object of the Christian faith is to know right from wrong and live by that knowledge hope the Christian faith will provide. Having nice roads to walk on through life is certainly a wonderful thing, but the problem comes when one hits a section of the road that is the victim of an earthquake, a mudslide, a sink hole, or a washout.

But it seems to me, that Jesus, when he walked this earth, did not walk those nice roads, and thus neither did his followers. Rather, Jesus walked the messy roads of life. Roads strewn with rocks of pain and suffering, full of hairpin turns of uncertain decisions, narrow paths near cliffsides that made one teeter between life and death. Life is messy, and Jesus walked through the mess, not as a tollway road construction worker repairing all the roads, but as one who had the power and strength to traverse messy roads. And what was that power? God’s transforming grace. Grace that God has given to us as we walk with Jesus along the messy roads of life.

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” (1 John 3:1). By the power of God’s word spoken to us, we have been transformed from frail and weak trail walkers who will be overcome by the messiness of life, into ones whose sinews , muscles and bones are embodied with the power that created the universe. The blood of divine forgiveness flows through our veins. The breath of everlasting life fills our lungs. Our eyes see with divine mercy and love, and our ears hear with infinite range. We are Children of God!

I think that I disappointed that group of young adults, 4:12, at first, but they hung with me as I told them that what I hoped that beside some road clearing, the most important thing that would happen among us is that we would more clearly see who we are, children of God, and live in that identity.

To put a picture to that hope, I said to them, “Suppose that you woke up tomorrow and suddenly, overnight, you grew to 7 feet. Well, if you tried going through the door the same way you came in the night before, you would bang your head. And if you tried putting on the clothes that you wore the day before, you wouldn’t get very far. And if you tried getting in the car without changing the seat from the day before, you would be eating your knees. I could try helping you out by telling you that you have to bend over to get through the door, that you need to buy some new clothes, and that you need to adjust your seat in your car….all helpful things. But might it be better to tell you, “You’re seven feet tall.” And knowing that you would naturally bend over when going through the door that is 6” 5’, and naturally shop for clothes in a store for big people, and you would naturally adjust your seat and rearview mirror in your car. Knowing, and remembering that you are seven feet tall makes all those changes natural. Beyond that, you would know that you could reach a glass that you could never reach before, and you would know that you could dunk a basketball without hardly jumping. Telling you who you are goes a lot further than telling you what to do.”

The Bible tells us that when Christ makes us his, we are a new creation….immediately…children of God.. I suppose that we, that young adult group, could have spent our time telling each other how to live as new creations, but that is a limiting discussion. Instead, to tell each other who we are, and we are not what the world tells us….death bound, claimed by our faults and failures, finding our worth in the number of toys we accumulate that ultimately wind up in the dump…no….we are children of God…eternally claimed, victorious over all our scarlet letters, and worth more than anything and everything in the universe. We are children of God with, as Jesus says, power to do greater things than he did. Imagine that….greater things than he did.

That group, 4:12, became an adventure in discovering the wonder of being a child of God. So, no matter what stage of life you are in, I invite you into that discovery every Sunday morning among your brothers and sisters in Christ, new creations, one and all.

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

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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3Maureen Eide, Fred Borkosky and 1 other

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