The Bungee Cord. 4-24

Hello,

A couple of days ago I looked down at my weedy lawn and I realized something deep and profound: weed killer doesn’t grow grass.

As I listen to people speak about the Christian faith, I hear a lot of talk about “weed killer”. To many, it seems, Christianity is nothing more than a bag of do’s and don’ts that are strewn into the world to kill weeds. There are the 10 main ones that people are quick to spread on other people’s lives, but often water down when they are applied to their own. There are also bags of specialized “weed killer” that are aimed at weeds that the 10 main ones don’t seem to have the focus to deal with. These are the bags that I hear a lot of Christians spending a lot of time arguing over. There are also huge world-size bags that carry the label “Justice”. They weed out invasive things whose roots run deep into people’s souls.

Of course, weed killers have their place in the lawn of life and faith. When applied, they make room for grass to grow. They eliminate roots that entangle themselves in the roots of the grass, entanglements that choke and intercept nutrients. They topple the canopy of leaves that brings a shadow over the grass. Weed killers are important in creating a lush yard of grass, “Barefoot Grass” as one yard care company calls itself. But here’s the thing: they don’t grow grass.

Jesus tells the story of an orchard owner who is having some trouble with an unproductive tree, and he wants to cut it down. For three years, the tree has yielded nothing. The gardener has a plan to save the tree. First, he tells the owner that he is going to do some weed killing, dig around the tree to free the tree from the competition of the weeds. But he doesn’t stop there. He also is going to put manure around it….good, powerful nutrients…and then with confidence says, “Come back next year, and see what you find.”

There is a place for weed killer in the living of the Christian faith, but the power of the Christian faith is not in the weed killer…..it is in the manure! When the words of divine forgiveness are applied to the soil, those words, like manure, have the nutrients to lift one off of one’s knees when someone has wilted under the heat of the world. When the story of the empty tomb is stirred into ashes and dust, that story, like manure, has the power to raise up new and eternal life. When a piece of bread and a sip of wine embodying Christ’s presence slide down a hungry throat, those earthly things, like manure, have the power to nourish a seedling that is trying to grow in a rocky terrain. And when a splash of water hits with a universal staking claim, that splash of water, has the power to transform the manure into a means of grace that one’s roots can take in.

There’s a place for weed killer in the lawn of Christianity, but the power of the Christian faith is found in the manure. It is my hope that every week when I spread out the words of a Bungee Cord upon your life you smell the manure in it, manure that brings with it the power to enliven, strengthen, and ground you in divine hope, trust, courage, and love. Every week I try to liberally and overwhelmingly mix the manure into the week killer, because I have profoundly come to see from my lawn that weed killer does not grow grass.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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