Hello,
The chickens are no more.
Those of you who have been Bungee Cord readers for the last
couple of years know that my wife ventured us into chicken farmers, on a small
scale. Over the course of our
chickening, we had eight chickens (6 at one time at our peak), multiple eggs
every day, and apparently prey for the natural wildlife around our house and
for the imported wildlife (i.e.Duncan, our dog who brought two of the chickens
to their demise).
Well, as it is with chickens, after a couple of years, our
chickens’ egg production slowed down to a trickle at best. Added to that the difficulty of trying
to keep them alive and egg producing during the winter, the decision about
diminishing returns came to the fore.
The chickens lost.
So, yesterday, my wife and my piano-playing, piano tuning
son from NYC who was visiting us put on their executioner garb and prepared to
transform our chickens from egg-layers to stew meat. Neither had previously played such a role in the life of a
chicken; my wife’s chicken execution
instruction coming from several forays into the internet, and my son’s coming
from his musical instruction at NYU.
The first chicken that met its demise was our most un-favorite, and it
paid a bit of a price for its role as it’s executioners’ first. The second and third chicken found
their fate to be a bit more precise in its execution.
In the end, our three remaining chickens will no longer be wobbling full
of feathers around our yard, but will one day find themselves bathing
featherless in a pot of boiling water, softening them up for a good bowl of
chicken stew.
Unfortunately, in the world in which we live, chickens are not the only
creatures that find themselves facing the judgment of worthlessness when they
are no longer able to do what they once were. People find themselves likewise judged, too. Consider what happens to those have
done something that renders them less trustworthy. Consider what happens to those who have done something that
renders them less loveable.
Consider what happens to those who have done something that renders them
less desirable to be around.
The fate of such humans may not be as graphic as that of our chickens,
but it is no less severe. Such
people are often shunned, often considered toss-aways, and regularly ignored.
Interestingly enough, the one who Christians follow was one who was
treated in such a way: shunned, tossed away, ignored and ultimately executed. But that treatment was not the last act
of his story. The last act
belonged to God who took he who was shunned and embraced him, who took he who
was tossed away opened up the gates of eternal life to him, who took he who was
ignored and gave him the name at which every knee will bow, and who took the
one who was executed and in raising him destroyed death forever.
So, if you ever hear a voice coming from inside of you or from the world
around you declaring you worthless by virtue of something that you have done,
know this: that voice is not Jesus’ voice. Jesus took that voice to the cross and walked all over it on
Easter Sunday morning. If however
you hear a voice that says, ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying
heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take
my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. 30For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
(Matthew 11), that is Jesus’ voice…..listen to it!
Yoke, that is….not yolk….hahahaha.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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