Hello,
Last week’s
Bungee Cord was the beginning of a Christmas Story that I wrote in 2000. (You can find it on my blog:
1johnthreeone.blogspot.com. Here’s the
rest….
….”I’ll just stay
on the other side of the street, “ he told himself, and he kept on his path to
the church
His church had
always had a living manger scene, and as it happened it was being displayed
that evening as Jacob made his way to his church. He stood across the street from his church,
looked at the building that once felt so much like home, looked at the people
who he used to sit next to in church dressed up like Mary, Joseph, angels,
Wiseman and Shepherds – and tears began to well up in his eyes. Tears that came as he stood there and saw so
clearly the stinking stench that he had made of his life. And the tears that came as he missed the
warmth and love that he no longer could have because of the smelly mess he had
made of his life.
And as he stood
there looking at that living manger scene, he felt a tug on his heart to cross
the street and get closer. So, slowly he
plodded across the street and neared the living manger. He got close enough that he could tell who
the people were who were portraying the Christmas characters, and he pulled his
hat down over his brow so that they couldn’t tell who he was. He had not been there very long, looking at
each of those Christmas characters – Mary, Joseph, Angels, shepherds, wisemen,
and the baby Jesus – when tears again welled up in his eyes and trickled down
his cheeks. The tears also made his nose
run a little bit, and so he sniffled – and when he sniffled he thought that the
noticed something. So, he sniffled
again. And this time he was sure that he
noticed something. What his sniffling
noticed was – to put it politely – the animals (the sheep, the cows, and the
donkey) had all done their business as they stood there in that living manger
scene. He couldn’t smell it when he was
across the street, but there in that make-shift stable he could smell it as if
he was standing in it. It stunk. It really stunk there at that manger.
Jacob went back
to his auto repair shop, and climbed into his cot that night and said, “This
Christmas, I am going to church.” And
when Christmas rolled around, that is what Jacob did. He felt like a kid as he ascended the stairs
to the front door of the church, stairs that he had ascended countless times as
a kid. The handshakes of the ushers and
greeters felt like well-fitting gloves. The music wrapped him up like a warm blanket
the readings and the prayers landed softly on his soul. It felt great. It was great to be back in church.
When the service
was over, he chatted with the people as he made his way to the door. When he
got to the door, the pastor reach out his hand, shook Jacob’s hand, and said,
“Jacob, great to see you. We’ve missed
you.”
And Jacob, with a
smile on his face, said back to the Pastor, “It was great to be here. You know, I’ve made such a mess of my life,
that I didn’t think I should come to church any more. But thanks to that living manger, I found out
that I was wrong.”
“How’s that?”
asked the pastor.
Have you ever
taken a whiff around that manger?” Jacob
said with a smile.
From that day on,
Jacob was back in church every Sunday with a new-found hope – the hope that the
Lord who chose to enter this world in a smelly manger had also chosen to take
his place in Jacob’s rancid life. But
more than that…..also with the hope that the Lord whose presence filled that
grand and beautiful church would use his forgiving power Sunday after Sunday to
transform Jacob’s life into a temple as beautiful and grand.
Just like Jacob,
you have a place….you belong…in church, too.
On Christmas….and every Sunday.
No matter what your life smells like.
And if you have a hard time believing that, next time you see a living
manger scene, do what Jacob did. Get
close to it and take a whiff!
Merry Christmas.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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