The Bungee Cord. 7-29-24

Hello,

As I told you last week, I went on a two-week trip to Denver to help my son. I drove, which gave me 46 hours to do some thinking. So today, I thought I would share with you something I was thinking about.

At its core, many people think that Christianity is about abiding by certain rules and conduct. I agree that rules and conduct are very important, but for me, they are not the core of the Christian faith. For me, the core of the Christian faith is a story that is at work shaping me, like a potter shapes the clay. It is a story of a God who is so heartfully invested in all of creation, that every speck of creation is of supreme importance to God. Amazingly enough, that includes the infinitely small speck that is me, and you. So important are we specks to God, that God has given everything to hold us in God’s heart. Amazing! And amazingly more, the everything that God has given is God’s very self. The one who is the potter became clay, and in so doing put God’s signature on all God’s handiwork of clay, so that all may know that God’s handiwork is Gods, especially you and me. God did this in a simple work of clay named Jesus, who stirred up the dust with his feet, who embodied God’s love with his words and deeds, who hung on a cross made of wood, who put God’s signature on all people with his blood, and when he had done so he proclaimed with his last breath, “It is finished!” And then three days later, out of the kiln of the grave, the one whose blood claimed all people, began gathering up, and is still gathering up, all of God’s kiln fired pottery for God to treasure forever.

That story, for me, is the core of the Christian faith. I know that there are some, if not many, who consider me to be a fool to believe such a story. They say, “What proof is there that God exists? Such a story sounds too good to be true. How do you know that this story is not the result of some people’s imagination? What about all the other stories? People don’t rise from the grave.” These and so many other reasonable questions are asked of me and those who believe this story. And I know, to many of those questioners, I am a fool.

But what if this story is true? What if there is a God who is so deeply invested in his handiwork that God would even give of God’s self to bring to death anything that would claim me as its own, including death? If that is so, wouldn’t I be a fool not to believe and trust in that story, and watch with joy as the potter shapes my life with that story?

Some Christians say that you have to believe this story to be in God’s good grace. I say, this is a story worth believing in as I marvel in God’s transforming grace. Some people say, “You can’t believe everything you hear,” which is true. But as we hear so often the truth in these days in the words of Maya Angelou, “When someone tell you who they are, believe them the first time they tell you.”

So, I find myself believing this story, and as I believe in it and trust in it, I see God’s hands at work shaping me into a piece of pottery whose value is eternal to him. God is shaping me with my interactions with others. God is shaping me as he embraces me in my prayers. God is shaping me when his claiming words that fell upon me with water that softened my dried clay. God is shaping me from the inside out as God joins God’s self to me at God’s table. God is shaping me with living words that come from his Word. I see God at work, being the potter to me, the clay. I am not just hoping this story is true. I am seeing that this story is true. I see God shaping me with this story, which to me would be foolish for me not to believe.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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