The Bungee Cord

Hello,

I went to see my father, who is 93 years old and lives in a memory care unit in Davenport, Iowa, this week. Although his health is good, his memory is completely gone, so when I visit him, he has no idea who I am. My brother lives in Davenport, so my visit to my dad is doubled with a visit to my brother and his wife.

It is an eleven-hour drive from my home in Pennsylvania to Davenport, so being retired and old, I break the trip up. This time I stayed in LaPorte, Indiana for a night in a national chain hotel. They stay was fine, as usual, but when I checked out something happened that has never happened to me before. I went to the desk to tell the young woman that I was leaving, and as I turned to walk away from her, she said to me in a very friendly voice, “Make good choices.”

It caught me off guard. Was this something the company has told its desk clerks to say? Did I look like someone about to get myself in trouble? Certainly, her words were wise ones to say, but it did seem to be an odd thing to hear as I was checking out of the hotel.

When I greet people at the door as they are leaving worship, I always say, “Have a great day.” It seems like an appropriate thing to say to someone who has just spent time in the refreshing presence of God, has unloaded their burdens and received the promise of God’s forgiveness, has communed with the Almighty, and is about to step back into the world and its challenges. “Have a great day.”

I wonder, however, if my end of worship greeting catches people off guard. As I listen to Christians and non-Christians speak about the Christian faith, it seems to me that as they left the church, they would expect to hear something akin to, “Make good choices.” I say that because for many, it seems, that the Christian message they hear is, “Be good.” The message they hear or think they will hear amounts to a bunch of rules by which to lead one’s life accompanied with the admonition to abide by those rules.

But when I listen to Jesus’ parting words, either from the cross or when he left folks as he encountered them in life or when he left this world and ascended to the Father, I don’t hear a bunch of rules coming from his mouth. Instead, I hear things like, “fear not,” and “I will be with you always.” Personally, when I leave worship, I find myself like a bird whose wings have been injured in life and I have just undergone the healing care of the greatest veterinarian, and now, better than new, I leave with the graceful hands of the healer tossing me triumphantly into the sky and joyfully bidding me, “Soar!”

That is not to say that rules are unimportant to know and live by, for they do bring order and safety to our lives, but they don’t give life. They don’t fill one’s lungs with hope and courage. They don’t break the chains holding the guilt and shame that brings us down. They don’t open our eyes to wonder and awe. It may certainly be appropriate to be told in by those who share the world with us to follow the rules and “make good choices”, but Jesus has a far better thing to say…something that bestows life in all of its abundance….”I love you. Your sins have been taken from you. I will be with you, and noting in all of creation will be able to separate me from you.” So, “Soar!”

Have a great day!

God’s grace and peace, “(ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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