The Bungee Cord. 6-30-25

Hello,

Last week I called our church publishing house to order some things for the church that I am preaching at. After passing through the fake person who answered the phone, a friendly real person’s voice spoke to me. “Good morning, my name is Anna. How can I help you?”

I paused a moment in a bit of confusion. Did I hear rightly? Anna? It is not that the connection was fuzzy, as a matter of fact it was crystal clear. Anna? The confusion was that the name did not match the voice, as the voice was clearly a male voice. I assumed my hearing must have been wrong, and I proceeded with my order which was done with extreme politeness and efficiency.

As it happened, I needed to call back again a few moments later, and once again after receiving the bland reception from the electronic answerer, a real person picked up the phone who said, “Good morning, my name is Anna. How can I help you?” This time, I knew that I had heard correctly, “Anna”. I told Anna that I had just spoken with her, and she delightfully recalled our conversation when I told her my name. And just as the first time, Anna politely, kindly and efficiently took care of my order.

When I got off the phone after my second call, I found myself a little bit off balance, figuratively. Although other people may encounter this sort of audio surprise with some regularity, this was the first time that this has happened to me. Being a senior citizen, I have lived through the changes of our times, and when I have encountered a change, I have found myself dealing with a bit of vertigo.

It took me a few moments to regain my sense of balance, and when I had done so, I thought to myself, “I can’t imagine the inner conflict that person has had to deal with.” I can’t imagine how hard it was to grow up with that turmoil in one’s soul. The confusion and lostness one must feel. The overwhelming mystery of what life was going to be like.

As I think about these things, it seems to me that all this inner turmoil and struggle gets hidden from our eyes behind a categorical name, transgender. I have to admit with a degree of self-disappointment, that until I spoke to Anna the mention of “transgender” brought my confusion into the spotlight to the point that its glare made it hard for me to see the turmoil and struggle in the other’s life.

I know that encountering someone who is dealing with gender identity is one of those things that creates a balance issue for a lot of people, if not most, and for some it knocks them off their feet. But the thing that steadies my wobbling is when I consider the person that the world leaves un-named is someone’s child, is someone’s sibling, is someone’s beloved, and suddenly the turmoil in that person’s life shine brighter than my confusion.

The grace that we discover in Jesus Christ is that Almighty God is likewise steadied. Instead of seeing humans as un-named gatherings of cosmic dust, God looks upon us and sees someone’s child, someone’s beloved…..God’s child….God’s beloved….and the turmoil in our hearts shines with such blinding pain in the eyes of God that God can see nothing else, leading God to hold nothing back to address our pain, not even to hold back his very Son who smothered the flames of turmoil on the cross and left them behind in the grave when he arose.

It may not be that I deal with the turmoil of transgender, but I have plenty of turmoil in my life. I deal with the rumbling of depression. I am constantly reminded of my mortality as a cancer survivor. I could list more….we all could list more. That is why I am eternally grateful that God, for reasons that bear no understandable reason, is moved by the turmoil in my life, and is at work through Jesus to bring peace to my heart, and God will not stop until it is accomplished. And know this, it is also true that God is likewise transfixed on the turmoil in your life and is unstoppably at work to bring peace to your heart…and Anna’s, too.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 6-23-25

Hello,

I was watching coverage of the turmoil going on in the mid-east, and in the discussion one of the U.S.’s military experts said that if things escalate, we will find ourselves putting “boots on the ground”. In the same program the panel said that with our current efforts, we are trying to keep “collateral damage” to a minimum. And when battle assessments are given, we are told of the number of “casualties”. These terms bother me.

But it is not just on military actions that I hear terms or words that bother me. I’ve been in meetings with church leaders who observe the declining of worship attendance and say, “We need to get more butts in the pews.” When banks are dealing with mortgages, they put a number on a file and name it “applicant #203. Or when politicians speak of those who have come into our country without following specified directions, they speak of “illegal aliens”, “undocumented”, or the worst that my ears have heard, “poisoners of the American blood”. These terms bother me.

These terms bother me because they hide something that is essential to the discussion, and that is that at the heart of all these terms is that we are speaking of people. Sometimes these words are used to numb us to the fact we are speaking about people. Who cares about boots or collateral damage. Sometimes these terms are used to cover up the pain that lies behind them. Speaking of casualties doesn’t hurt as much as naming children. And placing a number on an applicant for a loan doesn’t put a face on the mother who is working two jobs and is trying to put a roof over her children. Other times these words are used to inspire fear and animosity and erase the compassion we might find in seeing fear in a person’s eyes running from starvation. And when people talk about “butts in the pews”, we desecrate what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus didn’t die to fill pews. Jesus died to fill every person with the grace of God.

I am writing about these things in today’s Bungee Cord because of what I heard in church yesterday. “27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3)

The whole point of the incarnation, God’s taking on flesh and bone, is to make it crystal clear that the focus of God’s attention and work is on people. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the “Word of God”, and so when God spoke to the world with Jesus, God uncovered any term that we might use, and said to each person, “I love you.” And as that pronouncement bellows from the cross and the grave, it sears our ears with a filter of love and mercy, it awakens our eyes from a nightmarish dream, and it jolts our heart into a rhythm of God’s grace. We experience ourselves as the beloved of God, and we experience others as the same. Consider the wonder that will bloom forth in our world as the pronouncement of God, “I love you,” is the molder of each of our lives and all of our lives together.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 6-15-25

Hello,

I returned home on Wednesday from my trip to visit my dad in his memory care unit in Davenport, Iowa and my eldest son in Denver. As I have in the past several years, I drove the trip alone (my wife just hatched twelve chickens….so, she was tied down here). 1447 miles and 21.5 hours each way. There was a day when I would tackle such a trip with no stops and still have energy when I reached my destination. But that day is far gone. I broke the trip up in four legs on my way out, and three legs on my way back, and when I finally arrived back home, I was exhausted.

I drive a Mini Cooper Countryman with a 301 horsepower engine, so the drive is fun. You feel the road in my car, and when you need a bit more zip when passing, stepping on the accelerator gives you a thrilling jolt pushing you back into your seat. I have found it helpful to put the car in “Sports Mode” when going through Gary, Indiana to Joliet, Illinois on Interstate 80. If you have ever driven that section of road, you know how adventurous that drive is. Once you get on it, you find yourself bumper to bumper on five to six lanes for as far as you can see. Sometimes the traffic is “flowing” at 80 miles per hour, and then suddenly you find yourself crawling as if the road was covered with a foot of molasses, and then brought to a complete stop with that molasses turning into glue and you sit and sit and sit.

Do you ever feel like your life is a life-long ride from Stahlstown, Pa. to Denver, Co.? Of course, your starting point and destination might be different, but nevertheless a long road trip? Behind the wheel, trying to get somewhere? Advancing in your job, dealing with family issues, obtaining financial stability, gaining a sense of peace, _________ (fill in the blank)? Personally, I think that such road trips are well worth the road time, but that doesn’t make the driving any less exhausting or monotonous.

I don’t know if you have seen it, but there is an often-posted sign on all of our road trips, a sign that says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” It is spaced out every seven days, and right after that sign there is an exit ramp with an arrow pointing off the road. I know that it is tempting to pass by that sign in order to put more miles underneath us, but I have found it worth the exit…..to get out of my car, stretch my arms and legs in praise, to take my eye off the road and rest in God’s grace, to revive my soul around a table that God has set for me, and discover a deep sense of contentment in just being on this road trip rather than thinking such contentment will only happen when I reach Denver (Didn’t John Denver sing that West Virginia was “almost heaven”?)

I took the exit ramp today, and having done so, I find myself ready to get behind the wheel. There will be another exit ramp in seven days. From one traveler to another, it a great place to find deep rest.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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