Bungee Cord 3-25-12

Hello,

     I was driving into the parking lot of one of those large lumber/hardware stores, and as I turned off of the street my eyes spotted a young man, a teenager, standing on the corner looking as if this was the last place that he wanted to be.  He, along with his mother, was selling sub-sandwiches for his high school band.  His lack of exuberance may have been that it was sprinking; or it may have been that he was standing next to his mother (how uncool!); or it maybe it was his parent’s idea for him to be in the band…but my guess is that the reason for his discontent was that it was a Saturday and the time was 8:30 a.m.  I am not sure how many sub-sandwiches he sold.  He certainly didn’t sell any sandwiches by virtue of his enthusiasm.  Maybe he sold some sandwiches out of the pity that people felt for his deflated spirit.

     I’ve seen the same look on others before, too.  I have seen that same look on the faces of young and old alike as I stand in the pulpit and look out on the congregation.  Just like that sub-sandwich selling band member, I don’t know for sure what creates such disdain in their spirit as they stand in church.  Who knows?  Maybe they are being forced by parents to be in church.  Maybe it is that they are standing next to parents or strange people.  Maybe it is because on a scale of 1-10, the boredom rating they would give of church is sub-sero.  Maybe it is that they think that this whole Christian thing is a bunch of hooey.  Or maybe because it is Sunday morning.

     I remember feeling that flat affect as I stood in church in my teen years – feeling like that was the last place in the world that I wanted to be, a feeling generated by many of the reasons I imagine filling the “living dead” that I see from the pulpit.  I had a hard time understanding the verse from the Bible, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD.’”

     Believe it or not, even pastors find themselves feeling like being in church on Sunday morning is the last place that they want to be;  at least this pastor has felt that way.  Not all the time, but there have been times.  Even pastors deal with the same thing that non-pastors do: the ridicule of the world for the faith that we hold, the questions and doubts that haunt, the torrid pace of life that would welcome rest, the draw of sporting events, the freedom from obligation. 

     So, why do I go to church, every Sunday.  The answer is not because I am a pastor and I have to be there (although that is true).  The reason is this: God has invited me to his house because he wants to spend some personal time with me.  God has invited me even if I am full of doubts and questions.  God has invited me even if I think I am better than everyone else in the building.  God has invited me even if I think spending time with him is boring.  God has invited me even if there is some great sporting event going on.  God has invited me even if I am tired and worn out.  God has invited me even if I would relish a respite from obligation and commitment.  God has invited me even if I am mad or furious with God.  There are smaller reasons that I go to church every Sunday, but the main reason is this:  God has invited me to his house because he wants to spend some personal time with me.

     God want me  to spend time with him, free from the noise and commotion of the world, so that God can speak his forgiveness, saying to me, “The world may always remember and measure you for your errors, blunders and sins…but I will not….I will remember and measure you for who you are….the one who bears my name, my child.  The world may shine a light on you when you are a success…but I will not…my light always shines on you because you are the apple of my eye.  The world may tell you that how much you believe in me is the most important thing….but I will not…how much I believe in you is far more important.   God wants to tell me and show me that there is nothing in all of creation that can separate me from his love in Christ Jesus.”  Free from the noise of the world, God invites me to his house because God wants to spend some personal time with me.

    And so I go to church….every Sunday….whether I was a pastor or not.  Sometimes when I leave church my spirits are lifted….sometimes they are not drastically changed.  Sometimes when I leave church, the sermon has moved me  in a new direction(I don’t only preach to the people in the pew…I preach to me, too.)…and sometimes the sermon wraps me in what I have already heard.  Sometimes when I leave church I say, “I was glad to have been there, today.”….and sometimes I say, “Same old, same old.”  But every time I leave church, I leave with these words, words that have permeated the time that I have spent in church, “The LORD bless you and keep you. The LORD make his face to shine upon you.  The LORD look upon you with favor and give you his peace.”

     God invites me…and you…to his house every Sunday morning because he wants to spend personal time with you and me….and when we leave, God blesses us and says, “Thanks…thanks for coming.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 3-19-12

Hello,

     I was watching one of the NCAA basketball games yesterday afternoon, and I noticed a man who had strategically placed himself in the stands so that he was caught by the cameras when every free throw was shot at one end of the court.  The reason that I noticed him was that he was holding a large yellow sign that read, JOHN 3:16.

     For a lot of Christians, John 3:16 is a well known verse, a verse that they have learned as children. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  Even some theologians with more degree letters after their names than letters in their names have said that this verse, John 3:16 encapsulates the Christian faith.

     But I wonder how people who see themselves on the outside of the Christian faith are struck by this verse.  I can’t say that I know for sure, but from conversations that I have had with such people, these sort of signs are often received as an angry threat and ultimatum from God.  “Believe, or else!”

     I know that it is hard for some to believe in God.  In truth, I am quite sure, that sometimes it is hard for all of us to believe.  Even in Biblical times the reality of God’s existence wasn’t crystal clear all the time.  Also, things have always happened in life that had led people to ask, “Where is this loving God?”  And in a world that has always had a chorus of claims of ultimate truth, the natural question arises (as Pontius Pilate said before sending Jesus off to be crucified), “What is truth?”

     So for those for whom belief is hard, all of the time or some of the time, let me draw your eyes and ears to John 3:17, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  When this verse is read alongside John 3:16, it seems clear to me that these verses were not intended to be a divine threat or ultimatum.  These verses do not speak of a God who is stalking us, badgering us to believe in him, or else.  No, these verses speak of a God whose love is so deeply felt for us that he will never give up on us….proving his love for us…a love that will show itself to be present no matter what…a love that will not be deterred by our fickleness…a love that will not fear the consequences.  When believing in God is hard, God says that he will so love us that belief will rise up in our hearts.

     I know that there are many Christians who understand John 3:16 as a divine ultimatum, and they translate this verse into, “Believe or be damned.” (I have heard them.) But when this verse is connected to the verse that follows it in the Bible, it seems clear that it is just the opposite of an ultimatum…it is a promise….a promise from God that God will keep on loving us until we believe….a promise to which God was faithful when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead…a promise to which God was faithful when God made his mark on you in the waters of Baptism….a promise to which God shows his faithfulness when he invites you to his table and embraces you more deeply than a hug as he gives you his body and blood….a promise to which God shows his faithfulness in a church that puts flesh on forgiveness by standing with you when no one else will…a promise in which God imparts faith and courage after the silence of prayer…a promise in which God will overwhelm death’s sting with a grip that on the last day will lift you out of the grave.

     “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  Indeed, god did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”…….that is a promise.

     JOHN 3:16,17

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 3-12-12

Hello,

     My wife and I bought a brand new gas stove and had it installed in our house.  When we turned it on, we were quick to surmise that something was wrong.  Eight inch flames were shooting out of the burners…a bit more heat than we would need to boil water!  So, I called the place from which we bought it and was told it would be best for me to call the manufacturer….ah….”hold on” the salesman said, I’ll get the installer to come up and look at it and see if he can adjust it.”  True to his word, the installer showed up and took to adjusting our stove, albeit unsuccessfully.  “You’ll have to call the manufacturers and have their service people come out and adjust it.”

     So, I did.  After passing through a maze of machine spoken options, I finally made my way to the phone of a very polite woman.  I explained my situation to her, and she said, “Sir, I can send out our technicians, but I have to tell you that they do not deal with installation problems.  If they determine it has not been installed correctly they will not do anything, but they will bill you for the service call.”

     I interrupted her to say, “But that is the problem.  The installers tried to fix it and were unable.”

     “I am sorry sir,” she said, “but our technicians do not deal with installation problems?”

     After a series of going back and forth, me trying to more clearly say what I thought was already clear – that my installers were unable to get the stove to work right – and she, also trying to explain to me what was already in her mind clearly said – that her technicians did not deal with installation problems… I said to her, “seems like a big run around to me, who is going to fix my stove?”  “The installers,” she said.  “But….they can’t.  Who is going to fix my stove?”  “The installers will have to find someone to install it correctly.” 

     So, with my patience coming to an end, and my stove still unworking with no one in sight to fix it, I called the store from which we purchased it, told them of my encounter with the manufacturer, and said, “I’m putting this in your court.”

     “I’ll take care of it,” he said.

     I hope so.

     Here’s some good news, though: if you call on Jesus, he doesn’t care what your problem is….he will come and attend to it.  Jesus doesn’t care if  something that is tearing you apart feels like an installation problem – an addiction, a weakness, a hatred.  Jesus doesn’t care if the fire that is burning you up is a fire that you have foolishly stepped into – a lie, a failure, a broken promise.  Jesus doesn’t care if  you are tormented by the world around you: uncaring bosses, neverending expectations,  eyes of judgment and condemnation.  If you call on Jesus, he will attend to your problem.  No matter what.  You don’t have to get yourself fixed enough…good enough…right enough.  If you call on Jesus, he will attend to you…no matter what.

     That goes for coming to church, too.  The church isn’t for people who are “installed right”, “working good enough”, or even trying hard to work right.  So, if there’s an empty hole in your life.  If things just aren’t working right between you and God.  If you find that you tend to blunder your way through life, hurting the people you love the most….if you are like a stove that is bursting eight inch flames from your burner, there’s a place that you won’t find yourself in a big run around.  It is at church where Jesus promises to attend to all those who call upon them….just as they are….and make things right. 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord  3-5-12

Hello,

   There is a commercial on TV, and maybe you have seen it, where a couple of people have the latest and fastest internet delivery, 4G.  Their friends and coworkers are still locked into slower internet carriers, and they, of course receive “necessary” information later than their 4G friends.  “That is so 29 seconds ago,” they are told by their more speedily informed friends who have already bought presents in response to a birth announcement and dealt with overseas customers.

      I have to admit as one who grew up the days of snail mail, that I am thankful for the speed of reply that has come with e-mail and text messaging.  And I have to admit as one who grew up in the era of one phone for 40 college students, I am grateful for the cell phone which connects me to my kids even when they are not home.  I know that I get impatient when my computer is slowly loading a web-page at a speed that is far faster than it would have loaded just 10 years ago.  I have to admit that there is part of this fast paced world in which we live for which I am highly thankful.

     But  there are times when the speed of information accumulation seems like a winter blizzard, coming at me faster than I can shovel my way through, and piling up in mounds that I cannot see over.  There are times when the electronic requests come so fast and from so many directions that I get dizzy being spun in circles and exhausted trying to keep up with their pace.  And there are times when the notes and texts, although timely, just don’t fill the hole in my heart the way a hug, a smile, or a tear does.

     Well, for those times when we yearn for a quick and unrestricted connection to God, God’s response is, “Ok.  I can do that.”  When suffering hits and 29 seconds seems like 29 years, God says, “Call on me anytime, and I will hear your prayer.”  When we have fallen into a deep hole, even a hole of our own making, God says, “There is no place where my love and forgiveness won’t reach you.”  And when it seems like no one cares about you, God answered that wondering a long time ago when he enveloped you in his eternal care in the waters of Baptism.  Even the response time by the earthly  4G network is slug-like compared to the range and speed of the divine 4G (For God) network.

     And for those times when speed and range fall short of what we need, God is able, and in fact he does, deliver.  When our strength is overwhelmed by the blizzard of life, God delivers an army of people, the church, to give their strength to ours to slug our way through the mountainous drifts.  When life has you spinning as if you had been flushed down a toilet, God opens the doors of his church, often called the Sanctuary, and says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  And when the word of God doesn’t hit our hearts with convincing power, God gives us a hug deeper than humanly possible when he says, “Take and eat, this is my body….and Take and drink, this is my blood.”

     The wonder of our God is that he can keep up with the speed of this world to reach us….after all, he set it in motion…and he can slow this world down when we need it….after all, he set it in motion.

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger