Bungee Cord 4-30-13

Hello,

     Have you ever wondered how you can tell if a person is a Christian or not?  I remember in my high school years sitting among some of my high school friends who, like I, professed to be Christian and hearing a discussion (gossip?) of others who were and were not “real Christians”.  I would like to say that I was eaves dropping the discussion and not adding to it, but truthfully I don’t remember.  I, do remember, however that it wasn’t a rare occasion that sought to sort out who was and wasn’t a Christian, a real one, that is.

     My recollection of the criteria of “real Christians” usually revolved around the actions and lifestyle of a person…. “He doesn’t ever go to church.”…. “You should have seen the way she acted at the party Friday night.”….. “They go to church, but they don’t really go.  You know what I mean?”…. “He hasn’t accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and savior.” 

     Although my youth has gone away, in the more “enlightened” years of my adulthood the question has not.  To action and lifestyle has been added the nuances of right belief….right belief about baptism and communion, right belief about law and gospel, right belief about trinity and salvation.  The discussion and the conclusions may be more sophisticated than my high school days, but when you boil it down, it is the same thing.  If you want to know if a person is a Christian take a look at their actions, their lifestyles, and what they believe.

    In church this past Sunday we read  from the 13^th Chapter of John and heard Jesus’ answer to the question, “How can you tell if someone is a Christian.”  Here’s his answer: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love on another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  It’s not one’s actions of smoking or partying.  It’s not the kind of clothes you wear or the amount in your offering.  It is not one’s understanding and acceptance of doctrines and teachings.  It is the love that we have for one another….not the love that we have for everyone (which is indeed something that we have)….but the love that is found between those who bear Christ’s name.

     The world in which we live may teach us and help us have a deep love for one another…you don’t have to be a Christian to love,  that is for sure!   But as God’s Spirit lives in God’s people, God is at work activating a divine love, a love deeper than the universe, far deeper than the cavern of any human heart.  It is a love that churns with forgiveness, that withstands the greatest gales, and opens every day with new life.  I have done many a wedding where 1 Corinthians 13, “the love chapter” as it is often called, is read.  Whenever a couple picks this reading I remind them that this is a picture not of human love, but divine love.  This is the kind of love by which people will know that a person is a Christian, a disciple of Jesus.

     The truth is, and we who call ourselves Christian know, that this divine love is not always evident among us…but it is what God is working at among us.  I find it discouraging when a person stops coming to church because they disagree with a decision that has been made, or because of something that someone has done, or because of lifestyle concerns.  Unfortunately it happens all too often, often because that is the way that the world tends to love.  But every so often – no, more often than not – I see people who come to church and purposely sit next to a person whom the rest of the world has shunned.  I see people come to church and kneel around an altar with someone whose lifestyle views are diametrically opposed.  I see the confident ask for forgiveness, and the meek readily giving it.  As 1 Corinthians 13 also says, “we now see in a mirror dimly”, the evidence if divine love amongst those who bear Jesus name is not always clear, but until it is those who are marked with the Cross of Christ and live under its shadow will be shaped and molded by the divine potter.

     Let me invite you to be so shaped and molded.   Come to church on Sunday and be held in love….not the world’s love….but the love of God, Jesus.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 4-22-13

Hello,

     “My brother said that Jesus did not rise from the dead,” said a young preschool girl to me just a week or so ago.  Her brother is not much older than she, but by his brotherly declaration it became clear to me that it doesn’t take much life experience to call into question, and even determine impossible, the central event of the Christian faith: the resurrection of Jesus.

     I am not sure what led the young brother to share his conclusion with his sister.  Had he been to a funeral and experienced the crushing power of death along with a cemetery full of gravesites that remain interred?  Had he, who regularly is in church and Sunday School, found himself with a friend whose parents have raised their children in unbelief?  Had he been read a fairy tale that sounded a lot like the resurrection story, and extrapolated the lack of historical truth from one to the other?  Had someone teased him for his belief and his fears overtook his belief?  Had someone teased him for something else, and it sure didn’t seem to him that Jesus was nearby to shelter him from those bullies?  Any of these things could have been part of his declaration of doubt, because all of these things are part of the harsh reality of a young person’s life.

      In truth, all of those things are part of everyone’s life, no matter what age.  All those things are part of my life, and I am sure that they are equally part of your life.  For us moderns from the earliest years of our lives to the latest the resurrection of Jesus is bombarded with discrediting experiences.  But not just for us moderns, as early as the writings of Paul, the earliest writings in the New Testament, the resurrection of Jesus stood in contrast to what people encountered day in and day out.  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom”

     So, what was Paul’s response to the realities of life that were throwing cold water on the credulity of Jesus’ resurrection? “But we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

     It seems to me that Paul’s response is our best response, too.  There are those who try to answer with signs and wisdom, but I don’t find such things to fertilize my tender faith as it confronts the harsh soil of life.   But we have what Paul had: the witness of the resurrection and the power that it produces.  From generation to generation, the witness has been passed down, and from generation to generation its power has caused fear to roll on its back like a whimpering puppy, its power has suffocated the condemning voice of sin, its power has released the clenching grip of selfish desires, its power has taken ruined lives and made them new, its power has burst death’s triumphant balloon.  In the face of life’s experiences the witness has always been, “On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead.”  And in the face of life’s experiences, the power that that witness ignites is one that casts credibility on the witness.

     No one is immune to the realities of life.  That is why the doors of churches are open to everyone on Sunday mornings.  Not to escape the realities of life, but to hear again the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and to stoke the engines of our lives with divine fuel of that witness that explodes in eternal life.  Every Sunday morning we who congregate do so with varied strength of faith….some with nearly no faith….some with faith of galvanized steel….a little boy who says to his sister that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead….and an elderly person staring fearlessly into the mouth of death.  Wherever you are in that continuum of faith-strength, the doors of the church are open to you.  Six days of the week the world gets to tell it’s story, a story that is often crushing and hopeless. God takes one day each week to tell his, a story that has the power of life, itself.  Come and hear it!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 4-16-13

Hello,

     “How do we live in a world like this?”, was the question that was asked this morning in the wake of the bombing terror in Boston by one of the Mike’s of the Mike and Mike show on ESPN.  “What do we tell our children?”

     His answer was a good one, and it was (paraphrased), “Bad things happen in this world, but there are far more good people than bad, so the likelihood of this happening to you are so low.  So don’t live in fear.”

     Although I echo his response, I would want to add something more, and that is, “We who have just lived through the marking of the death and resurrection of Jesus have seen that this evil, or any evil, will not have the last word.  God will have the last word: a word of love not hate, a word of life not death, a word of hope and not despair.”

     And we who bear the name of Christ incarnate that word.  When evil strikes, the Spirit of God draws us together to stand up and be the living, acting voice of God’s  last word.  That is why when famine strikes, we send food.  That is why when wars displace people, we are there in refugee camps.  That is why when someone is given the worst health news, we join ranks around that person and hold them when their knees are buckling.  That is why we wrap our arms around someone whose life has come crashing down upon them, whether their downfall be of their own making or outside of their own deeds.

     As the Gospel of John says Jesus is “the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness is not able to overcome it.”.  Jesus did not run from the darkness.  He strode into it.  Likewise, the Spirit of God draws those who bear Christ’s name into the darkness of our day.

     When we gather on Sunday morning, we do not gather to escape evil, but gather to be empowered by God to overcome evil: to overcome the evil that ravages our own lives with the power of God’s forgiveness that makes all things new; to overcome the evil in our neighborhoods by welcoming those who have been kicked in the teeth over and over again by the world; to overcome the evil  in the world caused  by judgments that have been driven by easy answers by joining hands and hearts with those who are wandering through the complexity of life; to overcome the evil of terror, even this Bostonian terror, not with vengeance but with justice.

     How do we live in a world like this? What do we tell our children?  What do we tell ourselves?  We can tell them, and tell ourselves, “When Sunday comes, let’s go to church.”  Church where we fill our tanks with the explosive power of God’s love and mercy.  Church where we stand side by side and confess our faith, saying to ourselves and the world, “We are not alone.”  Church where the organ echoes the victory of evil when the Easter tomb’s stone was rolled away.  Church where we hear and become God’s final word to evil, “Death be not proud.”  Church where we go back into the world equipped to join God in facing evil head-on, rather than running in fear from it.

     Mike’s answer that good people outnumber bad people is an answer that we need to hear, but it seems to me that there is more power in God’s answer…an answer that we are part of….”The light (of Christ) shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.”

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 4-9-13

Hello,

     In the vast majority of Christian churches throughout the world, the story of “Doubting Thomas” is read on the first Sunday after Easter.  This story takes place just one week after Jesus rose from the dead and the disciples had gathered behind locked doors.  They weren’t there reveling together over the news that had been told them, that Jesus had risen.  They were hiding, huddled in fear, held in their doubts when suddenly there was another person with them.  A person that they did not immediately recognize.  But when they saw the scars from the nails in his hands and the wound in his side…..then they knew who it was…it was the Lord….it was Jesus.

      So, they went to tell their fellow disciple and friend, Thomas, what had happened to them.  When he heard their story….well….it seemed too good to be true.  And so he told his friends that if he could see the very same things that they saw…. The nail pierced hands and the spear pierced side….he would believe, too.

     And so it was, another week later, that the disciples were gathered again in that closed-door room, and Thomas was with them.  (Had they fallen back into doubt and fear?)  And just as had happened the week before, another person was suddenly among them, who, without even being asked, stretched out his hands and showed his side so that faith would take hold in all of his disciples, including Thomas.  It was the Lord.

     As I said, in the vast majority of churches throughout the world, churches that follow a common set of readings, this is the story that has been selected to be read on the first Sunday after Easter.  I wasn’t at the meeting where the decision was made that this story would be the follow up story to what people had heard just the week before on Easter, but my guess is that it was selected for this reason: the Easter story is hard to believe.

     It was then….and it is now.  To us who see graves stay shut, it seems more reasonable to believe in the crushing power of death.  To us who see the power of might and missiles, it seems more reasonable to believe in amassing our own power and to make “eat, drink and be merry” be the goal of our lives.  To us who see the bird in our hand, and only hear the birds in the bush it seems more reasonable to clutch our hands.  The Easter story of Jesus resurrection was hard to believe, and it still is hard to believe.

     But notice two things from the “doubting Thomas” story:  first,  Jesus is neither surprised or offended by their disbelief; second, Jesus knew what it would take to awaken belief in them so that they might “have life in his name”, and he provided it (his cross wounded body).

     I take great comfort from this story when I find myself mired in doubt and fear (yes……pastors experience these things, too).  I take great comfort that God is not surprised or offended by my lack of belief.   But I take even greater comfort that God is determined not to leave me captured in the pit of my unbelief.  He knows what is needed to break the shackles of doubt….his crossborn wounds….and he gives them to me….every Sunday at the Altar.  “Take and eat.  This is my body.  Take and drink. This is my blood.”  And as he takes his place in the depths of my life, he boots doubt out the door, just as he did with Thomas saying, “Doubt be gone, belief be here.”

     “Belief be here….so that you may have life in my name.”  Life not in the name of fear and despair, but in hope and peace.  Life not in the name of success and failure, but in the name of victory.  Life not in the name of pain and suffering, but in the name of justice and mercy.  Life not in the name of illness and death, but in the name of the one who goes with us through the valley of the shadow of death to waters of life.

     Something…..or maybe better to say that someone….transformed those cowering disciples into courageous comrades ….The Lord.  Me, too, Lord…..please, me, too.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 4-1-13

Hello,

     The NCAA basketball tournament isn’t even over yet, and already I’ve lost in our family bracket contest.  I had so few right picks, that from the very beginning of the tournament I have been in last place.  The upsets that I picked proved to be false hopes, and the “sure” winners I picked failed me.  Guess that it is a good thing that I am a pastor and am not trying to make a living by basketball wagers….and a good thing that pride is the only thing at stake with our brackets.

     Part of my problem with picking my NCAA bracket is that I tend to pick with the pulse of my heart, instead of the wisdom of my mind.  So, this year my heart told me that my team, The Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois, would win their second round game against the severe odds that they faced.  The odds were right.  My heart was wrong.  (I perennially make this mistake with the Illini.)  The other problem is that there are certain teams that no matter how good they are touted to be, I just can’t bring myself to pick them….old grudges die slowly….to the despair of my brackets.  You’d think I would learn that picking with my heart isn’t a winning proposition.  Matter of fact, it is a painful one.

     I am not the first one to discover what happens when you pick with your heart.  God discovered it long ago.  Clearly it was not divine wisdom that drew God to take his stand with  us humans, for if God had hoped that picking the likes of us would give him loyal friends, people who would rightly portray his grace and mercy, and children who would always bring honor to his name…..well, it doesn’t take much wisdom to see that picking us is like investing all your money in Enron.  Not very wise.

     Actually, the Bible tells us that God, like me, picks with his heart…..”For God so LOVED the world that he gave his only Son (John 3:16)  And also like me, God found out that picking with one’s heart is not a winning proposition…it’s a painful one….the pain of betrayal that we  shared with Judas on last Thursday (Maundy Thursday)….the pain of nails that we with the soldiers drove through Jesus’ hands and feet….and the pain of grief as God watched his only Son die.  It was heart, not mind, that led God to choose us, root for us, and stand with us.

     But this last Sunday was all about the power of love, of God’s love. When Jesus rose from the grave, God trumped wisdom with love. When Jesus rose from the dead, God crushed under foot all our failures, our fickleness, and our foolishness…crushed them dead.  The power of God’s love – love that accomplishes what it sets itself out to do -  makes God’s choice seem pretty wise, after all. 

     So, I rejoice in Easter, for on the day of Jesus’ resurrection we discover that God really did know what he was doing when he, from his heart, chose the likes of me….and you…because he knew the power of his love that turns the lost into the found, losers into victors, and death into life.  Alleluia!

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger