Bungee Cord 2-24-14

Hello,

     Sadly, the winter Olympics are over in Sochi, Russia, but thankfully they are also over in Stahlstown, Pennsylvania.

     Our house sits on top of a hill with a serpentine ½ mile gravel lane leading to it.  It has six 90 degree turns connected by straight-ways of varied lengths culminating in a circular drive.  Because of the seemingly daily snows of 5 inches for the past several weeks, traversing our drive has been a bit Olympic.   A layer of one-inch thick ice formed atop the gravel creating a bobsled run to rival the one in Sochi.  My runs (drives) down our drive have closely matched the Jamaica bobsledders’ covering every inch of the ice (as the Olympic announcers commented) bouncing off the sidewalls of hardened snow and occasionally skidding sideways coming out of the turns.  As with the bobsled runs of Sochi, going down our drive may have been treacherous, but going up was nearly impossible causing me to abandon my four-wheel drive truck at the bottom of the hill and trudge my up the hill through the 2 feet of snow that covered the ground.  But this weekend our temperatures rose into the 50’s, melting the ice and returning our drive to its gravel beginnings.

     We heat our house with propane that is brought by a tanker truck to the one thousand gallon tank that sits behind our garage.  When the snow started to fall in the first weeks of January we took a peek at the volume gauge on our propane tank and noticed it was reading 40% full.  Not knowing how cold the winter was going to be and seeing that there would be no way for the propane truck to make it up our ever increasingly icy drive, we went into conservation mode (dropping the thermostats in our home to 62-65 degrees and relying on our wood burning fireplace for heat) and kept a vigilant eye on the tank level that was creeping its way down.

     This morning as I was sitting in my reclining chair, I heard a rumble making its way to the top of our hill.  It was the propane truck!  I watched as they parked their truck alongside our garage, and saw them pull the big hose to our tank that they took longer than their normal visit to fill.  But alas, now we can release our fears of no hot water, no fuel for our stove, and a flameless furnace, and we can return the temperature of our family room above its toe chilling setting.  Alleluia!

     “Alleluia” means “praise the LORD”, and I am thankful that with the snow vanquished by the warm temperatures I can rest at ease.  But as a Christian I am more thankful for what I read in Romans 8, that “nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”  No matter how steep the hill or deep the valley, no matter the lack of traction or depth of ice, and no matter the size of drifts or length of the drive……nothing in all of creation can keep God from reaching us with the power of his love.  And with that promise, what need I fear….ever?   Nothing!  Not that I am looking forward to blizzards not of my doing, to deep pits of my creation, or to the gusty drift piling winds of the world….but unlike my propane dealer facing my bobsled run of a driveway…..nothing will keep God from reaching me.  Alleluia!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 2-17-14

Hello,

I went to the grocery store last week to pick up a couple of things…broccoli, croutons (I got the wrong kind….I didn’t know there were stuffing croutons and salad croutons),  and some tomato paste.  With only three things in my basket, I determined that I was eligible for the “express lane” where there were only two people in front of me.  When I stepped into line, I noticed that the woman who was leading the line had emptied a shopping cart full of items in front of her.  Had she not seen the sign “12 items or less”?

I confess that on a few occasions I have pushed the limit of 12 to 13 or maybe 15, but never to 20 and never to a cart-full.  So, as I stood waiting in the “express lane” two things happened.  First, my patience waned as I saw the regular lanes emptying out.  Second, I noticed that she had separated her purchase into two sections, placing the dividing bar between them…each section still excessively exceeding the limit of 12, but closer than her cartful..  Clever…but aggravating!

Her rule parsing may have soothed her conscience from guilt, but it certainly struck down the purpose of that lane for those of us who stood behind her in the “fast” lane.  I was ready to cast stones – stones of guilt upon this one whose concern for others seemed to go no further than the glasses upon her nose.

But wait…..I, too, have glasses upon my nose, and when I look through them to take a clear look at my life, I have to confess that my care for others often doesn’t even reach the lenses, instead they are drawn  back into myself in my own black hole of self-centeredness….or in Christian terms….my own black hole of sin.

For these past few weeks in the Lutheran churches throughout the world, we have read together Jesus’ words from his Sermon on the Mount saying things like, “You have heard it said that you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that when you look upon a person in lust that you have committed adultery in your heart.”  Rule parsing , so says Jesus, may dilute personal guilt, but it doesn’t diminish the pain and fear that comes when that rule parsing shakes the ground upon which relationship build their foundations.

So where does that leave us rule parsers?  Will our relationships with dear ones near to us and those dear to God in places far away from us always be as precarious as walks on springtime ice?

I am afraid the answer is “yes”…”yes” as long as there’s a black hole of sin in each of our lives.  But the answer that comes from God is “no”…”no” because God who is the antithesis of a black hole of self-consumption has taken aim at the black holes in our lives.  He took a shot of divine grace and mercy that travelled through a Bethlehem manger, hit with a lethal blow upon a Golgotha cross, and punctured every black hole as it exited the gates of an emptied tomb …going on to strike you and me in the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.

“No,” says God.  “No, your relationships are not built upon the thin and cracking ice of black holes.  They are built upon the ever-expanding  pulsing of my grace.”

Sunday after Sunday that grace of God thunders and throbs as we gather together, shaking and rattling those deflated black holes so that the holes God pierced in them might not scab over ever again.  Maybe you have never thought of  going to church in this way….maybe to you it seems more like a sedative than a shot of divine adrenaline….but you just might be surprised…surprised to find out that something deep is going on under the surface….God is at work, infusing you with his grace, building a pressure of his love and mercy, that cannot be tamed but will explode in your life…bursting black holes and drawing you closer to him and casting your vision and care well beyond the glasses sitting upon your nose.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee cord 2-10-14

Hello,

I am sorry to say, but I have become antisocial.

A couple of years ago, I was visiting my son who lives in NYC, and every time that I hopped on the Subway I noticed that a large number of the people who were riding with me had no desire to see who was on the train with them.  They were locked into their “smart phones” playing games.  It seemed very anti-social to me.

Alas, I have joined them.  This past summer when my previous “dumb phone” was up for upgrade, I found myself upgrading to a “smart phone”.  (I am not quite sure why they call it a smart phone….it hasn’t made me any smarter, but more reliant on technology.)  Although I didn’t want a smart phone because I am too cheap to pay the extra internet hookup, I was told the only dumb phone that I could get was the same one that I was turning in, and I didn’t like it for a variety of reasons.  So now I carry a smart phone….and I have become anti-social, pulling it out as I wait at doctor’s offices, relaxing at home, drinking a cup of coffee at a coffee shop, and I probably would pull it out on the subway except for the fact that there is no subway between Stahlstown and Greensburg, Pa.  And when I lock myself into my cell phone, my game of choice is Solitaire (I know….how boring!).  But for me, that is the point of it all, to do something to pass the time that requires little to no brainwork or dexterity…..thus Solitaire.

My same NYC son said some years ago that he couldn’t understand the attraction to playing solitaire, because it is a game where winning is totally dependant upon the luck of the draw….no skill needed, no strategy to implement, just taking the cards you are dealt and flipping through a deck and making the best of it.

Although I don’t usually get very philosophical about Solitaire, it occurred to me that Solitaire mirrors life.  Sure, just like Solitaire there are some strategies, like clearing spots for kings, that can lead toward winning…but sometimes the cards, no matter how you play them, leave you short….and my phone is quick to rub it in my making this nasty musical sound that reminds me of water being flushed down the toilet. 

I don’t know.  Does playing Solitaire help me to deal with the lack of control that comes with living life?  Maybe in some small way.  Maybe it reminds me of the truth of which “skill” games belie, and that is that in the end life really isn’t a matter of strategy and brains….in the end life has more to do with things completely outside of our control.

But there is something, that I believe, about life that Solitaire also belies, and that is that life isn’t ever solitary…it is always “dual-itary” ( I know, that isn’t really a word.).  That is the essence of the Christian faith, that the one who is behind all that we will ever know about the universe has joined us as we take the cards that are dealt, and adds a rule of his own to the game, and this is it: no matter  how the cards are played or the outcome of the game ( that is, one’s life ), his word, “I am with you” is the final word.  Not, “you’ve won” or “you’ve lost”, but “I am with you”.  This rule…this rule that God adds…was shouted from the cross for the world to hear when Jesus said, “It is finished”…. was spoken with the splash of water in Baptism for you to hear in the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”….and is whispered to you when you come to the table, “This is my body given for you….this is my blood shed for you,”…and on the day that you die your dead ears will hear, “come to the place that I have prepared for you, for where I am, you will be also.”

When we find ourselves soloing Rich Mullins song, the song of Solitaire, “We’re not as strong as we think we are (check it out on youtube)….God adds God’s voice and sings along, the song of Dual-itaire, “I’ve got you in my hands, and I’m not letting go!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 2-3-14

Hello,

Winter lesson number 1: when in hot tub, immerse deeply to stay warm.

My hot tub sits 10 feet from the sliding door to my Illini Mancave on the back side of my house.  So, in these winter months when I have the itch to sit in my hot tub, I first open the hot tub up clad in coat and gloves.  Then I re-enter my man cave, dress down as if it was an 80 degree summer day, re-open the sliding glass door, and DASH for the water! 

There is a certain peace that comes in sitting in the hot tub as soft snow falls from the sky, and on the coldest of days it is kind of fun to thumb my nose at the chill all the while sitting in the warm water dressed as if it were a mid-summer’s day.

Yet, as I sit in the hot tub, I have noticed that the cold still tries to chill my bones by attacking whatever stands above water level.  If I sit up straight, I find that the top of my shoulders ride above the water, and as the wind captures the spray from the jets I find that my shoulders and face can get quite cold quite fast.  So, being the physics genius that I am, I make a slight adjustment in my sitting….slouch down a bit, drawing the water to just under my chin and the cold is conquered.  Thus the lesson learned:  when it is cold outside, immerse yourself deeply in the hot tub to keep warm.

A lesson to be learned about life, too.  When it’s cold outside(and when is the world not cold and biting) immerse yourself deeply in the warm waters of God’s grace and mercy to keep warm.

How does one immerse one’s self deeper in the warm waters of God’s grace and mercy? 

Worship regularly:  develop relationships with the people of God who gather with you, listen attentively to the word of God, partake in the deepest embrace of God at his table, unite your voice with others in song and prayer.

Live out God’s grace: forgive those who have wronged you instead of holding grudges, reach out a hand of help to those who have fallen instead of leaving them lie in pain, visit and befriend those whom the world has tossed away, pray for those who would wish to be your enemy.

When Jesus said, “Come to me all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” had he had a hot tub, I think he would have said, “When it’s cold outside, remember to immerse yourself deeply in my tub of grace and mercy, and I will keep you warm.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger