Bungee Cord 9-28-15

Hello,

     As a Lutheran pastor, I wear a clergy shirt when I am involved in leading worship to give a visual sign of my role as pastor amongst those who have called me to serve them.  If you’re not familiar with a “clergy shirt”, it is one of those black shirts with a white tab in the front collar.  Interestingly enough, the practice of wearing clergy shirts among Lutherans is not uniform.  In the mid-west, where I spent a good deal of my ministry, some did not wear them at all.  And here, in Western Pennsylvania, the majority of Lutheran pastors wear their clergy shirts every day, all the time (they may even sleep in them?).

     This past Friday I had a wedding in the afternoon, so rather than dirtying two shirts for the day, I put my clergy shirt on in the morning and wore it throughout my work day.  I wore it to the hospital.  I wore it to the food court at the mall where I make myself available every Friday noon. 

     I discovered that things change when I wear my clergy shirt in public.  People notice me.

     “Hello, Father,” was said to me as I walked through parking lots and doors.  “What do you think about that Pope?” I was asked by a woman sitting in the hospital lobby.  “Well, don’t say “hi”,” said a sharp tongued woman who was apparently offended by my lack of response to a soft spoken “hello, Father” that I didn’t hear.

     I am not used to this kind of attention.  I suppose that it is good in so far as the wearing of my collar lets people know that if they want to talk to a Christian leader, I am one.  But in truth, I find the spotlight to be a bit disconcerting.  I hope that people are not being kind and polite to me because they think that my clergy shirt is an indication of an elevated holiness in me, because I know that I am no more holy than the people whom I serve.  I hope that people don’t look upon me as one who deserves respect and reverence because I, who wear a clergy collar, am somehow closer to God, because I do not believe that I am.  I hope that people do not treat me with a generosity they withhold from others because  I, who wear a clergy collar, am someone through whom they can vicariously live out their faith, because faith cannot be lived out vicariously.

     Business casual would best describe my every day work attire…no jeans though!  Walking down the street, around the mall, in the hospital I find myself blending in, and not standing out.  Truthfully, I like it that way, because that is the way I see myself as a pastor….someone who is no different from anyone else.  Sure, I have been trained in things Biblical and church, but when it comes down to it, like we used to say of the baseball teams that I faced in high school, “I put my pants on the same way they do.  One leg at a time.”

     I am humbled and honored by the invitation of people to be part of the deepest moments of their lives, and I hope that I live up to the confidence and trust that they put in me.  The mere fact that you have taken the time to read this Bungee Cord is an honor, and I hope that through my words God has spoken to you in a way that lives up to that honor.

     I tend to stray away from the title “Reverend”, because I don’t think that there is anything more to revere about me than anyone else.  I much prefer the title, “Pastor”, which means shepherd, because that is what I hope I am…someone who is the physical hands and feet of the Good Shepherd, who has loved his sheep with the laying down of his life, who knows each of them by name and calls them unto himself, and who will leave 99 flocked sheep to go find the one who has wandered.

     So, if you find me wearing a clergy shirt you can assume that it is because I am leading some sort of worship service.  Besides, according to my wife, I don’t need to wear a clergy shirt to stand out.  Often she will say to me as I am walking out the door dressed as I normally do, “Are you really going to wear that shirt with those pants?”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Hello,.

     Today, I did something for the first time in my life.  I paid for something with my debit card.

     I guess that shows you how old school…or just old…I am.  It’s not that I just got a debit card, I have had one for over 10 years.  I’ve just never used it, preferring to use cash.  For the first four decades of my life when I have made a small purchase, $20.00 or less, I would reach into my pocket and pull out “cash money”, and then hold out my hand preparing for the change that I have calculated in my head.   As it is with dogs, it is apparently so with me, it is hard to teach me a new trick.

     But today, as I was standing at the counter of the coffee shop where I was going to spend some time awaiting for my tires to be changed at the nearby mechanic shop that I use, I reached into my pocket for my cash…..and it wasn’t there.  I had left it at home.  I thought to myself that I could just skip the coffee and just sit in the coffee shop as if it was I library, but I know that’s not kosher.  Then I thought that maybe I should just walk back to the mechanic and sit in the pocket-sized waiting room for the next two hours or so….not appealing.  And then it occurred to me….I have my debit card.

     But how do I use it.  Will they take it for such a small purchase?  So, deciding to venture out onto new horizons, I pulled out my wallet, like I knew what I was doing, and ordered my coffee.  A slight shot of fear went through me when I wondered, what if when the server presented my cup of coffee, and asked for my payment something would go wrong?  What?  I don’t know?  But when you’re on your maiden voyage, you just don’t know.

     So, I tried to play it cool.  The server, having filled my medium mug of coffee with house blend, came back to the register (actually it was a computer) and said, “$2.35.” 

     I handed her my debit card.  She took it in her hand like a outfielder shagging a fly ball, slid it through the card reader, and spun the computer screen around at me.  Uh oh…just as I thought…I had no idea what to do now.  My cover was blown.  I settled myself down enough to read the screen that had a line on it and said, “signature”.  Ok…I could do that….but…..no stylus to be seen.  So sheepishly I said to her, “I don’t see anything to sign with.”

     “Just use your finger,” she said, kindly, but I was sure it was covering her utter unbelief that I didn’t already know what I should do.  Then she spun the screen back toward her, handed me my card, my coffee, and said, “Thank you.”

     If using my debit card could cause such angst in me, I can only imagine the angst that stirs up in people when they think about entering a church building if they have never done so….or if it is one that is unfamiliar to them.  Who knows what might be lying behind those doors….people who will judge me….a worship service that bewilders me and thereby leave me embarassed….a group of people who will latch on to me to meet their budget….religious fanatics…..?

     But I know that the world that I live in has a way of wringing the hope out of my soul, of crushing me with pressure and burdensome expectations, of incessantly intoning fearful and frightening words, pulling me in so many directions that my relationships and my very self feel shredded, and magnifying my wrongs so that they are the only thing I and others see in me.

     I need a place to lift me up.  To hold me together.  To overwhelm my wrongs.  To embrace me.  To mend me and my relationships.  To build me up and strengthen me in my struggles……to love me. 

     I find that place inside my church’s doors.  That is why I go through them every Sunday.  I don’t know if I would find that inside every church’s doors, but I know that is what Jesus intends to be found inside his doors, and the church doors are his.

     So, if you are like me as you live in the world you live in, let me personally invite you to walk through the doors of a church.  Of course none of what greets you inside of them will be perfect, but hopefully the angst that you feel as you pull the church door open will be met by such grace and mercy, that you, like this old dog using a debit card, just might learn a new trick!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  9-13-15

Hello,

     Is 52 apple trees enough?

     Apparently not.  A little over four years ago we built a house on a portion of an old , untended apple orchard, and there were 52 trees on our property.  The apple orchard went out of business decades ago and none of the trees had been tended since.  So, my wife took a look at the trees on our property and decided that we should try and be orchard tenders.  You can imagine that the decades of trimming neglect left the trees very unruly with large, trunk-like branches.

     Since my wife did the research on proper apple tree trimming, what else could I do but let her do most of the trimming (especially when it was cold and snowy), lending my brawn when the branches with a width of 4-5 inches needed to be cut.  When we finished our trimming it looked like our trees had had an encounter with a military barber…..buzzed.  Ears lowered, it became apparent that there were some bald spots in our orchard….52 trees was not enough….so she ordered 5 more trees (seedlings which looked like a 2 foot stick) to join our grove.

     The first year’s harvest was three apples…yes, three apples.  We wondered if maybe our trimming zeal had been a bit zealous, but unfortunately with tree trimming, like sky diving, there’s no second chances.  The second year our orchard’s output magnified to about three brown paper bags of apples, most of which had become the home of worms since we didn’t spray in time.  This year, however, the apple production has taken off.  Many of our trees are loaded with apples making the well trimmed branches bend sharply to the ground.  We are now flooded with apples; big, edible ones because we sprayed the trees in the fall and we trimmed the branches.  If you want apples….we have them!  Abundant apples.

     Jesus said that he had come that we might have life, life abundant….lives abundantly bearing God’s fruit, fruit of the Spirit, having been grafted on to the body of Christ by the master orchard tender.  “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control,” are the fruit of the Spirit, fruit that when its harvest in our life is abundant, such a life is a blessing to one’s self and to the world.

     When I think about why I go to church every Sunday, I know that I don’t go to make God happy and love me more.  He sent his Son to die for me….how could he love me more.  He has staked his claim on me, his treasure…the apple of his eye…he already looks upon me with divine joy.  No, when I go to church every week, God is doing to my life what a good orchard tender does to the trees to increase the harvest.  God trims back the things that I fill an hour of my life so that the light of his grace might more brightly fall upon me and that the nourishment of his mercy might more powerfully take hold of me…..so that in the end….the harvest of the fruit of the Spirit might be…well….abundant!

     Sometimes when I am at church it doesn’t seem like much is happening to me…my mind wanders, the sermon is less than stellar (yes, even when I am preaching), the music is hard to sing, and my eyelids are heavy…but even in those times, times when I might say that I am not getting much out of worship…God is accomplishing what he wants to accomplish….some needed trimming of my life…trimming that God knows will produce what he wills for me….an abundant harvest of the Spirit’s fruit.

     Just like our orchard, the abundance isn’t usually immediate, but with time and graceful attention it arrives….abundantly.

     So, let me invite you to come to church this Sunday for a little trimming.  You will be amazed at what trimming does for the harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 9-9-15

Hello,

     As the summer began, no one would have ever guessed that as the summer was ending we would be crying for rain.  In May, June, and into July it rained every day (well, not really, but it seemed like it).  In August and September, it hasn’t rained at all (well, maybe a little bit).  Early in the summer when I walked on my grass it was like walking on a well soaked cheap sponge.  Now it is like walking on that same sponge after it has sat dried out and has become hard and crunchy.

     I didn’t realize how dry everything had become until I went over to my brother in law’s place, a place nestled in the mountains, bordered by a mountain stream.  In the early summer the water was cascading down the mountain only splashing only into the biggest boulders, all the rest of the rocks were far under the surface. But this weekend the stream was streamless.  Now, only the air flowed over the rocks, big and small.  Small puddles dotted the stream bed.  It looked like an old western ghost town.

    The change in the watershed is a reminder to me of the faltering hope that the things of the world can give us.  It is a reminder of what Jesus said about building one’s house on sand.  If you are looking for a solid foundation, you’ll not find it in the fluctuating things of this world.  No matter how many steps you take each day that your Fitbit registers, the day will come when it will register none.  No matter how diversified your retirement portfolio, the day will come when it will no longer enable you to enjoy life, but instead it will just keep you alive.  No matter how strong the mortar that bonds you with your family and friends, the day will come when the acidic storms of life will erode it away into dust. 

     It is against the frailty of hope that the things of this world can provide that Jesus spoke these words, “‘Everyone who drinks of this water (well water) will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14)  When your Fitbit says, “You’re done,” Jesus will say to you, “Let’s go.”  When your bank account is full but hollow, Jesus will fill you with the solid divine joy of the incredible, amazing divine grace.  When the mortar that you use for the friendships you build has crumbled, you will find the mortar of the love of God, which nothing in all of creation has the power to overcome (Romans 8) holding you tightly.

     When I was in Israel a couple of years ago, a place where the scarcity of water is well known, there is a hill on which stands a church to mark the place where Jesus spoke of the blessing of God (the Beatitudes).  Outside of that church is a fountain with John 4:13-14 (from above…”Everyone who drinks…”) written on a stone.  Humorously enough, next to that inscription of Jesus words is a sign that says of the water that is bubbling from the fountain, “This water is not for drinking.”  An ironic reminder that the things of this world cannot do for us what Jesus can do.

     So, amid the flux and flow of the things of this world…the flood and the drought…happiness and sadness…wealth and poverty…life and death……let me invite you to come this Sunday to church and be grounded in the solid love of Jesus Christ, a grounding upon which you can always and eternally count.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 8-31-15

Hello,

     It has been years (an awful lot of them) since September greeted me with the ringing of the school bell.  Even though decades have passed, I remember with clarity that seems recent, the anticipation of what the upcoming year might bring….what it might bring with the teacher that I was hoping not to get, what it might bring with the heavy academic load, what it might bring with getting back together with people for whom to say they were friends would be a grand understatement, what it might bring as my formal educational life was coming to an end.  Some of those memories are fond….others sour.

     As I listen to many Christian people, I hear a sour word of fear about education. Some are fearful that the things that kids might learn in school will lead them away from the faith.  Some are afraid that the values that students will learn in school will overwhelm the values of their faith.  Some are afraid that the activities that go hand in hand with school will steal them away from their participation in their faith.

     Although I see kids following pied pipers of the world, adopting values that don’t mirror Christ, and becoming too busy for the things of faith….I don’t find myself putting the onus on the schools and education.  I believe that nothing has greater grasping power than the grace of God.  I believe that nothing has greater talent in character formation than the Holy Spirit. And I believe that nothing can bring greater delight than being part of God’s work of making all things new.  So, I tend to believe that the onus might more honestly lie with us…we who have been given this  Gospel light  of unmatched brilliance to shine.

     Maybe the fears that we have of education come for the possibility that we have been a bit guilty of hiding the Gospel light under a bushel basket – a basket woven of rigid rules, of judgmental ears to questions, and blinded eyes to our own sins.

     The truth is, that with God’s Gospel light falling upon the things that kids learn in school, I am certain that their learning will give them even more for which to praise God when they come to understand the intricacies of creation and that it is all held together.  When God’s Gospel light shines upon a student’s  relationship to their neighbor and the world, I am certain that they will discover the dynamism of being a grace-full person that far outshines even being a good person.  When God’s Gospel light shines upon the accolades that the world can give, I am certain that their shimmer will pale compared to being called a Child of God.

     So tomorrow as you get on the bus, hop on your bike, walk through the campus, or take your place in an online class…or watch your child do so …do so with adventure and expectant surprise, because with the bushel atop Gospel light sent tumbling by this Bungee Cord, I assure you that God’s grace will be “lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path”.

Have a great day.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger