Hello,

     A couple of weeks ago as I was scrolling my way through facebook, a clip that someone had posted caught my eye.  It was taken at a professional baseball game, and as I began to watch it I wasn’t sure what was taking place.  It was a clip of a young man being escorted onto the field by an middle aged man, which in and of itself was not so remarkable.  But the thing that caught my eye was that the young man was sweeping the ground in front of him with one of those lone white canes that blind folks use to navigate.

     When the two of them reached the mound, the young man handed his cane to the older man, and the older man handed the young man a baseball.  A catcher took his spot behind home plate, crouched down in position, and hit his glove a couple of times.  The young man, who apparently couldn’t see a thing, wound up as if he was Fergusson Jenkins, himself, (now there’s a name that is a blast from the past for any of you 1969 Cub fans!) and…….

     Well, I was ready for the young man’s throw to sail way over the catcher’s head, or bound 6 feet on the ground in front of the catcher.  After all plenty of sighted first pitch throwers have done just that.

…..and he took a bit of an awkward step toward the plate, hurled the ball plateward, and threw a perfect strike!  The catcher didn’t even have to move his glove!  Amazing!

     Those of you who have known me long, know that in my younger years, I was a pitcher.  So, I know just how hard it is to throw a ball as hard as you can and have it pass over a slab of rubber 17 inches wide, above the batter’s knees and below the batter’s shoulders.  To do so, one had to concentrate.  Lock one’s eyes in on the catcher’s glove….looking away would lead to disaster.

     And yet, this young man, in front of a baseball stadium full of people that makes professional pitchers nervous, threw a perfect strike without being able to see the catcher’s mitt at all! 

     How did he do it?  My guess is that he used his ears.  His ears locked in on those couple of pops that they heard when the catcher hit his glove.  His ears located the spot to which he was to aim….and his ears served him well.  Strike!

     In this world where evil and violence can be so blinding, I am sometimes asked, “How can you believe that there is a God…especially a God who is said to be loving?”

     I find myself with only one answer, “I use my ears.”  The thumping of the nails, pounded through two hands and two feet.  The cry of victory from that cross, “It is finished.”  The roll of a boulder opening an Easter tomb.  The voice coming from that tomb, “He is not here.  He has risen.”  The splash of water cascading with the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  Bread and wine given to me at the altar, permeated with the promise, “This is my body…this is my blood…for you.”

     Like that young man on the pitcher’s mound, I who find myself often blinded by the evil and violence in the world, hear the popping of a mitt and my ears are locked in on it.  And with the concentration and focus of my days on the mound, I find myself hurling my life in the direction of that noise. 

     Do I always throw a perfect, sightless strike?  No.  But every time I toss my life in the direction of that noise, I hear another noise….the noise of my life hitting that mitt and the voice of one saying, “I got ‘cha.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

By the way….if you want to hear my sermon from yesterday entitled, “Why can’t Christians just all be the same?”, you can go to felchurch.org, tap the “worship” button,  then tap the “Sermons” tag, and you’ll be able to listen to it.  It’s 17:10 minutes long….got a little long winded!

Bungee Cord 4-17-16

Hello,

I thought that I would try and send out an audio Bungee Cord this week, the content of which is my sermon from today. I share this with you, not because I believe it is the best sermon that I have ever preached...nor because it is the best sermon ever preached. I share it with you because it speaks to the heart of the Christian faith that I profess and preach. It is based upon John 10:22-30. The sermon is 13:46 long (about average for me). I hope that you'll have the time to take a listen....but if not, here's the first and last lines of the sermon:

Are you stronger than God......13:36....the answer is, No.

Have a great week.

God's grace and peace

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 4-11-16

Hello,

A couple of months ago as the season of Lent began, I told you about our congregational Lenten project which we dubbed, “Lenten Loo’s”.

In a world of 7.1 billion people, 2.5 billion of them have inadequate sanitation which poses major health problems and brings death to the young and the old.  So, we , at First Lutheran, challenged ourselves to respond to God’s grace to us to see how many “Lenten Loo’s” (deep drop latrines) we could fund.

Week by week, the children of the congregation helped build a “Lenten Loo” in the front of our sanctuary.  We “dug” a hole.  We laid a foundation.  Constructed the walls (yes…kids drilled in some of the screws to erect it).  Decorated the outside with crosses drawn by the kids (as a mark of whose love was the driving force for the “Loo’s”) rather than a moon or sun which used to designate male or female “Loo’s”.  Gave it a seat.  Put a curtain, orange and blue, of course, as a doorway.  And set it a roof on it.

I was a little concerned that the construction of a “Loo” in our sanctuary might be seen as a bit distasteful for a worship space.  But not so!  As it rose in our midst, it was a visible reminder of two things.   First, a reminder of our Lenten discipline of looking beyond ourselves as Jesus did on his path to the cross.  Second, a reminder that when we help people with basic, although not necessarily “dignified” things, we are bringing the grace of God to them.

Now that Easter has arrived and Lent has passed, we collected all of our “Lenten Loo” offerings which people had placed in empty toilet paper rolls.  The total was evidence of the resurrection power of God that opens people’s hearts in thanks and brings life to the world.  $8566.50!

At $150.00 per Loo, that means that 57 Loo’s will be built through our gifts throughout the world.  Alleluia!

Normally, the sounds of the power of the resurrection is heard in blaring trumpets, organs with all the stops pulled, voices raised in powerful song…..but this year, the power of the resurrection will be heard through pounding hammers and whirling saws as 57  “Lenten Loo’s”  are built all around the world…..giving life to thousands!

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernbeger

Bungee Cord 4-4-16

Hello,

     “Take me out to the ball game.  Take me out to the crowd…..”

     Long before I donned a clergy robe on Sunday morning, I was putting on my baseball uniform for games on Sunday afternoon.  Little League was a big ordeal in the town that I grew up.  So big of an ordeal that there were try outs, drafts, two leagues (American (even home address) and National League (odd home address)).  Having lived at “705 S. Grant” street, I was placed in the National League, and I was drafted into the Pirate organization….juniors, seniors, and majors.  Pitcher and Short Stop were my positions, positions I played until I hung up my spikes after high school.

     Yesterday, Sunday, the Pirates, of Pittsburgh, Pa., opened their season with a game against the Cardinals.  It was around 40 degrees and windy at game time.  I remember taking my spot on the field on opening day when I played for the Hinsdale Little League Pirates, and the Red Devils of Hinsdale Central High School.  Often cold.  Often windy.  Often rainy.  I remember well the stinging of the wooden bat as it vibrated in my hands when I struck the ball.  I remember well trying to get a good grip with cold fingers on a wet and slippery ball in order to throw a curve ball.  I remember well kicking off the clods of dirt from my spikes both on the pitching mound and in the batter’s box.  Opening day of the baseball season was rarely an optimal day for baseball, but nevertheless we always looked forward to it so as to get the season underway.

     For Christians, yesterday was also Opening Day.  Actually, every Sunday is Opening Day, because every Sunday Christians gather to celebrate the greatest Opening Day of all, Easter Sunday, the day that the grave in which Jesus’ dead body was laid was Opened and Jesus walked out alive, resurrected.  On that Opening Day, Jesus won a crushing victory over everything that might separate God from his creation…..a victory over everything in life, and a victory over the everything in death.  A shut-out….shutting out every claim of evil on our lives.  A No Hitter …… leaving all of our failures and sins swinging at air, no longer able to strike us.  On Easter Sunday, Opening Day, Jesus led off the season of eternity with such a crushing victory, that the season’s end was determined on its first day!

     Christians, when they gather on every Sunday morning, participate in Jesus’ opening day victory.  When they come together on Sunday, they take hold of that victory as the week is opening up.  When they come together on Sunday, they feel the momentum of Jesus’ Opening Day victory as they see the opponent lining up their best players against them….momentum that no opponent, no matter how strong, can slow down.  When they come together every Sunday morning they gather not under a pennant marking a one time victory, but under a cross marking a timeless victory.

     So, know this, there’s a place for you on the bench every Sunday when Jesus gather’s his team for every week’s Opening Day….so come, come and feel the thrill of Christ’s Opening Day Victory!  Play ball!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger