Bungee Cord 11-27-17

Hello,

     A couple of years ago, I went back to my hometown, Hinsdale, Illinois, for my 40^th high school reunion, and among the many things that I discovered was this; high school reunions tend not to draw those who have “failed” in life.  Although I am certain that every one of the people who attended that reunion had scrapped their knees more than once over the course of those 40 years, I don’t remember running into anyone for whom those 40 years were an overwhelming struggle, a struggle that had gotten the best of them.

     The reason that I write of that reunion experience of a couple of years ago is because of what I heard on Sunday as I sat in a pew of the church (I am currently on break from work, but next week I am sticking my toe back in the water of parish ministry.).  The Biblical passage on which the sermon was based was the one where Jesus makes an accounting of those who visited the sick, clothed the naked, visited the imprisoned saying that those who did or did not do these things did or did not do them unto the Lord.  Sheep who did….goats who did not.

     The gist of the message that I heard was that those who were in the pews were obviously among those whom Jesus was naming as sheep, people who did the things which Jesus was accounting, and they needed to go out and tell those who were not in the pews that they, too, were worthy of being called sheep.  There is certainly a strong ring of truth to this message.  The small things that people do are of divine importance.

     But here’s the thing that caught my ears.  Why do we assume that the people who gather in church on Sunday morning see themselves as “sheep”?  When did Sunday morning worship become the place of High School reunions where only “sheep”…..people who have their lives in good order…gather.  Those whom Jesus gathered together certainly would not have fit that mold.  As a matter of fact, those who thought they had their lives together did not like Jesus because he was rubbing shoulders with those whose lives were deemed despicable.

     This is not the first time that I have heard this “sheep” assumption coming from a pulpit.  Some years ago, I heard a pastor laughing to his congregation that of course none of them might be folks whose failures have placed them on the front page of the paper.  I have heard good intending parents tell their children that they should go to church to find a “good boy or girl” to date.  Even the assumption that church folks should never fight is an assumption that the church is only a place for those whose actions would dub them sheep.

     Fact of the matter, at least as far as I can tell, is that by virtue of their deeds, every person who sits in the church pews on Sunday morning deserves the name goat….including me who stands in the pulpit.  But that is exactly why I go to church every week, and also why the doors are thrown open for everyone else to come…to bring the sheep out in me, and put the goat in me to rest. If you take a look at the parable in the Bible (Matthew 25:31ff) notice that both the sheep and the goats were willing to do what Jesus was accounting.  For the sheep, their deeds came natural.  For the goats, their deeds….well, they acted like goats and to act like a sheep took unnatural intention.

     So, that is what Sunday morning church is all about….bringing out the sheep and putting to rest the goat.  I take seriously God’s transformational power that has made a new creation out of the work of Jesus Christ, the power to make sheep out of goats.  That is what happened on the cross.  And I take seriously God’s transformational power to transform my mind to think as the new creation that God has made me to be, a sheep, not a goat.  That happens every Sunday morning in church.

     So, if you wake up this Sunday morning and take a look at the life you have lived this week and see the markings of a goat….well, it is for you that the doors of the church are opened. I don’t know when people started to think that Sunday morning church was meant to be a gathering of those who were unquestionably sheepish (if that were true, then the pews would be empty, and the pulpit, too).  It is clear to me, however, that Sunday morning worship is meant for those who are sheep in goat’s clothing, for whom God is at work to bring the sheep out…and put the goat to rest.

     Maybe churches should put a sign out on their lawns, “Goats Welcome”.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

     

The Bungee Cord 11-20-17

Hello,

     Maybe some of you saw what caught my eye last week.  According to the news, someone bought a painting for 450 million dollars ($450,000,000.00!).  Apparently, the purchaser, whose name has not been made public, is an individual…..with a lot of money!  Not having that kind of money in my pocket, such a purchase has a ring of incredibility.  Who would spend that much money on a painting?  How could an oil covered canvas, even as rare as it may be, be worth that much money.  Since we don’t know the purchaser, we can only suspect that this painting was bought as an investment, thus the purchaser believing that it will actually grow in value as time passes!

     Maybe if I was a connoisseur of fine art, I would not be surprised at this sale, but I have to believe that even those who treasure art are were a bit amazed at the price this painting brought.  To me, it seems foolish, if not unbelievable.

     Maybe that is why the Christian message so often falls upon unreceptive ears.  It does seem foolish, if not unbelievable, that God would so treasure conscious driven carbon (that is, humans) so deeply that, as the Bible tells us, that it led God to pay the price of his very Son.  And more unbelievable, and maybe even foolish than that, is that the Bible tells us that God paid this incredible price not as an investment for which he hoped an increased return, but entirely out of love with no strings attached.

     No wonder that some sceptics of Christianity say that Christianity is merely a human concocted scheme to make humans feel important.  From a logical perspective, it doesn’t make much sense. 

     I will be the first to say that such a purchase price for me is hard to imagine…the flaws in my character, the pain that I cause, the mess that I make, the narrowness of my mind… that God would “send his only begotten Son” in order to have me does ring, even in my own mind, of foolish unbelievably. 

     And yet, when that $450,000,000.00 check makes its way to the seller’s desk with the purchaser’s name inscribed on it, there is no doubting that such a purchase, as foolish and incredible as it might be, was actually true.  And likewise when the one whose cross bore the inscription, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” paid the ultimate price, and whose boulder sealed grave was opened and emptied, not by grave robbers, but by God who eternally robbed the power of the grave by raising Jesus from the dead….well, when that happened….therein lies the foundation of the Christian conviction that what seems so unbelievable and foolish is actually true!

     “Is that your signature?” we might say to the one who handed over the $450,000,000.00 check.  To which that one would say, “Yes.” 

     “Is that your signature?” we are likewise apt to say to the one who “gave his only begotten Son”.  And that one’s answer is, “Yes.”

     The cross and the grave are God’s answer to the sceptics of faith who say Christianity is a human scheme to make humans feel important.  The cross and the grave are God’s signature of God’s love driven heart that humans are that important to God.  Such importance may seem foolish and unbelievable to the human mind.  But just like I, who do not hold in my pocket the stash of money to even think about paying $450,000,000.00 for oil on canvas cannot understand the drive for such a purchase, neither do I hold in my heart the stash of love that I would even think about “sending his only begotten Son” for conscious driven carbon to understand God’s drive for me.

     But the cross and the grave has been inscribed in time and space, and when I look at them, I find myself asking, “God, is this your signature?”  And God’s answer……”Yes!”

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  11-13-17

Hello,

     In the past week, I have heard this statement three times, “The fastest growing segment of the religious community is the “nones”.  “Nones” are folks who when asked, “What is your religious affiliation?”, their answer is, “None.”  This statistical growth of “nones” is not suddenly new.  For the past decade or more the number of folks claiming no religious affiliation has been growing faster than those claiming one.  Some of the “nones” are folks whose perspective in life does not provide a god to believe in.  Other “nones”, while sensing something spiritual in life, are, for a variety of reasons not inclined to settle into any specific manifestation of that spiritual life.  And still other “nones” find themselves aligned with a specific religious affiliation, but do not find formal affiliation with that perspective to be a necessary ingredient in their life of faith.  I suppose that there may be other categories of “nones”, but this is certainly true of our day and age, “Nones” are the fastest growing segment of the religious community.

     For a long time, from my perspective, Christians have not taken the concerns of the “nones” with the integrity they are due.  Instead “nones” have been threatened with Hell.  Scorned as small or narrow minded.  Described as lazy, spiritually and physically.  Written off as lost.

     Well, maybe the increasing “none” population will help us Christians do what we should have been doing all along…..listening to the “nones” with the integrity due.  I know many “nones”.  Many are people whose concern extends far beyond their own lives.  Many are deep thinkers.  Many are caught in the cyclone that life can become.  Many are simply part of our day and age when affiliation with anything is not a driving force.  Maybe you are a “none”.

     Obviously, I am not a “none”, but I know that the winds of “none” can catch my sails, too.  I find myself hit by waves of modern metaphysics that are quite unlike Biblical times.  I can get caught up in things far more cultural than essential to the Gospel.  I find myself often exhausted by daily trying to hold my own against the swells that raise me up and pull me down.  I am part of a generation that sees many institutions as existing simply for the sake of the institutions existence, which especially in terms of the Christian faith does not seem to be right.

     So, why am I not a “none”?  For me, it has to do with having a keel.

     A couple of years ago when I was in Israel, we spent several days around the Sea of Galilee, the locale around which much of the Biblical stories of Jesus took place.  It isn’t really a sea.  It is actually a moderately sized lake, 13 miles long and 8 miles wide.  Because small mountains rise up on its east and west sides, winds sweep across it from the north and the south with unusual fury, causing the water of this moderate lake to churn with the force of a sea.  

     In a lakeside museum, a common fishing boat from the time of Jesus that was discovered about 50 years ago is on display.  Somehow it had gotten buried deep in the mud which kept it from rotting away over the centuries.  It is only about 20 feet long, has a rudder, a place for the mast and sail…..but no keel!  No wonder lake treks were so dangerous.  No keel to hold the direction of the boat steady.  No keel to keep it from being toppled by waves.  I don’t know how the people sailed that sea in small boats without keels, but I do know this, having sailed in sunfish sailboats that when you near shore and you pull the keel out, keel-less sailing is tough.

      So, why am I not a “none”?  For me, it has to do with having a keel, and not just any keel, but a keel worth having.  Fact is, there are many keels in life that bid themselves worthy of being a keel, but to my estimation, the keels that this life has to offer are simply not strong enough or deep enough.  They break.  They don’t have the depth to keep you from capsizing when the hardest waves hit.

     If you are a “none”, or if the “none” in you comes out like it does for me, let me invite you find out what it is like to have a keel made out of the unbreakable love of God for you that runs as deep as a death and sin conquered Calvary cross.  I have found this keel to be worthy of its place in my life.  That is why I am one who thankfully answers the religious affiliation question by saying, “I am a Christian of the Lutheran persuasion.”

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger