The Bungee Cord
7-24-18

Hello,

     “Pastor, I am a Christian, but I don’t think I need to go to church every week.”

     I can’t tell you the number of times that I have had this said to me.  And you know what….I agree.  I agree, that is, if one thinks that going to church makes one a Christian…or if going to church makes God love you more….or if the point of being a Christian is to be a good person and going to church helps you be good.

     So, why go to church every week….or ever at all?

     This morning as I was leaving to go to my weekly pastor’s Bible study in Latrobe (famous for being the home town of Mr. Rogers and Arnold Palmer), my wife asked if I could take the recycling to the recycling center which is also located in Latrobe.  

     No problem.  So instead of driving my Mini Cooper, I took our old pick up, the bed of the truck carrying a full load of recycling.  I had to drive a bit more cautiously and slowly so as not to leave a wake of empty plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and paper behind me on the 20 mile winding path over the ridge.  As I neared Latrobe, I was slowed down even further by road construction.  Finally, I reached to recycling site.  I turned off the main road, drove into the center, and was greeted by a vacant spot where the blue recycling bin usually sits.  No bin, and a sign that said, “Do not leave recycling if no bin.”

     With no bin, no unloading of recycling.  So, I turned my pickup around and drove off to my Bible study, still hauling my garbage (albeit recycling garbage) around.

     Maybe you have never considered it to be so, but I believe that the church is meant to be a recycling center…not in the sense that you go there to recycle stuff into your life…..but in the sense of dumping the garbage out of your life, so that it no longer clutters and stinks up your life.  Life is not lived without the acquiring of garbage….some of it really stinky and some of it just unneeded clutter.  

     You don’t need to go to church every week to be a Christian, but everyone needs a place to dump their garbage and get on with life without it. That is why the church doors are thrown open every week.  That is why worship service times are posted so everyone can see them.  That is why churches try not to cancel their worship services, even in the worst of weather.  The last thing that Jesus wants is to have what happened to me this morning….to have a load full of garbage to dump, only to find out that the dumping place is closed.

     It is true that there are other places to dump your life’s garbage each week, many of them also open on Sunday morning, or late Saturday night. In all honesty, some of those places are pretty good dumping grounds….but none of those places do I find someone who loves that I am there as much as God loves that I am in church.  Nowhere else am I welcomed by the one who so loves me that he keeps track of the number of hairs on my head.  Nowhere else am I welcomed by one who would leave 99 just to find me when I am lost.  Nowhere else am I greeted by one who loves me so much that he will let me dump even the most toxic and deadly stuff at his feet.  Nowhere else am I greeted by one who so loves me that he would willingly be nailed to a cross, and die for me.  Nowhere else am I greeted by one who loves me so much that he wants me to be with him forever.

     When I think of the dumping grounds in life, why wouldn’t I want to go to such a recycling center as the church.  No, you don’t have to go to church every week to be a Christian. But every week, God says to you and to me, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

     This Sunday, and every Sunday, a church will be open…and the recycling bin will be there!  Its worth the weekly trip.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace. (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  7-16-18

Hello,

     What do a groundhog, a raccoon, and a deer have in common?

     They were all the victims of roadkill on a quarter mile stretch of the road on which I was driving home from church yesterday afternoon. Apparently, Saturday was a tough night for the wildlife.  

     The first animal I came upon was the groundhog, an animal that I consider a pest.  They dig holes, they get into gardens.  So, when I drove by it, I have to admit that I felt little anguish in its demise.  After all, it was a groundhog….a pest.

     The second animal was the raccoon.  Although raccoons are pesty, too, at least they are kind of cute. They do get into garbage, and they torment our cats.  But their masked eyes, and their striped tail.  Well, they are cute.  So, as I drove by it, I felt mixed emotions.  The cuteness tugged at my heart.  The peskiness eased my dismay.

     The last animal was the deer, a doe.  And although deer can be a pest, especially to flowers and gardens, they are graceful and stately animals.  Since it was a doe, and having seen a lot of fawns around(what animal is cuter than a fawn?), I felt sadness stab my heart when I considered the possibility of a motherless fawn facing the world.  I felt sorrow for that doe’s fate as I drove around it, still lying on the road.

     I don’t think that I am alone in my variance of feeling as I encountered that groundhog, raccoon, and deer.  Different animals have a way of taking hold of our hearts with varying degree.  We like some more than others, leading us to value some more than others.

     When I consider the way that people look at each other, it seems to me that some are seen as groundhogs, some are seen as raccoons, and some are seen as deer.  Groundhogs….pests, low-lives, nothing but trouble.  Raccoons…..cute, but aggravating, meddlesome, destructive.  Deer…elegant, graceful, tender.  Although we might attempt to not let these impressions influence our reactions to these differing kind of people, truth is that most of us don’t do a very good job of looking beyond our impressions.  Think of how many “groundhogs” live though lives, seemingly ignored by the world, and when they die, their death isn’t even noticed. Think of the many “raccoons” who hover a little higher in life, but still stay anonymous to people’s hearts during their lives and when they die.  Think of the “deer” upon whom the world fawns, who people desire their companionship in life and deeply grieve their absence when they die.

     So, as I drive by you today in this Bungee Cord, I don’t know if you see yourself, or if the world sees you akin to a groundhog, a raccoon, or a deer.  I don’t know the degree to which the world values you.  But I do know this, although the world might treat you differently based upon your animal likeness, God does not.  The reason that I am certain of this lies in how Jesus encountered the “groundhogs, raccoons and deer” of the world.  Lepers, who were deemed untouchable and to be avoided, Jesus came near to them and touched them.  A Samaritan (considered black sheep cousins) woman whose personal life was such a mess that it led her to stay away from people and their judgmental stares, was the object of Jesus’ compassion and grace as she drew water from a well.  A tax collector who was the laughing stock of his town, became the host of a surprise visit from Jesus.  In Jesus’ heart and eyes, it doesn’t matter what the world sees in you, the only thing that matters is what Jesus sees in you….the fingerprint of God….the artwork of the divine potter…the lamb for which he is willing to endlessly search…the child for whom he is ready to die.

     When the world hits you hard….and it will….probably more than once…you can rest assured that the one who encounters you by the road will not thoughtlessly and maybe even callously drive by.  Instead, that one will stop, stop in his tracks no matter how universally busy he might be, take hold of you in a lifegiving embrace, and restore you in his grace…..no matter what animal likeness the world sees you to be.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 7-10-18

Hello,

      It was 5:37 in the evening and my phone rang.  It was the church secretary where I am doing an interim ministry, a distance that I travel 1 ½ hours each way.  She was calling because she had received a call concerning a member who has been battling cancer, now in a hospice facility, and it appeared that she would not make it through the night.  What is a pastor to do?  

    The facility is 2 hours from my house.  Should I go?  I spoke with the family.  They were worried and troubled.  “Is your mother alert?”, I asked.  

     “Yes.”

     “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

     So, I quickly changed and hopped in my car, hoping that I would make it in time.  My GPS set me out on the Turnpike, and when a car going a bit faster than everyone else passed me, I got behind it and stayed on its tale.  About 2/3 the way there I ran into road construction, slowing me down to a snail’s pace.  Wishing that I had a set of police lights to clear the way, I tried to remain patient all the while looking as far as I could to see what was holding everything up. A passing thunderstorm slowed things up after I escaped the construction, and the traffic was fairly heavy on the two lane local road, strewn with traffic lights that seemed programmed to turn red upon my arrival.

     Finally, I made it to the facility, which I had never been to before, and walked up to the door, only to find it locked.  Setting off around the building to see if there was another door, and there was.  I walked in, asked the lady at the information desk directions to the room I was looking for, and it turns out that I was in the wrong building. Following her directions through several hallways, down an elevator, and through an alarmed door that took me several times to put the right code in, I made it to my parishioner’s room.

     Thankfully in time!  In and out of awareness and not able to speak with any clarity, nevertheless, I could tell that she knew who I was and that her family was there.  I took hold of her hand, called her by name, and said, “Looks like things are pretty tough.”

     “Pretty tough,” she silently mouthed back.

     We gathered around her bed, and had a prayer together. Tears intermingled our words.  We finished saying the Lord’s Prayer together, and I marked her forehead with the sign of the cross, and said, “The Lord bless you and keep you.  The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.  The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you his peace.”

     Sniffles and silence.  I stayed there about a half hour.  Talked with the family, and making sure that they knew they could call me anytime if they needed someone to talk to, I left the room and made my way back home.

     That is what pastors do.  We go to the dark places that most avoid.  We stand in the midst of sorrow and grief.  We drive 4 hours to spend 30 minutes. 

     Why?  It is not because we are more important than anyone else.  It is not because we can fix things that are falling apart.  We do these things because people, through the Spirit’s guide, have asked us to do these things….things that bring the realization of God’s presence.  We have been asked to be the ones who come and make visible and audible the presence of God.  In seminary we called it the ministry of presence…..our presence….God’s presence.

     I don’t know what your day has brought you, but I hope that this Bungee Cord, and every Bungee Cord, is a ministry of God’s presence in your life.  You are not alone.  There is no hole so deep that God won’t take hold of you.  When your knees are weak, God will steady you with his grace.  When the darkness is so deep that you can’t see a thing, God speaks in the still silence, saying, “I am here.”  The ministry of presence….that is what this pastor does….in hospice facilities and in a writing called the Bungee Cord.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 7-3-18

Hello,

     It is 100 degrees outside!  I know that for some in our world 100 degrees is considered temperate, but not here in Western Pennsylvania.  100 degrees is hot here, really hot!  Hot as H…E…double hockey stick.

     Speaking of H..E…double hockey stick, if you have been a long time reader of the Bungee Cord, you may have noticed, as some of my parishioners have, wishing otherwise, that I don’t talk much about hell.  Of course, the reason for their wish for me to talk about hell isn’t, they believe, for their benefit, but for the benefit of those “bad” people.

     So, why don’t I talk much about hell?  Two reasons.  

     One, I think that people have a pretty good idea of what hell is, and I say that because hell has a way of making its way into our lives. Relationships that tear away at people’s lives and hearts.  Depression and anxiety that burns with unquenchable fire.  Things done that have created a hole so deep that even light has a hard time getting in.  Finding oneself to be nothing but fuel for other people’s greed and power.  I am pretty sure that everyone, even the people that you and I might not think to wrestle with the Devil in this life (but in truth they do), have a pretty good idea of what hell is like.  The smoke of hopelessness, despair, loneliness, worthlessness, fear…..the list can go on….is all around us.  It finds its way into our lungs.  I don’t need to tell people about it.  People know it all too well.

     Two, the God that I know isn’t at work to scare us out of hell, but rather to embrace us in the kingdom of heaven.  “For God so loved the world…..”, that is the heart of the work of God in Jesus Christ.  For God so loved the world that he sent his Son into the world, to die on a cross, and to extinguish hell’s fiery flames in a shower of blood.  From the cross a fountain of God’s love and mercy sprayed into the world so that, as Romans 8 says, “nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”  When Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross, he wasn’t signaling, “Stop.  Danger. Don’t take another step.”  No, he was stretching them out in a timeless embrace, saying, “Come unto me all you that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Jesus Christ is not about fear. Jesus Christ is about love.

     Several times over the course of the past year I have heard this said, “There’s a special place in hell for…..”.  And you know what, I think that is true.  The Devil, I believe, is at work preparing a special spot for everyone. Me included.  The Devil takes a look at my life and says, “I had better get things ready for Jerry.”  But here’s the thing, I am confident that the Devil is wasting his time, and my confidence comes from what Jesus has said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe^* in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^*3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. “ (John 14)

     It is my hope that the Bungee Cord is part of the cross-blood spray into your life, a spray that douses the hell in your life with the grace and mercy of God.  It is my hope that when the flames of hell spring up in your life and seek to open the door to the special place that the Devil is making for you (and me), this Bungee Cord will be like a powerful 6 inch diameter fire hose, filled with the cross-nailed love of God for you, pulsing with 150 pounds of pressure, directly spewing onto those flames, putting them out as if they were a mere match flame, and while that is happening hearing God snicker and laugh in victorious delight, “Nice try Satan.  But this one is mine!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger