The Bungee Cord
7-31-18

Hello,

    In January I began an interim ministry position, which means that I served a congregation after their pastor left and until a new one came. Well, the new one has come….or actually is soon to come.  So, this past Sunday was my last Sunday with that congregation, but have no fear that I will become bored.  I am already assigned to another congregation, beginning August 26^th. The congregation that I have just left was a 1 ½ hour drive from my house.  This new assignment is only 8 miles away.  I am looking forward to a little less time in my car.

     So, beyond less time in my car, I don’t know what lies ahead of me in this new congregation.  But these days do not only carry uncertainty for me, they also carry uncertainty for the congregation that I left, and the congregation that I am going to.  Transitional times are laden with uncertainty.

     Fact of the matter is that every day is a transitional time.  When we lay our heads on our pillows we transition from what we have lived through, all the while with limited certainty about what life will bring us when we rise from our beds.  Sure…we make plans, but in truth that is all they are…plans.  We may not often think about it, but we all know that somewhere under the surface of those plans things are percolating that just might bubble to the surface disrupting our plans in a potentially uncontrollable boil.

     That is not to say that one should not plan, it is only to say that plans we make are fragile, and sometimes very brittle.  That is why it is important for us when we transition from today into tomorrow to hear that we are not the only ones making plans for tomorrow.  God is making plans, too.  Plans that are etched in stone, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” No matter what tomorrow might bring, God is planning to be there, and if God is planning on being there…well…..God will be there!  God will be there with his love and mercy.  God will be there with his wisdom and grace.  God will be there with power and might that nothing can overwhelm, not even death.  There is nothing fragile or brittle about the plans that God makes!  And it is upon the certainty of God’s plans that we can hopefully, confidently, and peacefully encounter every transition, with all of their uncertainties, in life.

     As I closed the worship service on Sunday, the uncertainties of the future staring the congregation and me in the face, I asked the people to open up the worship book to a prayer that I find myself turning to as I face transitions, big and little.  So, as I join you through this Bungee Cord in the transitions of your life, let me invite you also to pray this prayer.

O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Amen.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger