Bungee Cord 4-19-20

The Bungee Cord 4-20-20

Hello,

One of the challenges of living in this time of shut-down is keeping track of time. The normal routines are gone, and the days sort of blend into each other. With that said, I think that we, here in Pennsylvania, are in the 5th week of our shutdown. 

Five weeks, and counting, of keeping apart from each other, not seeing friends or relatives, not following our favorite sports teams, not walking the halls of our schools, spending more time than usual with siblings, and virtually gathering for worship. Although these weeks have been really difficult in some ways….lack of income, isolating loneliness, and looming fear. It hasn’t been all bad. Some families have spent some great times together. They have even eaten together. The air is cleaner. The things of lesser importance that have consumed our lives have been revealed for what they really are: lesser important. And maybe the best thing of all is that if you are a member of my congregation, with this virtual worship you can just turn me off if I am boring, or you can fall asleep in my sermon without me noticing. For five weeks, this virus has taken hold of our world and our lives.

But it is not only the fifth week of the shut-down, it is also the second week of Easter. Two weeks ago we re-marked the day when the Son of God left a stone sealed tomb. This one man who had hung on a cross and died….who had been taken from that cross and wrapped in grave clothes…whose body lay lifeless since Friday afternoon…on whom the decay of death had begun its feast…………..this one man on Sunday morning was breathed back into life by God. And when this one man, Jesus, stepped out of that tomb, unlike others who may have brought back to life who would one day be tripped up by death again, each step that Jesus took was accompanied by the crackling sound of dead death being crushed. When this one man broke out of that tomb, a viral infection of God’s grace and power began with a hunger to infect the world. And the devastation that this divine infection would cause….the devastation of death, and the proliferation of everlasting life.

This is the second week of Easter! For two weeks, and counting, this year we find ourselves being drawn together in the outstretched embrace of God’s love, seeing all people as Christ blood relatives, cheering on victory after victory over hatred and evil, gathering with brothers and sisters in a mutual blessing of peace, and joining the celebration in heaven that happens when the Good Shepherd comes running back with a sheep that was lost but is now found!

It may be true that one small corona virus has broken loose, and ignited a raging fire that is violently burning throughout the world, shutting life down, and we are in the 5th week of that shut down. But it is equally true that one small man, one who also embodied the fulness of God, has also broken loose in this world and ignited a raging fire burning throughout the world, opening up life, and we are in the 2nd week of that explosion of life that has been exploding for centuries. This is the second week of Easter!

Interestingly, it is challenging to live in these Easter days. It is a challenge to keep track of time, of Easter time, because the world is always calling into our memory all of the other times that we live in….all the other things that are trying to take hold of our lives (a virus, a failure, a sin, a betrayal, a loss of a job, a death of a loved one, a dream that has popped……). So, today, as you read this Bungee Cord and you find yourself in whatever week that the things of this world has imposed upon you, let me remind you of the week that you are living in that God has brought to you…God, whose powerful love for you outshines the shadows of the world….THIS IS THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger