The Bungee Cord 11-23-20

Hi,

 

It is Advent, the four weeks before Christmas when our lives are progressively filled with the hope of Christ’s advent in our lives…in a manger, in our daily lives, and at the end of time.  It is a tradition in many Christian homes and churches to light a candle each week to mark our way to Christmas, a visible remembrance of the brightening light that comes into the world. (John 1).

 

So, I thought I would bring you along with me on this journey in two ways.  First, each week I am going to include the litany that we will be doing in our church.  Let me invite you to get four candles and put them someplace where you will see them. In our home we put them on the table that we usually eat on.  Then in each week of Advent as you read the Bungee Cord, you can light a candle until all four are lit.

 

The second thing that I am going to do is to write an Advent story.  Although the story may not have the usual Advent/Christmas characters, I hope that it will deepen and broaden your experience of these four weeks of hope during these days of Covid’s shroud.

 

ADVENT 1

 

Advent 1

 

Psalm 139

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
¹¹ If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’, 
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 

 

We give you thanks, Almighty God, that you fill the darkness with the light of your promise of salvation.  As we await the day when sin will scale our eyes no more, when chains of oppression will all be broken, when the prison of guilt and shame will be torn down, and when the darkness of death will be shattered…enlighten us with a glimpse of your power and love for us so that the light of your promise might bring us hope.  Amen.

 

Light One Candle

 

 

And the story…..

 

“Cubic Zirconia”

 

With all of the weird stuff going on this year, one of the weirdest things was how 5 high school students living in the deep south found each other.  They were the first five people in line to get tickets to the Neil Diamond show that was coming to town. It was weird because everyone else in the line was at least 60, and even though they all went to the same high school they had never met each other.

 

Though teenagers in 2020, they were devout Neil Diamond fans, and how could they not be.  They had grown up with parents who were Diamond groupies in their youth and Neil Diamond music saturated the houses that they raised their children in.  “Sweet Caroline”, “Song Sung Blue”, “Forever in Blue Jeans”, “Cracklin’ Rosie”, “Brother Love’s Travlin’ Salvation Show”……  Those songs were played so often that not only were they etched in the kids’ brains, but they were etched in the walls of those homes.

 

As the five of them sat in line to get their tickets, they started singing those classics.  They knew every song, every verse, every word by heart. All the old people who stood in line with them smiled.  Some sang along.  The kids, though, who walked by and heard them singing Neil Diamond songs laughed with arrogant scorn, “Wierdo’s!”, they smirked in unison pointing their fingers at the weird non-country, non-rock and roll, non-hip hop quintet.  

 

The singers didn’t notice, they were lost in their songs.  When they finished the last words of “Forever in Blue Jeans”, one of them said to the others, “We should form a Neil Diamond cover band…you know a boy band with a whole different twist.  And that is how “Cubic Zironia” got its start.

 

(Continued next week….)

 

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord   11-16-20

Hello,

 

I suspect that for many, the thing that causes them the most trouble with the Christian faith is this, “If there is an all-loving God, why are all these terrible things happening?” Maybe you find yourself wresting with this question, too.

 

Actually, it is a question that people, believers and nonbelievers, have asked all through Biblical history. The Psalms, which were composed centuries before Jesus birth, are full of this question.  Even the disciples asked it of Jesus when they saw a man who was blind from birth.  

 

Books and books have been written trying to answer this question, and personally many of the answers that book writers give fall short of helpfulness, for me, when I wrestle with this question.  Some authors say that the terrible things that happen are God’s punishment, but that answer leaves a bigger question when terrible things happen to me, “Why is God picking on me?”  Others say that God is trying to teach us something, but that answer leaves me with a God who isn’t a very good teacher, because some things we don’t seem to learn. Others say that God has a purpose for everything, but if that’s the case I am not sure that I want to trust in a God who intends for a child to get killed by a crazily driven car.  Still others say that in order to be all loving, God has chosen not to be all powerful.  That makes me wonder, is God powerful enough for me to trust in him?  None of these answers work for me.

 

The reality of evil is so real, that sometimes evil can cast a thick veil over the reality of God.

 

This year, 2020 has been an evil filled year.  Covid 19. Racial strife.  Polarizing politics.  Climate turmoil.  International saber rattling.  Ugh!  It has been so bad that many cynically joke that we should erase it from the calendar, or hit a restart button.  And many ask, “Where has God been in all this mess?”

 

The reason that I write about this is that this Sunday is the last Sunday in the Christian calendar, and it is named “Christ the King” Sunday.  On this day we celebrate with thankfulness that Christ has been with us through the past year, and that we can step into the next year with the promise that Christ will be with us in the coming year, too.  Given what we have been through this year, should we cancel “Christ the King” Sunday?

 

To the evil that we are confronting and the darkness that it has brought to our lives, I find a verse from John 1 instructive. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  To me, this is the answer to the question, “If there is an all loving God, why do all these terrible things happen?”  And the answer that this verse gives is that God is equally opposed to the evil, if not more so, as you and I.  God is not one who waits at the end of the tunnel with a light and encourages us to make our way there.  When I don’t have the strength to move an inch, such a God is not of any help to me at all!  But God has shown us by the fact that he jumped feet first into our world in Jesus that he is not afraid to embattle any evil, even death.  Is there darkness in this world?  Yes, and God is charging into that darkness, and he won’t give up the fight until he has won.  And God will!

 

For Christians on Christ the King Sunday, the promise of God’s loving invanquishable power in our lives does not come from a soft and fluffy heavenly throne.  The Bible makes it clear that God’s throne is on a torturous cross, where the darkness has never been as dark, and the power of evil never seemed so strong.  And it was there that God jumped in feet first, brought evil to its knees, and then walked all over evil as if it was a bunch of dying cockroaches.  You see, the light shined in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it!

 

So, this year, as every year, we will gather around the cross of Jesus Christ and celebrate his presence in the year that has past, and his presence in the year to come.  “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 Bungee Cord 11-9-20

Hello,

 

   If you are a regular reader of the Bungee Cord, you know two things:  before our worship service I am out on the sidewalk waving at cars and people who pass by, and we have had a couple of yard signs pertaining to my waving.

 

   The first sign stood for a couple of months and it said, “Q: Y Wave?”  Over the course of its public presence, that sign stirred up a lot of intrigue in our little town of Ligonier.  People were asking some of our members what that sign was all about?  I even had some people stop while I was waving and say, “What’s with the sign?”

 

   When asked, I would always say that I am outside waving at people every Sunday morning and that soon a new sign would be in the yard with the answer to the question, “Y Wave?”

 

   That new sign came out on the last Sunday in October, which folks in my denomination celebrate as “Reformation Day.”  Reformation Day used to be a bit triumphalist for many, many years, but in the last several decades the tone of this day of celebration has changed to a day of thankfulness for the work of the Holy Spirit in all of God’s people.  Red, from the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit on the disciples’ heads that came upon them 50 days after the resurrection, has been the color that decorates worship spaces on days that the work of the Holy Spirit is being celebrated. So, two weeks ago, on Reformation Day, our sanctuary was adorned with red….but not only our sanctuary, but also the people who came to worship in it, all wearing red.

 

   And something else unusual happened on Reformation Day.  We started our worship service outside on the sidewalk.  All of us wearing red, and all of us waving!  Forty of us lined the street and waved  at people driving and passing by, and in the middle of our waving line was the new sign answering the question, “Y Wave?”.  And the new sign said, “A: Jesus (the shape of a heart) U!”

 

   That is why I wave every Sunday, and that is why we all were waving two Sundays ago.  We wave at everyone who drives by, because no matter how busy in life a person may be, no matter how unimportant God might be to someone, no matter how confused and shattered life might be, no matter how successful a person might be, no matter how strong a grip the forces of this world may have on a person, no matter how devout a person might be, no matter angry a person might be toward God….NO MATTER WHAT….that person is loved by Jesus.    That is why I wave every Sunday.  That is why we waved on Reformation Day.  “A: Jesus (shape of a heart) U!”.

 

   When I wave by myself, many folks either wave back or give a little honk on their horn.  But when forty of us were waving, nearly everyone waved back, honked their horns, or even slowed down to gather in all the waves.  One person even stopped, rolled down his window and said, “Thank You. Thank You.  This is just what we needed!”  And horn honking wasn’t the only noise that you could hear out in front of our church.  There was laughter!  Laughter coming from the mouths of those who were waving.  Joy in making a dent in our town during these somber days.  When we went inside to continue our worship, the sanctuary was abuzz with chatter and laughter, and I could hear people say, “That was fun!”

 

   So, although you may not have driven by our church a couple of weeks ago and you didn’t catch a forty hand wave, I hope that this Bungee Cord has brought that wave to you.  Because NO MATTER WHAT you matter to God, matter so much that God gave the life of his Son,  Jesus, for you.  Matter so much that NO MATTER WHAT Jesus will never regret one bit giving his life for you. “A: Jesus (shape of a heart) U!”

 

   “Q: Y Wave?”……. “A: Jesus (shape of a heart) U!”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 Bungee Cord  11-2-20

Hello,

 

There is a verse in scripture that not only do I cling to, but it also clings to me.  

 

Psalm 46:10

 ‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’ 

 

Interestingly enough, this verse comes toward the end of this rather short Psalm, a Psalm that speaks of the reality of the world.

 

though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 
³ though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

 

These sorts of things happen literally, and they also happen figuratively.  We all find ourselves confronting things in life that are far bigger than we are, and far more powerful, too.  As we step into this week in our nation, I feel like I am encountering one of these times.  A virus that seems to hunt with the deadliness of a jaguar.  A political environment that feels like a huge cumulonimbus cloud pouring down a hailstorm of anxiety.  Cities so divided by tension that earthquakes of hate are rumbling through them leaving great chasms.

 

Reading the Psalms helps us see that although these things are terrible and frightening, they are not new. From the beginning of creation, through the history of humankind things far bigger and far more powerful than people have been part of life.  And the other thing that reading the Psalms helps us see is that there is one whose power and greatness dwarfs the terrifying things around us.  God.

 

⁶ The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire. 

 

Now, as I read scripture and as I read my life, I have come to see that this does not mean that everything will go right for me as I live under the power and might of God.  After all, wars still happen.  Tragedy still strikes.  And chaos still swirls.  But what it does mean, as Martin Luther wrote in his hymn based on this Psalm, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”, that God will be on our side when strife and struggles come our way, “a sword and shield victorious”.  And even when these forces think they have won the day, SURPRISE, their victory was only short lived, “Though they take our spouse, goods honor child or spouse. Though life be wretched away. They cannot win the day.  The kingdom’s ours forever!”

 

That is why I find myself clinging to verse 10, “Be still and know that I am God,” when I am facing the overwhelming forces that swirl around me.  But maybe it would be more accurate to say that I am thankful that I find this verse clinging on to me at those times….or even all the time. 

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present help in trouble. 

 

It is not that I hear this verse telling me that I need do nothing when “mountains shake and waters roar”. There is a lot that I can do….take cover, help my neighbor, be wise and courageous…but in the end, what I can do also has an end.  And when that end comes, that is when I hear this verse being whispered in my ear, “Good effort!  I’ll take over here.”

 

So, in these turbulent times, I am thankful for that which I can do to make it through, both for myself and for my neighbor.  But I am even more thankful to rest in the power of God’s grace and mercy, a power that will indeed see me through.  “Be still and know that I am God….Good effort, I’ll  take over from here.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger