The Bungee Cord. 1-25-21

Hello,

 

“If God is for us, who is against us?”, so say’s the Apostle Paul in the 8^th chapter of the book of Romans.

 

When I hear this verse, I see myself cornered in a dark alley having been chased by a gang of bullies salivating over me with violence ready to pummel me and leave me maimed and maybe even dead.  And then all at once from behind a locked door in the wall steps Jesus, the Son of God, and he says, “This one is my friend, and you’re going to have to get through me to get to him.”

 

And suddenly their bravado starts to melt.  The huge thug who embodies my sins lowers his arm that had been raised with a metal pipe, and it becomes no more than a cane to help him stand.  The ugly witch-like menace suddenly closes her mouth and the screeching voice pounding my failures into my ears with, “What a looser you are!”, suddenly goes silent.  The slick dressed mafia boss guy who has brought his henchmen to keep the world’s pressure up on me to do his soul sapping business, timidly reaches into his pocket and starts passing jelly beans around.  And that shadowy figure whose face is covered in a ski mask – a ski mask woven with dark threads of Covid19, cancer, heart disease, tragedy, and the like – pulls its mask off to reveal the face of a sunken cheeked person on their death bed.

 

When Jesus says, “This one is my friend, and you’re going to have to get through me to get to him,” all the wild-eyed bullies of the world are suddenly revealed for who they really are compared to Jesus…. helpless wimps.  And why do they all shrink in his presence?  Because he has already beaten them…. beaten them to death, when he took them on as he hung on the cross.  When Jesus said, “It is finished!”, so were they.  Done was their brutal power in this world.  Done was their menacing laughter and snickering.  Done was their reign of terror in people’s lives.  They had met their match in Jesus on the cross, and they were finished.

 

But Jesus wasn’t finished.  By the power of God Almighty, Jesus rose from the dead and left all of those deadly gangsters dead in the grave.  Jesus walked out of that tomb.  They did not.  Jesus walked out of that tomb to lead a victory parade of life – life freed from these bullies – even the bully of death.  Of course, the bullies try and hide under rocks and come slithering out to attack us, but when they do attack, they find that “Jesus is with us always, even to the close of the age.”, and soon they find themselves one by one joining their cross-killed comrades in the Good Friday tomb.

 

When I hear this verse, “If God is for us, who is against us?”, I see that whole gang of bullies turn tail and try and run away as if they were scared dogs.  I see that whole gang of bullies try and scatter like a bunch of cockroaches when the exterminator comes and turns the light on.  I see that whole gang of bullies head for cover like a bunch of mice when the cat darts into the room.

 

“If God is for us (and God is!), who is against us?

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 1-18-21

Hello,

 

As many of you know, I am a Lutheran pastor, specifically a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Why am I a Lutheran pastor?  Well, I suspect the sociological reason is that I grew up in a Lutheran church, but the essential reason is that within the Lutheran community of faith, I experienced a sense of care and belonging that grounded my pre-seminary years.

 

I found out when I went to seminary that my theology wasn’t all together Lutheran, and my years in seminary were years of wrestling with new concepts that were out of tune with my understanding of faith.  But over the course of my four years in Seminary, I found myself with new footings deeply grounded in the bedrock of the Grace of God.  Although not claiming to be a person even close to the stature of Martin Luther, somewhere in my seminary experience, I was given an epiphany that God loves me….period.  That is what Jesus is all about.  My relationship with God is not based upon some goal of love-ability that I need to attain and continue in, but entirely upon a God who will let nothing stop him from loving me….not my sins, not my rebellion, not my theology, and not even death.  And that changed my life…and still is changing my life.  When I hear Scripture say of God, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;  we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand,” I am eternally thankful to be in the hands of a grace-handed potter.

 

Some wonder, especially non-Christians, why Christians can’t just be “Christian”?  Why are some Lutheran, some Catholic, some Presbyterian, some Baptist…on and on?  My answer is this: because God is big enough to gather in all kinds of people.  Ever since the beginning when Jesus gathered his first disciples, they were not all the same kind of people.  Yet Jesus took them as they were, and grew faith and trust in each of them that changed their lives.  As we read the book of Matthew, we see that Matthew was very concerned about Christians keeping their continuity with the Jewish traditions.  The book of John is far less concerned about continuity with Jewish traditions, and far more concerned with living in a community of faith that is shaped by Jesus’ love.  And Paul, although not one of the first twelve disciples, focuses on what the new life in Christ is all about.

 

So, when I look at the Christian Church and the multiplicity of groups of people bearing different names, I do so with thanks.  Thanks, because it is a clear witness to the world that when Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross to gather in all of God’s people, he gathered in all sorts of people.  As a Lutheran Christian, I find my time best spend in coming to know how Jesus holds onto me, and am thankful when other groups do the same for those who gather under a different name.  (Just a note here, even “non-denominational” churches find themselves gathering folks who sport the same feathers….they just don’t name themselves robins, sparrows, or hummingbirds.)

 

For me, I see the wonderful diversity of the Christian faith to resemble an orchestra.  An orchestra is a group of people playing a great diversity of instruments, guided by the conductor to make beautiful music.  The music that is made is best when each instrumentalist plays their instrument with excellence, and when they listen to each other.  And what more beautiful music could there be than Good News of Jesus Christ!  As a Lutheran pastor, I hope to play and teach those in my orchestral section to play with ever greater precision and care so that we carry our part in this orchestra well.  And I delight in seeing other orchestral sections doing the same.

 

This is certainly true: our world needs to hear this beautiful music.  During these days when the world’s music is dissonant and out of tune, broken up and divided we can play a song that opens people’s ears to the melodies of hope, peace, love, and joy.  We can bring a witness to the world that differences don’t need to divide us, but can be brought together to make beautiful music.  So, in these harsh and hate-filled days, Jesus, the conductor is raising his baton and with passion on his face, and he is counting out a rhythm that will make a heavenly sound and drown out the clashing of the world.

 

“Instruments up. Orchestra, play!”

 

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 1-11-21

Hello,

 

How do we know when we are doing God’s will?

 

I ask that because as I watched the on-goings at our nation’s capital, I saw several signs declaring that the folks involved were participating in the will of God.  I saw a cross attached to a flagpole that was carrying a couple of flags, and I saw a flag that said, “JESUS”, on it.  Having seen these things, I am sure that there were some, if not many, who believed that they were involved in God’s will.  (I might say that I didn’t see any of these things carried by those who broke their way into the building.)

 

As a matter of fact, I would venture to guess that at virtually every demonstration hosting thousands of people, the same sights would be seen.  I have seen them myself.

 

How do we know when we are doing God’s will?

 

Those of us who regularly pray the Lord’s Prayer ask that God’s will would be done among us, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

I am sure that theologians far wiser than I can answer this question with far more wisdom, so, I would rather answer a corollary question:  How do we know when we are not doing God’s will?  My answer: When we are unaware that we might not be doing God’s will.

 

God has placed the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, in human hands.  And in one of Jesus’ parables, we find out that God expects us to do something with His Gospel, and not just safely bury it in the sand or in our hearts. (Matthew 25:9ff). With that expectation in mind, it seems only right that we take the Gospel boldly into the world, infecting the world with the love and mercy of God.  Like a good virus run amuck, we might bring hope to the hopeless, peace to the embattled, joy to the despairing, faith to the despairing, and love to the unloved.

 

But as we do this, we need to remember that God has placed the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, in human hands…..that is, sinful hands.  Nothing that we do or think is free from our entanglement in sin.  Only Jesus has completely emptied himself for others, all the rest of us hold on to at least some self-centeredness. Me.  That is the crux of sin.  

 

That is not to say that God is against “me”, after all there is absolute truth in the song, “Jesus loves me.”  But when “me” gets in the way of God’s love…..love for me, and love for others…that is where sin comes in.  When “me” gets in the way, and it always does to some extent, we don’t listen to others, absolutely convinced of our rightness.  Also, we do things that cannot be undone, leave scars that never heal, and tread heavily no matter how thin the ice.   We allow anger to guide our actions, and words.  We don’t care about others.  We have seen how big of problems “me” can cause.

 

It doesn’t take too much digging into history to find times when “me” invaded the will of God on earth, including the work of the church.  Even at its best, because the church is a bunch of sinners in need of forgiveness and not a bunch of perfect angels, those who bear the name of Christ, Christians, will always fall somewhat short of God’s will.  Yet, when we are led by Jesus’ words, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another,” it seems to me that we are moving in the right direction.  It is a direction away from “me” and toward “another”.  After all, that is the direction that Jesus took in coming to this world, away from himself and toward us.

 

And when we do this, loving one another as Christ has loved us, we find ourselves feeling the pain of others, experiencing the fear that chills their bones, coming to know their loss and confusion, and hearing the roaring lions that prowl their lives.  It is when we gather these things into our decisions on how to engage the world with the Gospel, with the mercy of Jesus Christ, that I believe we are most closely walking on a path of God’s will.  

 

In my mind, it is a supremely arrogant thing to act in such a way that excludes the possibility that we may be more led by “me” than by the will of God.  That doesn’t mean that we should be catatonically cautious in our convictions of faith.  We can be bold, as a matter of fact, we need to be bold because God has placed the lifegiving Gospel in our hands….hands that are likewise dirtied with sin.

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord.  12-4-21

Hello,

 

     You may have read your share of “good byes” to 2020 and “hellos” to 2021, but just in case you haven’t reached your fill, here’s one from me.

 

     If there is one thing that was made crystal clear this past year is that we, everyone in the world, are in fact all in the same boat.  No one, anywhere has not had their lives effected by the attack of this virus.  Some have died.  Some have become sick, even very sick.  Some have lost jobs, and everyone has had their daily lives adjusting to new restrictions.  When it comes to the Covid19 virus, we are all in the same boat.

 

     Often, we live otherwise, living as if we sail through life in our own boats.  Sometimes those boats are as big as countries, as big as faiths, as big as workplaces, as big as economic status, and as big as race.   Sometimes those boats are very small, one person boats.  My house.  My money. My opinion.  Myself.   

 

     Whether big or small, when we live our lives as if we sail in our own boats some painful things happen.  We collide and people raise their fists and voices at one another.  We find ourselves getting caught up in boat superiority or inferiority.  We get jealous and engage in “keeping up with the Jones’”, We stake out our claim on certain waters, and forbid trespassing.  We tend to float with boats of a feather, and are completely unaware of the struggles other boaters are facing.  And we narrow our perspective in life to just keeping our boat afloat.

 

     So, when someone’s boat is going down, we might say, “Too bad they don’t know how to sail.”  Or, “I’m glad they’re gone.  I didn’t like them anyway.”  Or, “That’s what they get for being lazy.”  Or, “I told them, and they wouldn’t listen.”  Or, “What boat? I don’t see any boat going down.”

 

     But when we live our lives as if we are all in the same boat, we realize when my neighbor is sinking so am I.  I realize that even the person furthest from me has a part in me reaching my journey’s end.  I can’t use the terms “us” and “them”, it’s “we”.  I have to get used to not everything being done my way, and yet remember that my way can be very helpful.  Leaving people behind is not a possibility.

 

     It is not easy to sail along all in the same boat, but this year we have seen that at the deepest level of our existence, the truth is that we are all in the same boat.  Of course, God has seen and known that for a long, long time, and that is what the Christian faith is all about.  “For God so loved the world…the world…the boat…that he sent his Son.”  And here’s even the more amazing thing about God that we discover in Jesus Christ, he so loves the world – that is the world of people sailing in this boat of life – that God jumps on board with us.  Even God does not sail in a different boat than we do.  God so loved the world that even God will sink if we sink…even God has a place in my journey….even God is not part of “us” and “them”….even God’s will gets entangled with our will…and even God knows that there is no way to leave anyone behind.

     As we sail into the year ahead, we have been given eyes to see the truth…..that we are all in the same boat, the same boat God is in!

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)]

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger