Hello,

This week's Bungee Cord is an audio/visual posting.  Here's the address:https://www.facebook.com/jerry.nuernberger.3

Have a great week.

God's grace and peace (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord   3-22-21

Hello,

  

Those of you who know me, know this about me; I am a bit of a zealous University of Illinois fan…well, “a bit” may be a bit of an understatement.  I went to the University of Illinois for my freshman and sophomore year of college, and then transferred to Valparaiso my junior year to provide classes I needed to go to seminary.  Although I left the U of I, my heart never did.  The best friends of my life are the people that I shared those two years with.  We joked around and shot the s#@% till late in the night.  We played basketball at IMPE for hours at a time.  We suffered through classes together.  We went to church together.  We cared about each other.

 

We also went to every football and basketball game together.  Although we were terrible at the time (in both sports), it was great fun to be in the stands cheering, complaining, and occasionally rejoicing together.  So wonderful were those times, that when I watch Illinois games on TV in my home, I almost feel like I am back in the stands with my friends.

 

This year’s NCAA basketball tournament had all the trappings of a time to rejoice.  The Illini were stacked with great players.  They had amassed the most wins in the Big 10.  They won the Big Ten tournament, and they were even one of the number 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament.

Could it be that this might be the year for we long suffering Illinois fans to lift our heads and sing?!?!

 

Yesterday, I made sure that I was ready for the game.  I put on my orange and blue Illinois socks.  I wore my orange and blue striped shirt.  I had my orange and blue Illinois sweatshirt on.  I donned one of my numerous Illinois baseball caps.  I was ready for the tip-off at 12:10.  We started slowly and almost timidly.  I got worried.  The other team seemed to be scoring with ease.  We struggled.  We turned the ball over time after time as if it was a pancake.  I got more worried.

 

We mounted a couple of surges, but none that seemed to last.  Just enough, though, to keep my hopes intact.  I could feel myself getting anxious and worried.  But as the clocked ticked passed 5 minutes left, I began to have bad feelings.  My nerves rose.  My shouts at missed free throws and missed layups got louder.  And then it became all too clear with a minute to go, that we were going to lose….and lose pretty badly, at that.  Anxiety transformed into huge disappointment.  We lost.

 

Truth to be told, I wasn’t surprised.  I’ve been an Illinois fan too long to think we were going to go through that tournament and mow everybody down.    And I have to say that when I watch Illini games in which we are winning, I find myself more anxious about the possibility of losing than excited about the fact that we are winning.

 

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a fan of a college team that mows everybody down…you know, like Ohio State seems to always do in football.  I envision myself sitting in the stands confidently harassing the other team’s fans.  I see myself laughing at the other team as it runs onto the field, lost in their delusion that they might win.  I imagine myself saying “ho hum” to the scores the other team might make, knowing it would not even come close to our score.  I can hear myself cheering with unbridled enthusiasm from the beginning of the game to the very end.  I wonder what it would be like to root for a team that unlike Illinois, always wins.

 

Actually, I don’t have to wonder, because I am on one.  Jesus’ team.  Amazingly enough, Jesus, the Son of God, picked me to be on his team, and he signed me up with an eternal contract.  A no trade clause (that he put in), and an everlasting housing agreement.  And the most wonderful thing about being on Jesus’ team is this; we have already won the victory.  When Jesus died on the cross, he brought all the foes of life down to the grace, and when he rose from the dead, only he rose back up again.  Everything else was left dead, and with his first steps out of that tomb, he leaped up high with a final, game winning slam dunk.  Jesus has already won, and so have we.

 

So, maybe I can confidently harass the other team’s fans and all the evil they might spew at me.  Maybe I can laugh at the other team that runs into my life with the delusion they might win.  Maybe I can say “ho hum” to the few scores the other team celebrates.  Maybe I can cheer with unbridled enthusiasm from the beginning of my life to the very end.  Maybe I can.

 

No.  I can!

 

Have a great week

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord.  3-15-21

Hello,

 

NOMATTERWHAT!

 

That is the way with God and God’s love for us.  NOMATTERWHAT!

 

NOMATTER that from the very beginning of creation, humans rebelled against God, tempted and fell to a desire to be like God.

 

NOMATTER that humans messed things up so badly that God so grieved of what had become of the world that God wiped the board nearly clean with a flood.

 

NOMATTER that Abraham and Sarah could not believe the promise of bearing a child at their old age, and the generations that followed that amazing birth were littered with faithless acts by Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

 

NOMATTER that when Moses led the people through the wilderness to the promise land, the people constantly complained and even set up idols to worship.

 

NOMATTER that when God sent prophets and kings to lead and guide God’s people, the people didn’t listen and followed their own ways to their peril.

 

NOMATTERWHAT!  God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

 

NOMATTERWHAT!  Jesus walked into Jerusalem, knowing that he would face suffering at the hands of those who hated him…. whipped, beaten, spat up, ridiculed, crowned with thorns…. knowing that he would experience the abandonment of all of those who loved him…. knowing that nails and spear would pierce him….and that he would die.

 

NOMATTERWHAT!  Into a lifeless tomb, God breathed life again and trampled death to death as Jesus walked out of the tomb.

 

NOMATTERWHAT!  That is the way it is with God and God’s love for us.

 

So…..

 

NOMATTER what you have done in your life, good or bad

NOMATTER what others think of you

NOMATTER the number of your successes of failure, be they great or small

NOMATTER the amount of faith or disbelief that you hold

NOMATTER how often you pray or how often you go to church

NOMATTER how much or little you give in your offering

NOMATTER how angry you may be with God

NOMATTER how often you have turned your back on God

NOMATTER how many other gods you have clung onto

 

NOMATTERWHAT God loves you with the love of God’s Son, Jesus.

 

That is why on this Easter, this Church is going worship God.  NOMATTERWHAT!  

NOMATTERWHAT…. we’re going to be worshipping outside.

NOMATTERWHAT the weather might be.

NOMATTERWHAT the temperature might be

NOMATTERWHAT the world thinks of us, crazy or foolish

NOMATTERWHAT our inside space might limit us; we’re going outside limitless

 

NOMATTERWHAT we are going to be outside celebrating the unstoppable and unrelenting love of God for us at 10:00 on Easter Sunday morning.  If you’re in the area, come and join us!  If you’re far away find a church at which you can safely worship.

 

On Easter Sunday morning, we are going to be worshipping God NOMATTERWHAT…. because on Easter Sunday morning we discover that we have a God who loves us NOMATTERWHAT!!!

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace (ggap),

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 3-8-21

Hello,

 

There’s a fox around!

 

A couple of days ago as my wife was walking around our property, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.  With a quick turn of her head, she spotted the sleek, reddish-brown, furry tailed critter.  A fox!

 

In truth, they are rather beautiful animals, but they are not the animal you want to see roaming nearby if you have chickens.  Foxes love chickens…. love to kill them, that is.  We have had our run in with foxes.  Sometimes they have managed to strike one chicken, leaving a flurry of feathers on the ground, and carrying the chicken off to the den of awaiting pups.  Once, however, the fox got to all of our chickens (6) in one killing spree.  Most of the day, the chickens are in a fenced in area that has an electric fence, which the fox avoids.  But in the evening, my wife lets them roam around our yard (our dog, a bird dog, is, of course inside…. much to his dismay).  Their roaming makes them prime targets for any fox….and there is a fox around!

 

Interestingly enough, we find out from Scripture that Jesus, unlike chickens, is not afraid of foxes.  Some people came up to him one day, and told him that he needed to leave because King Herod was out to kill him.  To which Jesus said, ‘Go and tell that fox for me,^* “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. ³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.”

 

Jesus was not afraid of foxes!  As a matter of fact, when he went in to Jerusalem, he knew he was walking right into the fox’s den.  The reason that Jesus didn’t fear foxes is because he was driven by the reckless compassion of God for God’s people.  No fox was going to keep Jesus from saving God’s people, Jesus loved them too much.  Consider what a mother would do if she knew her child was in a burning home?  That is the kind of love that drew Jesus right into the fox’s den.

 

Remember that when you find yourself hunted by a fox …. the pressures of your world, the things that stain and stink up your life, the failures that deflate your soul, the illness that is drooling with hunger …. Remember, that because Jesus loves you more than you can ever imagine, Jesus is not afraid of those foxes.  And those foxes better look out, because Jesus will march with you right into those foxes’ dens!

 

Herod, that fox, caught Jesus, and he thought that he had gotten rid of Jesus when Jesus hung on a cross. But Herod was wrong!  There is another reason that Jesus isn’t afraid of foxes: foxes are no match to Jesus.  Herod pulled out all of the stops.  He crucified Jesus and sealed Jesus in a tomb.  But Jesus, with the power of God almighty, sat up after three days in that tomb, and he walked out of that tomb like a football player busting through a paper banner.  Foxes may be sly and determined, but they are no match to the power and determination of Jesus.

 

So, when a fox is around, listen to Jesus say to you, “Go tell that fox that he’s in trouble, because I, Jesus am here with you, and I am not afraid of a fox!”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord  2-1-21

Hello,

 

The thing that I think I miss the most in these mask wearing days is the smiles.  I miss the smile that awakens on a person’s face when I say, “Good morning,” to them.  I miss the smile that greets me from the cashier at the grocery store.  I miss the smile of engagement while I am talking to someone.  I miss the smile that comes with a good-bye wave, “See you soon.”  I miss the smiles.

 

They are there, at least I think they are, but I can’t see them.  To know, or guess, that they are there does not generate the same level of joy in my spirit as does seeing them.  If you are like me, a smile can the spark from a spark plug to get my weary engine going.  A smile can be the dabble of glue that secures a relationship.  A smile can be the thing that slices through a dark future, knowing that someone is there and truly cares.  To see a smile does powerful things , but  to guess that a smile exists, because of a mask,  is just not as powerful.

 

We Lutheran Christians say that God is one who we encounter wearing masks.  Even though they are certainly true attributes of God, all of the “omni’s” are actually masks that keep us from seeing God.  Omnipotent.  Omnipresent.  Omniscient.  They function as masks because they are things that our human minds cannot perceive.  Think how often you have heard, “If God is all-powerful (omnipotent), why did this tragedy happen?  Or from a young student trying to stump the pastor, “If God can do everything, can God make a rock too heavy for God to lift?”  Or, ”If God really knows everything about me, how could he love me?”  In a real way, these attributes of God hide God from us, like masks, making us hope and guess that there is a smile on God’s face behind them.

 

But just like we, who can hardly wait to get our masks off so that we might breathe easier and experience the depth of our connections to one another, God also takes God’s mask off.  When God sent Jesus into the world, God ripped off his “omni” masks so that we might see what lies behind all those masks.  And what do we discover?  A smile!  Jesus is God’s smile to us!  Jesus is the smile of God’s power that grins with God’s joy in loving us.  Jesus is the smile of God’s presence that is with us in every moment of life, good and bad.  Jesus is the smile of God’s shepherding care, leading us in every step of life, and even leading us out of the grave.

 

It isn’t that God started smiling upon us when Jesus came.  No, it is in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that we see the smile that has always been there.  In Jesus, God took off God’s mask so that we need guess and wonder if God smiles when God looks upon us.  We know….we know…that God is smiling.  And in knowing that, there is a powerful effect that comes with that knowledge.  A spark to ignite our day.  A drop of super-glue to give us hope.  A high-powered fan to clear up a cloudy future.

 

The time will come when we can all discard our Covid masks and be empowered with our mutual smiles. But take a look at God, that time has already come with him , and that is what Jesus is all about!  Thanks be to God!

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger