The Bungee Cord  4-27-21

Hello,

 

This week’s Bungee Cord is a day late, because I just got home from NYC having visited my new, first, wonderful, dashing, delightful….grandson!  He was born last Monday, and after giving my son and his wife to settle in a bit, Kate and I decided it was time for a visit.  And what a visit it was!

 

We walked into his room, and there he was sound asleep and content.  Peacefully breathing in and out, and occasionally making faces of all sorts as he slept. I had forgotten how small newborns are, but as he wrapped his tiny hand around my finger, he had the power to break open my heart.  Welcome to the world, Henry!

 

I know that many of you have had the wonder of this experience, seeing bone of you bone and flesh of your flesh carrying on into one more generation.  So, you’ll excuse me if I am a bit giddy about my grandson’s entry into the world.

 

When I picked him up for the first time, his head flopped a bit as I gathered him into my arms.    So fragile.  So frail.  So utterly dependent on those who love him.  Not a whimper or a cry as he was passed from arms to arms. Completely unaware of the world that he was facing, completely trusting those who embraced him.

 

As he grows, I know that things will change for Henry.  He will come to know the feeling of being alone and afraid.  He will come to understand that there are some people you can trust and some people who you can’t.  He will quickly learn the words, “NO!”, “Mine.”, and “Me do!”  And before he knows it, the world will have him convinced that you have to look out for number one the burdens that will be laid upon his shoulders can be quite heavy.

 

But hopefully, he won’t forget these first days of his life when trust came naturally, and the adventure of life was exciting as he felt the security of his parents’ and grandparents’ arms.

In the book of 1 John, the writer refers to his readers as “little children”… not “children”, but “little children”…little like the stature of Henry whose “trust is so childlike no cares could destroy” (words from the hymn “Lord of all hopefulness.”).  He calls them little children to bring to their memory those first few days of life….completely trusting, full of wonder….because, they are being held in the arms of one whose love for them is unmatched in the universe, and whose trustworthiness is sealed in a death on the cross.  “Little children.”

 

As I gush over my grandson, I hope that you hear God gushing over you and you will experience a “peace that surpasses all human understanding.”  There’s no better time than right now to hear the verse from 1 John that grounds my life, and brings grounding to yours, “See what love the Father has given us that we should be called Children of God; and that is what we are.) (1 John 3:1)

 

God’s grace and peace!

 

Have a great week

GGAP,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord.  4-19-21

Hello,

 

I am pretty bad when it comes to remembering names.  A bad deficit for a pastor to have.  I try to concentrate when someone gives me their name, but unfortunately my concentration doesn’t seem to be concerted enough for the name to get thumbtacked onto my brain.  The hardest names for me to remember are the names of kids from the same family for whom the parents have decided to have all of their kids names start with the same letter.  Charlie.  Chester.  Charlene.  Chip.

 

Yesterday, I preached on my focus verse (a verse that I believe best articulates my relationship with God), 1 John 3:1.  “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”   What is about this verse that brings everything into focus?  Well, it tells us that we have a God who so deeply loves us that he would use the power of his voice, the voice whose power began creation, to make us his children.  “You are my child.”  All God’s doing.  All God’s decision.  All God’s decree.  And who can change what God has done?  Who can steal away from God?  Who can override what God has decreed?  No one.  Nothing, and not even me.

 

And what in the universe could match being called by God, “My child.”?

 

“And that is what we are.”  That is what we are…not what we could be, might be, or should be…but it is what we are.  God has staked his claim on you and me, claiming us as his children, and that is what we are.

 

When we fall into a hole of our own making, that is what we are.  When we bring pain to God or others, that is what we are.  When we wander and roam, that is what we are.  When we encounter someone struggling in life, that is what we are.  When we get beaten and bruised by evil and woe, that is what we are.  When doubt is easy to find, and faith is hard to find, that is what we are.  And even when death draws the last breath from our lungs, that is what we are.  “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”

 

When yesterday’s service was over, I told the people to be seated, and I would come around and dismiss them for communion….trying to keep a good air flow and safe distance when receiving the sacrament.  As I made my way through the worshippers, I came upon a family that had visited once before, on Easter.  It was great to see them worshipping with us again.  They were a family of five who was in the process of buying a house in our area, and were also looking for a church to become their spiritual home.  Of course, they had given me their names on Easter, but did I remember them?  No.  So, I apologized for my lack of memory and I asked if they could remind me of their names.  I was determined to remember their names!  So, when the first boy, a third grader, gave me his name, I said to him, “Now, how am I going to remember your name?”  And he said, “Well, I am a child of God.”

 

An answer that I wasn’t expecting, even though I had just preached 10 minutes about that.  His mother said, “I guess that he was listening.”  Ah, that we all could listen as attentively as that third grade boy!

 

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is…and that is what we are.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord.  4-12-21

Hello,

 

At the end of this month, Kate and I will have lived in S.W. Pennsylvania for 10 years.  Now, for some of you that may not seem like a long time, but as a pastor I have moved quite a few times.  Eight times in 40 years.  Over the course of our lives together, this is the longest time that we have ever stayed in one place.

 

I know that some of you have moved more than we have, and I do not envy you.  I dread the anxiety of trying to get a house sold in three weeks (that is the timeline for us pastors).  I hate the hassle of packing everything up, and then unpacking it.  It is hard to leave friends behind.  Getting licenses changed, addresses changed, and utilities transferred is no fun and more complicated than it seems to need be.

 

I try to remind myself that each move is a new and life widening adventure.  New friends to be found.  New cultures to add into our lives.  New neighborhoods to explore.  New weather to acclimate to.   New colloquialisms to learn.  There’s always some fun surprises with each move.

 

But enough with moving!  At this stage in my life, I am ready to set my roots down.  And that is my hope for where I live now….to have a place that I can call home.  And even though my kids have never lived here, I hope that it can be the homing place that they have never had.

 

Well, actually, I know that I will be making at least one more move, a move unlike any move I have made before.  A move to a neighborhood that I cannot even imagine.  A move that will mandate leaving every relationship behind…family and friends.  A move that will be my home for far more than 10 years….an eternity.

 

Just like with every move, this move that lies ahead for me comes as a mixed bag.  It is a move where the saying, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, fits like a glove.  It is such a dramatic move that it is scary.  But it is a move that I will have no choice in making.  In truth, to think about it can set my stomach swirling.  What will eternity be like?  What will life be like?  What will it be like to have no measure of time or space?

 

But as my stomach swirls, I find myself hearing words from the one to whose neighborhood I am moving, “‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe^* in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^*3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. “ (John 14). It may be true that I know very little about the place to which I am moving, but I do know an awful lot about the one who will be my nearest neighbor.  I know that he loves me so much that he died for me.  I know that he cares for me so much that he has led me to still waters in this life.  I know that he is so connected to me that if I find myself in trouble, he will drop everything to stand and defend me from bullies and beasts.

 

I have one more move to make, and so do you, and in this season of Easter, I find myself saying that having seen the depth of Jesus’ love for me in this life, I can trust him as he awaits me to arrive in the life to come.  Although I might think it would be helpful to know more about what awaits me, what awaits me is not nearly as important as who awaits me.  Jesus awaits me, and to know that is enough for me….and that settles my stomach.  I hope that it settles your stomach, too.

 

Have a great day.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 

 

 The Bungee Cord 4-5-21

Hello,

 

Christ has risen!  Alleluia!

He has risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

For centuries, these phrases have been how Christians have greeted each other on Easter.  The Bible tells us that these phrases were the news that the first witnesses to the resurrection said to one another.  Early in the morning, some of the women who had followed Jesus went to the tomb to perform some funeral rites.  They had not been able to do so when Jesus died, because of Sabbath rules.

 

When they arrived, they came upon a scene that they were not expecting.  The huge stone that had been rolled across the door to the tomb had been rolled back, and when they looked inside the tomb, Jesus’ body was not there.  Instead, they caught sight of a person/angel or two who told that that Jesus had risen.  The Bible tells us that they ran from the tomb and told the rest of the disciples, “Jesus has risen!”

 

The disciples were not about to believe the women’s words….who would have believed such an outlandish tale.  So, they ran to the tomb, looked in, and they discovered that what the women had told them was true, and although the Bible doesn’t tell us what they said, I am sure that when they took their eyes off of the empty tomb and looked into the eyes of the women, they must have said, “He is risen indeed!”

 

I suspect that all of you have heard the first half of this Easter greeting.   Maybe it wasn’t said to you, but you know that Christians across the globe are singing and shouting about Jesus’ resurrection in their churches on Easter Sunday.  “Christ is risen!”

 

The question that I wonder is this: what do you find yourself saying in response?  I know that there are some who hear this Easter news and respond with an, “Oh come on now.  You’re not foolish enough to believe that.”  Some others might say, “Show me the proof.”  And still others might say, “If that’s what you believe, fine.  But I just don’t see it.”

 

As a Christian who does believe the revelation of a God whose love is so great that he would, as the singer Michael Card said, “die to make you mine.”  And that this God would tread over death underfoot so that as the Bible says, “where I am, you may be also.”  As such a Christian, I do not consider it my job to make people believe this Easter message.  I don’t have to scare people into believing it by hanging them over the fires of hell.  I don’t have to twist their arm with rewards for believing it.  I don’t have to argue until I am blue in the face with people to believe it.  My job is simply this: to proclaim it.

 

My job is to tell the story that has been passed down to me.  My job is to live out the story in my outlook on life, the way I treat other people, and the way I take steps into the future.  My job is to shine the light of this story to the world, and not hide it under a bushel basket.  My job is to be like a reckless farmer and toss the story with abandon into the world and have it land on whatever soil it finds.  My job is to story-motivated walk with people who have been beaten down, and not beat them over the head with it.  I am not a salesman.  I am a “talesman”.

 

I am convinced that the truth bears itself out.  If it true….the truth of it will be seen.  If it is not true…..the un-truth of it will also be seen.  God has worked through others who have spoken and lived out this story in my presence.  These are people who have said, “Christ is risen!” in the unconditional compassion that they have shown me, the inconceivable forgiveness they have given me, and the unshakable hope with which they have embraced me.  And upon thus hearing the news of the empty Easter tomb, I have gone to the tomb, looked inside, and have discovered it empty.  Jesus is not there.

 

And with unbridled joy, I look into those peoples’ eyes and say, “He is risen indeed!”

 

I hope that there might be some inkling in your heart as God works through me in these Bungee Cords to take a look in the Easter tomb, and take a look at the power of God’s love that has been unleashed in the world, and then take a look back at me and say, “Christ is risen indeed!”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,  (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger