Jerry Nuernberger

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The Bungee Cord 7-26-21

Hello,

Some years ago, I spent 4 weeks in Cameroon, Africa traveling from village to village to share friendship with the people of the Lutheran churches in those towns. It was an amazing experience! I learned a lot!

I learned about humility and kindness. We travelled in an SUV; I think it was a Ford Bronco. Ten of us crammed into it. Three in the front seat. Three in the back seat and four in the cargo area, seated on benches, facing each other. The driver was a “professional”, which meant he knew the roads to all the villages, and had the skill to traverse the washouts and failed bridges along the way. There were four of us pastors from South Dakota, a couple of pastors from Cameroon, and the Bishop of the Cameroon Lutheran Church. When we loaded up for the first time, the Bishop instructed us that two of us would sit in the front seat, two in the middle and he and the others would fill in the rest. I was amazed when I saw the Bishop getting in the cargo area and take his seat on one of the benches. We, Americans, said, “Bishop, shouldn’t you be up front?” He said, “Oh no, if anyone saw me up front when we have visitors with us, I would be disgraced by everyone. No, No. I’ll just ride here in the back.”

I learned about enthusiasm for Jesus. Every town that we went to, we would meet with the people at the church building. Almost all of them were made out of hand formed clay bricks, and built by the people of the town. The windows had no glass in them, and people filled each one of them, peering inside. In one town the worship was being led by teen-age folks. I don’t remember what they used for instruments (there was no electricity there), but I do remember the drum set. It was set up as a trap set, but the drums were not what you and I would call drums. They were made of pots of various sizes, and the cymbals were pot lids. And playing them with the skill of an onstage performer was a boy with sticks in both hands. Amazing!

On the day that we were to arrive at a village, the village would send a welcoming delegation to the edge of the town early in the morning, and they would wait there until we came. Often not until midafternoon, and when we came, they summoned all the people of the village to come and welcome us. They lined the streets. They sang songs as we entered. And as they led the way, a couple of women in one town, sprinkled flowers along our path. They fed us food that they rarely ate, and they gave us their homes to stay in. At night, they would dance around a campfire, well into the morning, singing songs of faith.

I wish that I would have had my camera on me, once when we were travelling to another town out in the bush, for as we drove along and kicked up the dust, we came upon two people walking by the side of the road. One was a boy; I would guess that he was in his teens. He was attired in what we had become familiar in seeing….a well- worn, loose fitting tank top, shorts that we in like condition, and flip-flops. Behind him was an old man. Hunched over, eyes covered over in thick cataracts, his cheeks caved in, and wearing well- worn traditional robes. And between the two of them as they walked along was a 6-foot stick. The boy held it in his hand behind him, and the man held it in his hand in front of him. They walked slowly.

And when I saw it, the verse from Isaiah popped into my head, “and a young child shall lead them.” In that moment I saw God’s promise coming to life, the promise that even in this harsh and cruel world, God is at work to bring about hope and peace. God will not abandon us when we are weary and worn out, when our eyes have seen too much pain and sorrow, when the weight of the world has us hunched over….God will be with us, with us in a young child that was born in Bethlehem, travelled the washout roads of life, took his place on a cross, and rose victoriously to lead us on. It’s God’s promise that, in Jesus, he will lead us through this life, and I saw that promise living in front of me that day in the Cameroon bush.

The picture that you see was painted by my son this past summer, and it hangs in my family room, a picture full of the promise of God for you and for me. “And a young child shall lead them.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord .7-19-21

Hello,

I’ve been to quite a few baseball games, but a couple of weeks ago as I was watching the Pirates on TV, they showed something that I have never seen before at a baseball game. Out in the outfield, before the game started, there was a coach playing catch with a young boy who was in the stands. My guess was that the boy was an elementary age youngster. His glove was bigger than his forearm. His Pirate hat had plenty of room for him to grow into as it covered both of his ears. Standing in the legroom in the first row of seats, there he was playing catch with this coach. Back and forth they tossed the ball. Every throw perfectly thrown from both of them, and every throw caught, too.

There were a couple of kids standing on either of his sides, but they did not have gloves, so they stood there watching, witnessing all that was going on. As I watched this game of catch go on, I wondered just what this young boy was feeling inside and what he was going to tell all of his friends the next day when he got home.

“Hey guys! Yesterday at the Pirate game, I played catch with one of the coaches! It was sooooo cool! Here’s the ball to prove it. I can’t wait to get back to another Pirate game!”

Now, I don’t know exactly what that young boy thought, but I do know that if that was me, that is what I would have had going through my head. The thrill to hold a major league baseball in my hand. The thrill of playing catch with one of the coaches. The thrill of making good throws and catches….maybe the coach would write my name down for the future….dreaming of the day that I might be down on that field with a Pirate uniform on! (By the way, I played for the Foster Toy Pirates in my Little League years.). It would have made my whole summer vacation amazing if I, at a young age , would have played catch with a real Pirate! I know that I would hardly been able to wait to tell all my friends about it.

Even though I have lived decades from my Little League years, I would still be thrilled to play catch with a Pirate, but yesterday something happened to me that is far more thrilling. Yesterday when I was at church, Jesus invited me to dine with him…..to join him in a meal that he first gave 2000 years ago to 12 people with whom he walked in life. And yesterday, Jesus invited me….yes, little, insignificant me….to share in a meal where the barrier between divine and mortal is shorn. Christians of different traditions understand the meal to which Jesus invites them in differing ways. The tradition that I am part of reads the Bible and hears Jesus offering a personal invitation, an invitation to a meal where he is personally there, body and blood in with and under the bread and wine. We call the meal Holy Communion, and the communion that we experience with Jesus is a personal and physical one. It is a meal where Jesus gives himself to us, physically unites himself with us, takes hold of us…not from the outside where the world can try and pull us away from him, but from the inside where the world cannot reach.

So, yesterday, Jesus…the Son of God, the King of King and Lord of Lords, the Redeemer of the world….did more than just play catch with me, he caught me in his eternally merciful embrace. Even though my aim in life can be pretty wild and off the mark, and even though I often drop the ball of forgiveness and mercy that he has tossed to me, Jesus invited me…yes me…to join him in a meal that will change my life. Now and forever. When I think about it, it really is incredible that Jesus would invite me to his table – far more incredible than having a Pirate coach play catch with me before a game. And far more thrilling!

I am writing to you about what happened to me yesterday because I can’t hold it in and keep it to myself. Jesus invited me to his meal. Jesus gave himself to me and took ahold of my heart. I heard Jesus words said to me that were said to the first disciples, “This is my body given for you…This is my blood shed for you. Jesus….yes, Jesus….did more than just play catch with me…Jesus communed with me. I can’t wait to find myself at his table again.

Oh…and I heard Jesus invite you, too!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 

The Bungee Cord 7-12-21

Hello,

Yesterday as I was leaving worship, I drove through “downtown” Ligonier, as I always do. Usually “downtown” Ligonier is a sleepy place on Sunday mornings, but not yesterday. I don’t know what the occasion was, but “downtown” was crowded, not with people, but with Golden Retrievers (and their owners, of course). For one whole block, both sides of the street were filled with Golden Retrievers, all of them peacefully congregating. Properly sitting, some laying down. No barking. No tugging and pulling on leashes. Calmly attending whatever occasion brought them all together.

To me, it was an amazing sight. Amazed I was at the gracious beauty of each of the dogs, but that was not the apex of my amazement. I was mostly amazed at the calm and order of all the dogs, for I know if there had been such a gathering of the breed of dog that I have, it would have been canine chaos!

I have a Gordon Setter. This is my second Gordon Setter. My first we had to put down a year and a half ago. He was a great companion for 13 years, as is my current dog, McMahon, who is 4 ½ years old. I am not a hunter, and that is what comes naturally to this breed. Some have called Gordon Setters the Cadillac of hunting dogs. I just like the way they look. Stately, flowing hair, floppy ears, black and brown coats. Years ago, when I got my first Gordon Setter, Duncan, I researched the breed a bit to find out what I might be getting, and the first sight that I went to had an interesting opening sentence that I remember to this day, “This breed is not a Golden Retriever.”

Now some 15 years later, I wholeheartedly agree! My Gordon Setters did not, like Golden Retrievers, live to please me. Lively, full of energy….some say perpetual puppies. Their hunting nose and instincts are the driving forces of their lives. They love to run, and they never seem to tire in wanting to be entertained….”here’s my ball…let’s play!” Inquisitive about every dog that they see. “Heel” is not a natural practice for them. Like I said, if there was a gathering of Gordon Setters in Ligonier, it would not have been a peaceful sight.

But, I love my Gordon Setter. I delight in seeing him chase around and get excited. Seeing his ears flop up and down as he takes his long strides strikes a smile on my face. His loyalty is tremendous, and in the evening when he’s ran all day, there’s nothing he’d rather do than snuggle up on the couch and watch a baseball game with me. His personality is humorous, and his daily delight in life is contagious. He’s not a Golden Retriever…..but then again, in many ways I am glad that he is not. To be sure, he is not a boring companion.

The sight of all those Golden Retrievers got me to thinking about people. People, just like dogs, are different. Some are sort of dignified in their approach to life (like Golden Retrievers), and some sort of just romp their way through life (like Gordon Setters). Neither way better than the other….just different….and thankfully so. When I see the variety of churches, I see what I saw on Sunday…..different kinds of people gathered together in common “breeds”. It surely can be said of God’s people, “we are not all Golden retrievers!” The music that comes out the window, the tone of the sermon, the décor of the church and the dress of the people….quite different in each of the churches. And in my mind that is a good thing, because as I said before, “we are not all Golden Retrievers!” In God’s kingdom there’s a place for terriers, basset hounds, greyhounds, poodles and all the rest to gather. I am thankful that God’s love for his people is big enough to gather together all sorts of “breeds”, including me.

So, let me invite you on this upcoming Sunday, to gather together with your “breed”. To celebrate the wonder of what God has created in you. To treasure the community that shares the traits that you bring to the world, but most of all to hear the Master of all say to you, “I love you for who you are.” And when you go back into the world amongst all the differing “breeds”, maybe you won’t be compelled to think of yourself as better or worse than another “breed”, but part of a great array of wonder who share the Divine Master’s delight.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 7-5-21

Hello,

This week's Bungee Cord is my sermon from yesterday.....seemed like it would be good to Bungee it, too.

2 Cor. 12:2-10

I suspect that there isn’t a one of us here who hasn’t gone through, in some way, what the apostle Paul writes about in his letter to the Christians in Corinth.

“Therefore,” says Paul, “to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

We never find out from Scripture what this “thorn in the flesh” was that tormented Paul. Lots of people have tried to guess, and guess is what they are doing. As for me, I don’t feel a need to guess, as a matter of fact, I think that is good that we don’t know what it was, that in knowing we might find ourselves thinking that the thorn we might have does not relate to the one that Paul had. All we know is that he had a thorn in the flesh, one so aggravating, one so life-sapping, one so painful that he appealed three times to the Lord to be rid of it. Now, three times may not seem like all that many to you or to me, but it is two more than once, and don’t we all hope that one appeal to God for help should be enough? How long would it take to get rid of this thorn? How many prayers would he need to say? If not three prayers….how many?

But apparently, after his third prayer, Paul heard an answer, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

Is it? Is God’s grace sufficient for you and me? Is God’s grace sufficient for you and me when the pain of a thorn gouges into your feet with every step that you take? Don’t we need more? Don’t we need God to take away that piercing thorn? A broken relationship that is stabbing at your heart? The taunts of those who delight in your dirty laundry? The loneliness of grief that jabs deep into your soul? The hopes and dreams that failure has popped like a balloon? Mental strife that has embedded itself under your skin? Is God’s grace sufficient enough for you and me when it comes to the thorns in the flesh that have taken their place in our lives? Don’t we need more?

Don’t we need more? Don’t we want to have the thorn removed? Don’t we want God to take the scalpel to the thing that is causing our pain and loneliness and remove it from our lives? Don’t we want God to use his divine tweezers and pull the thorns of failure and illness from under our skins? Haven’t every one of us joined Paul in appealing to God, “Lord take this away!” We certainly want more. Don’t we need more?

“No,” says God, “my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Power is made perfect in weakness? Really? Yes, really. Ask anyone who has been afflicted with the thorn of alcoholism, and they will tell you that it’s true, because they have found out that the first step to living with the thorn of alcoholism is to acknowledge their complete weakness to alcohol and put themselves in the hands of a higher power for whom alcoholism does not even have the power of a small sliver to disrupt life. They will tell you that as long as they tried with their own power to carry the thorn of their lives, all it did was cause more pain. But when they hit rock bottom, when they were absolutely at their weakest, that is when they felt the power to conquer the pain of their thorn….the power that comes from God. And conquer it many have, maintaining sobriety of years and years. They will be the first to tell you that the thorn has not gone away. They will always be acoholics, but being held in the powerful hands of God, hands of grace, the alcohol doesn’t have the power to bring pain to their lives. God’s grace is sufficient, power is made perfect in weakness.

We’re not in heaven yet, and that means that until we get there things will not be perfect. This is thorny ground on which we live, and there is simply no way to walk through this life without stepping on some thorns…Paul lists some of them, “insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities”. But notice that Paul is not afraid of them, as a matter of fact he says that he is “content” with them…at peace with them, because he is no longer counting on his power to subdue them, power that he has seen fail him. Instead he is counting on God’s power to render them powerless, power that he has seen do just that. For Paul saw what happens to the thorns of life when God takes them on.

Remember what Jesus wore on his head when he hung on the cross? A crown of thorns. And remember that when he walked out of that Easter tomb, those thorns were gone. All their power to bring pain to life was crucified with Jesus….they died with Jesus on the cross….and they stayed there. Dead on the cross. Jesus showed that he, unlike us, has the power to render thorns powerless.

Is God’s grace sufficient for you and me? Don’t we need more? What more could we receive than that which takes the sting out of every thorn, even the thorn of death –

‘Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?’

If you and I are ever to be at peace in this thorny world, it is not going to found in the strength of our hands, in the might of our minds, or in the determination of our hearts. Those things might bring us temporary relief, but not peace. When you were Baptized, God took ahold of you with a death grip, a grip that not even death can loosen. When the waters splashed over you, and God named you as one of his own, he embraced you in his love….in his grace…jealously telling every other thorny power in the world, “You can’t have this one. This one is mine.” So when you find yourself tormented by the thorns of this world and your strength has been sapped dry, and all you have left is Jesus…..you will also find, that Jesus is enough.

My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.

Amen.

Have a great week.

God's grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger