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