The Bungee Cord .10-25-21

Hello,

Those of you longtime Bungee Cord readers know that I am a rabid fan of the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. I went there for my first two years of college and had some of the greatest times in my life and made friends that are close to my heart, even to this day. So, although I transferred to and graduated from Valparaiso University (I went there to get the courses I needed to go to Seminary), my heart stayed with the Fighting Illini. When I was there the football team and the basketball team were terrible, but it was great fun to go to the games, sit in the stands and soak in the excitement of Big Ten sports.

Over the years, we have had our moments of glory in football and basketball, but unfortunately, they have only been moments. Nevertheless, I have been true to my team. Rooting for them all these years even though they have been regular cellar dwellers of the Big Ten. If there’s a game, I look to see if I can get in on my TV, and if that isn’t possible, I look to see if I can get it on the radio. Truthfully, the radio is less painful because I can only hear how badly we are doing, rather than having to see it in front of my eyes.

Over the past several years, teams have often looked past us, putting their attention on a team that they will face in the following game, counting their game with us an automatic win. Such, it seems was the case this past weekend when the Fighting Illini travelled to Penn State for a football game. Penn State was a 23 point favorite, and the word was that they weren’t going to play their starting quarterback so that he would be ready for the big game next week against Ohio State.

Well! Look past us they should have not done, because from some reservoir of power, the Illini gave Penn State a real run for their money, and after 9 overtimes, the Illini WON! As I watched the end of the game with its repletion of overtime after overtime, I prepared myself for the cliff-fall that lay ahead. With each passing overtime, my hopes went higher and higher, and I knew that the fall that I was soon to feel would be further and further. But the fall didn’t happen! In the ninth overtime, Penn State didn’t score, and with a pass to a wide-open receiver we did. WE WON! OSKEEWEOWOW!

I jumped out of the couch in which I was sitting, clasped my hands around my head in awesome wonder and exhilarating surprise, and shouted, “We won! We won! We won! OSKEEWOWOW!

Now, I don’t know what is like to root for a team that almost always wins, like Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, it must be very boring to be their fan. But for us Illini rooters, we rejoice over any win, even a win over the Little Sisters of the Poor. And when we win the big games the euphoria is volcanic! That is what is great about sports. A person can stick their neck out and lay their heart on the line for something that really doesn’t matter. Sports enable us to feel the “thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat” (remember ABC’s Wide World of Sports?) without suffering the consequences. Thankfully so for us Illini fans.

When it comes, however, to things that really do matter, the things in life where the consequences weigh heavy, sometimes as heavy as life and death….when it comes to these sorts of things, I am very happy to root for a constant winner. Constant victories are not boring. They are vitally important.

Jesus Christ is such a victor. When he died on the cross, he died once, for all. And when he walked out of the Easter tomb, he walked over every enemy in an eternal victory lap where tears of sorrow will never be known. “Death, where is thy victory? Where is thy sting?”

In the things that really do matter, I find myself overwhelmed in thanks to God for giving me someone to root for, someone to hang my heart on, someone that has stuck out his neck for me so that I don’t have to….Jesus Christ. Watching Jesus put every power under his submission is not boring. It is thrilling!

We won! We won! We won! ALLELUIA!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 10-18-21

Hello,

You may remember about 4 years ago that Michael Phelps, the most decorated male swimmer in Olympic history, decided to see if he could outswim a great white shark. Of course, I wasn’t there, but I wonder what the conversation went like when he told his coach about his idea.

“Coach,” said Michael Phelps, “what must I do to swim faster than a shark?”

“Well, to do that you would have to do a lot of training. Have you spent lap after lap in the pool? Have you spent hour after hour in the weight room? Have you practiced early in the morning and late at night? Have you spent as much time in a pool that you have felt like a fish?”

“Coach,” said Michael, “you know that I have done all of that since I was a kid.”

“You lack one thing, Michael,” said the coach, “You will need to cut off your hands and feet and grow fins to swim that fast.”

I am sure that Michael Phelps, being the competitor that he is, left his coach saddened, because he had been able to swim so fast.

And watching Michael Phelps walk away in a disappointed slouch, he must have said to all who had heard the conversation, “How hard it is for a human to swim as fast as a shark. It is as hard as putting a camel through the eye of a needle.”

“Can anybody swim faster than a shark?”, the crowd must have answered.

“With humans it is impossible. It would take an act of God for that to happen.”

In the Bible the same sort of conversation happened when a man came up to Jesus wanting to do something that humanly cannot be done. The man asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And this man was not like any man. He was the Michael Phelps of holiness…living by the commandments from his youth...night and day going to the temple…praying and meditating over the scriptures. One whom everyone was sure God had blessed with wealth because of his faithfulness….and when Jesus told him that in order to get his name on God’s will, he would have to give up all human security – something that as a human, everyone knew he couldn’t do….they all asked of Jesus, “Who then – if not this man, this Michael Phelps of holiness, can’t do enough to get himself on God’s will and become an heir of God’s eternal life….who can? Jesus’ answer, “No one can. Just like you can’t get a camel through the eye of a needle. No one can.”

No wonder they asked Jesus, “If this man can’t do enough to be saved, who can be saved?”

“That is just the point,” said Jesus to that man and to you and me, “humans are always children of humans….only God can make children of God…and here’s the good news. God does exactly that. In Jesus Christ, God took on human nature in order to transform it into divine nature…he entered space and time in order to shatter the limits of space and time…he took on humanity in order to crush the power of sin which leads to death and begin a victory march out of the Easter tomb…God, who holds the power of all creation in his hands, has taken you and me, people of a broken creation, and is at work shaping us with potter’s hands for a new and eternally perfect creation.

You see, if we tried to make ourselves heirs of this new creation, we would be facing the task of pushing a camel through a needle’s eye….an impossibly hopeless task. But today, Jesus tells us that this is a task that we need not waste our time or effort on, because what we can’t do…God has already done. That is what the cross and resurrection is all about. You and I, by the work of God, are already part of this new creation! Remember in Baptism you and I were, “Sealed by the holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” Children of God and heirs of his kingdom!

I read that Michael Phelps still tried to make himself able to swim as fast as a shark. He had a special body suit made that repelled water like shark-shin. He had a flipper fin made to fit on his feet so he could get the propulsion of a shark. And he trained swimming in the ocean, in the same water that sharks swim in….and guess what….he lost to the shark…and why? Because he is a human … not a shark.

But here’s the difference between Michael Phelps’ situation and ours. Michael Phelps, though he might try as hard as he can, will never become a shark. But we, without any effort of ours at all, have already become children of God. That is what happened to you and me in Baptism. So, although you and I may still be part of the old creation…children of humans, locked in time and space, we are, at the same time, Children of God, freed from the chains of this creation…freed from our sins, freed from the threat of death, freed from the worries and fears of this world.

So, like a butterfly coming out of is cocoon, no longer bound by the limits of being a caterpillar, Jesus says to you and me…children of God…heirs of his kingdom…Fly! Fly! Soar in the grace of God. Feel the wind of hope take hold of you….float through tough times with generosity and compassion for others. Wake up in the morning with joy and peace lifting you out of bed.

I am sure that if God wanted to…he could turn you and me into sharks so that we can swim as fast as a shark…But what good is there in that…instead, God has done something far greater….he has made you and me Children of God, and that is a goodness that makes all the difference in the world…for you and me…and for the world.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 10-11-21

Hello,

How would you like to have free 8th row tickets on the main floor, and a pass to a post-concert meet and greet with the band? Well (don’t get too jealous), that is what I had this past Friday when my friend, Mark Hoffman and I attended a Todd Rundgren concert in New York.

As it turns out, my son who lives in NYC and operates a piano tuning and refinishing business, has as one of his clients Todd Rundgren’s bass player, Kas. He mentioned to Kas that his father is a big-time fan. Big time may be a bit of an exaggeration for me, but not for my friend, Mark. He has every album from the very beginning, memorabilia, knows the words to every song on every album, and can give you a minute-by-minute detail of his life.

Anyway, when Kas heard of the interest in Todd, he told my son that he could get us tickets to the concert when they came to New York. Which he did!

The concert began at 8:00, and we got there early because we had to pick up the tickets. There wasn’t a lot of communication to us about these tickets, so as we stood in line, we were hoping that this would not turn out to be an evaporated dream. But when I reached the front of the line and handed the person behind the glass window my driver’s license, and said to her, “Hi. Kas has left me two tickets and two backstage passes,” without any hesitation she went away from the window, pulled out a sheet of paper, glanced over the names that were there, and sure enough, handed me two tickets and two backstage passes!

At 64 and 65, Mark and I were not the youngest ones there (maybe a handful of people under 50), but we certainly were not the oldest. People with canes and walking sticks were seated around us, and the men’s bathroom was being used more often than a crowd in their 30’s. It was a tremendously wonderful concert. Songs from my college and mid-life years filled the theater. Todd was quite an eloquent speaker when he talked between songs, the majority of his music being ballads, ranging in tone from melodic to brash. He would have dialogues with his favorite green Fender Strat (a guitar) which he has named “Foamy”. And his band played alongside him with equal fervor. Todd is 73 years old, and most of his band hovered in the same age bracket. Both Mark and I commented that we hope we can prance around on stage with such energy as Todd did when we reach 73!

Now, you may not be a Todd Rundgren fan, or even know who he is (“Hello” is his most famous song….along with “Bang my Drum”), but to be so close to a Rock and Roll Icon and meet up with Kas after the show was absolutely amazing to me, and overwhelmingly astounding to my friend, Mark. Turns out that Kas is a tremendously nice guy, and he said that if he is ever in the Pittsburgh area, he might give me a call and we can have dinner together (Jealous yet?).

But even though I am still goose bumped over my Friday night concert experience with Todd and Kas, I know that there is a concert yet to come where my ticket will again be free, my seat will be in the front row, a backstage pass will be in my hands, and I will be eating….not just once in a while…but regularly with the one who has invited me to come. The concert, of course, is the heavenly choir around the eternal throne of God, and the meal with be the feast of victory of our God. Just thinking about it gives me goose bumps! Oh, by the way, I have seen the guest list, and there’s a seat next to mine with your name on it….each of your names! See you there!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 Hello,

This is an exciting time of the year for those of us who live in Western Pennsylvania, because the hills are about ready to change color. The trees that covered the hills like green painted cotton balls from the spring to the summer are starting to transform themselves into bright and brilliant reds, yellows and oranges. There may be other beautiful places in the world, but when the hillsides of Western Pennsylvania take on their fall colors, they are certainly on the top of the beautiful list.

Those of you who live here know what I mean. It is a sight to look forward to. Along with the cooler weather of crisp mornings and chilly evenings, and campfires amid a snowfall of colored leaves, this time of the year, I think, is the reason to live here. Some would say that it is a slice of heaven.

If Western Pennsylvania is a slice of heaven, it makes me wonder what the whole heavenly pie might be like. When I climb up to the top of a hill and look all around, I find myself transfixed by the patchwork beauty that lies all around me. I can stand in timeless concern and just gaze upon the hills. Warmed by their colors. Calmed by their softness. Thrilled by their magnificence.

If such capture can take hold of me by a slice of heaven, I look forward to the embrace of the whole of heaven when I behold it with my eyes. I imagine that I will not only be transfixed by the magnificence of being face to face with God, but I will also be transformed. I will be given eyes to see what I have never seen before, holiness that no sin has stained. I will see life that is not shadowed by death. And I will see love bigger than all of creation embracing me in endless delight. It will be awesome.

Heaven, like the coming of the fall colors, is something to look forward to, and God, by his grace gives us tastes of what lies ahead to prepare us for the wonder that is to come and to assure us of its coming. In my church, one of those times of preparation and assurance is when we gather around the table of the Lord on Sunday mornings, hear Jesus’ words that he invites us to his table to receive bread and wine that is full of his body and blood, and commune with Jesus and all those around his heavenly feast table…..and we call it a foretaste of the feast to come.

We can’t house you all at once, but if you happen to be driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate 76) and reach exit 91, Donegal, drive 4 miles north on highway 711 and we would love to share a drink with you and share our little slice of heaven to prepare you a bit for the wonder of what is to come and the assurance of its coming.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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