The Bungee Cord. 12-26-22

Hello,

Merry Christmas!

I have always been a worrier. It is in my blood. Literally. Depression and anxiety are part of who I am. When I come to a fork in the road in life, I, as Yogi Berra said, take it, and the “it” that my mind naturally chooses is the one that slides downhill into valleys of darkness and worry. Thankfully, God has given me good doctors, good friends, good medicine, and a good faith to grab ahold of me on those downhill slides and bring me back up to that fork and point me the other way.

One such time when I was slip sliding away (as Paul Simon sings) into a pit of worry was when each of my sons was born. One of the downsides of being a pastor is that you find yourself walking beside people for whom life has shoved them down life’s terrifying slides. I have been there when the miracle of birth is shadowy and scary, and each time one of my sons was born, my mind was tugging me in that dark direction. Thankfully, each of my son’s births, although not without complications, was rerouted onto a path of health and joy.

Nevertheless, when my wife was pregnant with my third son, I still found myself treading along that familiar path of worry. I found myself worrying that I was pushing my odds. Two healthy births behind me, maybe I should have left well enough alone. But with no turning back, I found myself becoming increasingly worried as the birth date neared. And then it came. The child in my wife’s womb had had enough of its cramped quarters and was ready to stretch out its elbows. Trying not to slide down that path of worry, I held onto anything along the way, but the tug of worry was like an elephant pulling me town a path I didn’t want to go down. Into the hospital we went. Directed to a room. Holding my wife’s hand as the contractions increased in speed and force, and then following my wife into the delivery room, putting on scrubs and taking my place at her side. The worries in my bones were bubbling like lava under pressure, and then, just as the doctor said the baby was crowning…..

Just as the doctor said the baby was crowning, I felt a pull in the opposite direction, back up to the fork in the road that I had taken. Upon re-reaching that fork I found myself facing the other fork with the sudden certainty that no matter what the next few moments held in store, God would give me the strength and courage to do what needed to be done. That realization came out of nowhere, the same nowhere that was there before creation, by which the voice of God set all creation into being. It was that divine and almighty power that took ahold of me, and in that moment of my own complete weakness, I felt an overwhelming peace….a peace that I had not felt before. And so as my son squeezed his way into his new world, I was completely calmed by the realization that God would give me the strength….his strength….to do what needed to be done, no matter the health of this baby.

You may not be the worrier that I am, but if your eyes are open and your ears unstuffed, I suspect that you, like I, find yourself being pulled down that slippery slope of fear as you wake each day and find yourself at another fork in the road. But this past weekend we found ourselves in a delivery room, a room far less sanitized than a hospital room, but a room in which a baby would be born to rid the whole world of the deadly germs of sin. And as you and I found ourselves standing beside that delivery manger, God took ahold of us, just as he took ahold of me in that hospital room, pulled us back to the fork in the road, set our eyes in the other direction…the direction of certain hope for our days….for eternity…and filling us with his courage and strength as that baby took its first breath and incarnated the fact that God was going to do whatever it takes to keep us in his embrace….even to walk the path to the cross.

Those first birth cries would find their echo on a last cry coming from the cross. Nothing….absolutely nothing would keep God from having us as his forever!

And in that moment of birth, Christ’s birth, God sets our sights toward the other fork in the road….takes our hand…and says, “I will be with you, even to the close of the age.” And at that moment there is a tsunami of grace and mercy, and just like it was at the birth of my son, you and I can feel ourselves being swept up in peace…divine peace…perfect peace….now and forever!

Merry Christmas.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 12-19-22

Hello,

“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” I just read an advent devotional saying that this is the message of Advent and Christmas. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

After reading this devotional, I said to my wife and my sister-in-law who is staying with us for a couple of days, “I don’t agree with this devotional.”

I suppose it might sound a bit bold for me to voice disagreement with a devotional that had been published by the seminary that I went to 40 years ago. But it was at that seminary that I learned that although “there is a light at the end of the tunnel” might offer some hope, but in truth the message of Advent and Christmas brings a much deeper and complete hope. The message of Christmas and Advent that I learned, and continue to rejoice in, is “the light comes into the tunnel”.

Maybe you have never found yourself paralyzed in a dark tunnel of life. Grief that is crippling. A prognosis that promises a worsening life. A hole that you have fallen into that is deeper than your reach. Guilt that keeps beating you up and you can’t get off the ground. Maybe you have never found yourself paralyzed in a dark tunnel of life, but if you have (and I am pretty sure that you will because none of us is immune to the fragility of our lives) you know that to be told that there is a light at the end of the tunnel holds no hope…..but actually is painfully torturous because you know that under your own strength you’ll never get there.

That is why the message of Advent and Christmas is an explosion of hope, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John1) Remember, God came to us…in the darkness of our lives…in Jesus. Emmanuel, as the Bible says Jesus to be, does not mean God is standing outside of our tunnel waiting for us to get there, it means “God is with us”, right here, right where we are, bringing light to our darkness even when we cannot move out of it. Jesus was not born in heaven, Jesus was born on earth.

To say “the light shines in the tunnel” tells you and me that when darkness befalls us, there is one who comes to transform the darkness. “I am with you,” says God almighty. The one who in the beginning brought light into all of creation, has come with that same power to bring light into your life and mine. Peace does not only lie ahead, Jesus, the prince of peace embraces you and me right where we are. Joy does not only lie ahead in heaven, Jesus, who came to Zaccheaus’ house and sent his lonely heart singing comes, comes into your house and mine and opens the future for us. Love does not only lie ahead, Jesus, the incarnation of God who is love, comes to choose you in the kickball game of life and says, “You are on my team.”

The truth is that we do not know the date of Jesus’ birth, but a long time ago, when Christians were deciding when to celebrate his birth, they chose what they thought was the darkest day of the year….the day with the least sunlight, the day with the longest darkness, the day when it seems like the light will never come as it seems when a tragedy descends upon us….Christians decided to make that day, December 25th, the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus….the day when the light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.

So on this December 25th, hear the angels proclamation, “‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah,* the Lord,” and rejoice for Jesus, the light, has come to us…has come into our darkness!

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 12-12-22

Hello,

It’s been a while since I have sat on Santa Claus’ lap. Actually, I don’t know that I ever did, but I think that when someone sits on Santa’s lap, the first thing Santa asks is, “Have you been good this year?”

I suspect that all children, in hopes of getting presents, are quick to respond, “Of course Santa. Really good.”

II wonder, however, if there might be some precocious child who would ask, “Well, Santa, what’s the cut off for good?” What would Santa say? Is one “good” if one only teases their sister, and doesn’t hit her when one is angry? Is one “good” if one doesn’t spread rumors on social media, but doesn’t say anything at the lunch table when gossip is being said? Is one “good” if one obeys their parents most of the time? Is one “good” if one cleans their plate, but grumbles the whole time about how they hate spinach? “What is the cut off for good, Santa?”

Actually, it is not just a Christmas question that people find themselves asking of Santa Claus. It is a question I hear people saying every day. When I hear people say that you really need to believe to be saved, my wonderment is when does “really” kick in? When I hear people say if you truly are repentant, you will be forgiven, I wonder when does “truly” kicks in? When I hear people say to me after a funeral, “I know my loved one is in heaven because they were such a good person,” I find myself thinking when is “good” good enough? “God, what’s the cut off?”

Interestingly enough, Christmas is God’s answer to this question of cut offs, and God’s answer is: there is no cut off. There is no “good” that is good enough. There is no “really” that is complete enough. There is not “truly” that is pure enough. Our “enough’s” are not part of God’s thinking when it comes to taking God’s place in a Bethlehem manger, because it is not us who is filling that manger. It is God, and God, in Jesus, has done enough. There is no coal in God’s Christmas bag, there is only, as the book of John tells us, “grace upon grace”. There is no list of good or bad when it comes to who is to receive the greatest gift of all, God’s love and mercy. For “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son….who did not come into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved by him. (John3:16,17)

To me, I am not so worried that the world has made Christmas about presents and home comings. There is nothing bad about those things, but those things fall desperately short of the greatest thing about Christmas, and that is when we climb onto the lap of God on Christmas, God doesn’t ask, ”Have you been good this year?” God simply says to each of us, regardless of our goodness, “I have a present for you, and it is Jesus!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 12-6-22

Hello,

This week I have decided that I could never be Santa Claus, and the reason why: I don’t like getting up on the roof! This past week, we had a strong wind rumble through our little valley. There were sustained winds of 25 mph and gusts that rattled our house. We lost a couple large branches off of our trees, and we also lost a couple of shingles off of our roof. With rain in the forecast, and roofers hard to find for immediate repair, I was left to be the one to replace the shingles. Unfortunately, the shingles that the wind tore off were at the peak of our roof, 35 feet above the ground.

So, I crawled out of the window in our living room loft and stepped out on the roof, which is a shallow slope above the front porch. I, then, made my way over to the main roof whose incline was much steeper, maybe not the steepness of a ski jump, but standing on it, it sure felt like it was. I shuffled my way to the back side of the house and up to the peak of the roof. And when I had made my way up to the peak, I put my rear end near the shingle-less site, sat down, and took a look at the damage. Sure enough, two shingles had blown off, and a bunch of the ones that remained had been blown loose and would need to be glued down. And that is when I thought to myself, “I don’t want to be up here!” You see, as I have aged, getting up off the floor isn’t as easy as it used to be, and I discovered that getting up off the roof was not as easy as it used to be either. The lack of ease is a minor problem getting off the floor, but not so on the roof. One slip. One loss of balance….and rolling down the roof I would go.

To make a longer story short, I did accomplish my task of repairing my roof without killing or maiming myself, but though the day was chilly my shirt was sweaty, and my nerves were in need of soothing. Thus, my discernment, I could never be Santa Claus. I don’t know how he can land a sleigh and reindeer on the slanted runway of a roof, hop out of the sleigh carrying a loaded bag, walk across a snow-covered incline and not go tumbling down to the ground. But I do know this; I could never do it! I could never be Santa Claus!

As I consider the Christmas season, I know something else, too; I could never be the Messiah. I could never shoulder all the sins of the world and carry them to the cross. They would crush me and I would never make it there. I could never gather in all the fear of the world and render it harmless. It would be like an ant taking on an elephant in a wrestling match. I could never walk into the darkness of despair as a light of hope that shatters even the deepest darkness. The light that I would carry would keep on getting blown out by the gale force winds of the world. I could never put a leash on death and drag it to a bottomless pit. Death has a grip on me that seems to drag me to places that I don’t want to go. Even more so than not being able to be Santa Claus, as Christmas nears I know that I could never be the Messiah.

But that is the good news of Christmas. I don’t have to be. You don’t have to be. God, the master of the Universe, the only one who could ever do what a Messiah needs to do, has taken the matter into his own hands and has provided a Messiah: Jesus. He who did not need to leave his heavenly home, has come to make his home in his creation….on this earth…in human hearts. The infinite inhabiting the finite. And like one of those home improvement shows where a home that is falling apart is transformed into a home where life and love can be built, so is God at work as he has taken his home among us. Digging into every corner and finding ancient fears and sweeping them out. Pulling up the rotten boards of sin and grief and laying down a solid floor of forgiveness and eternal life. Mitigating the mold that has grown with the absolute sanitizing cleansing power of his cross-shed blood. Of course, I can share in God’s home-cleaning work, but thankfully the completion of the restoration that God has in mind is not up to me.

Thank God that neither I nor you have to be the Messiah! Jesus is!

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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