The Bungee Cord 4-18-22

Hello,

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

That is how I started my sermon yesterday, then I said, “Amen,” and sat down. The organ kicked in with intro to the hymn that was to be sung after the sermon. I invited the people to rise, and then just before the singing was to start, I started waving my hands and shouting, “No! No! No!” and I stopped the singing and the organ. I walked back up to the pulpit and I said, “That is, of course what this day is all about. And maybe that’s enough said…but for those of you who were looking forward to a 45 minute sermon this morning, I figured that I shouldn’t disappoint you!”

And then I preached my sermon, which if you are interested in posted on St. James Lutheran Church, Ligonier YouTube page…..and it not 45 minutes long!

Truth is that the acclamation of Jesus’ resurrection, and the echo of that acclamation from the mouths of the people is the heart and soul of Easter. Not Easter only, but of the Christian faith. It is the acclamation that we daily wake to, that we work to, that we play to, that we eat to, that we sleep to….and when the day comes….that we die to. It is God’s answer to “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It is the key that unlocks all the prisons in which we find ourselves: the prison of sin, the prison of failure, the prison of grief, the prison of despair, and that is just to name a few of life’s prisons.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

When I drive around, I listen to the Sports Talk station out of Pittsburgh. Apparently, they had some air-time space to fill, so they asked the question of one another, “What is the best holiday?” The host immediately piped in, “Christmas, or Hanukah, because that is when you get all the presents. The other agreed, and so they went on to trying to name the second best holiday. One said Thanksgiving because you get to eat a lot. The other said Halloween, because you get to do stuff, like egging cars. As they went forward with their ratings, one of the hosts put Easter several steps down the list, and the other host didn’t even list Easter at all.

As I listened and heard the rankings measured by what you get, or get to do on holidays, I wondered how Easter was not at the top of the list? After all, on Easter you get eternal life and you get to live forever. Because of Easter, every moment of life is filled with eternity, and eternity is filled with life.

To have other holidays out rank Easter must mean that the word isn’t out about what you get at Easter. So, let me shout it out,

“Christ is risen! Alleluia!

He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!”

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 4-11-22

Hello,

Those of you who watch sports, especially college basketball, know that at the end of each college basketball game the two teams line up and pass by one another shaking hands. I don’t know what they say to each other, but I suspect that most often it is, “good game” or maybe nothing at all. Unfortunately, this past year these handshakes have become fistfights because tempers have remained on high alert, taking only a small spark to ignite them.

Some announcers have said that it is time to abandon this “out of date” practice. They say that it’s not fair to the players to put them in a situation where they have just fought hard against each other and expect them to respectfully shake hands. It is, they say, like lighting a lighter near a powder keg. The answer to avoid the rumbles is to not do this handshaking anymore.

I may be in the minority, but I strongly disagree. So strongly do I disagree that I think that every athletic event from Pee-Wee soccer to professional baseball should end with a respectful shaking of the other team’s hands. Why? Because the handshake speaks a loud and important truth: It is only a game! It is also true that every athlete in every event has put in much effort and practice into their sport, and because of that their identities are locked up with how well they play, and whether they win or lose. Nevertheless, it is still a game.

You and I, however, are not only a game to God. When it comes to you and me, God has chosen to engage himself in a battle to the death. Winner take all. Loser gets nothing. So valuable to God are you and I, that he has taken on everything and anything that would claim us as their own: sins that try to imprison us with a lifetime sentence, the failures that seek to lock us away in a deep and dark dungeon of a place, the expectations of the world that press down on us like a hot clothes iron. To all these things, God has said, if they want you or me, they have to go through him first.

That is what this week is all about, this week that we call Holy Week. It is about the battle that God has taken on with everything and anything that would seek to claim you or me as their own. A battle that began with a meal of grace that ended in betrayal. A battle that took place in a garden of prayer, that interrupted a desperate prayer with clubs and swords. A battle that was fought in a governor’s courtyard with lashes, spit, thorns, and mockery. A battle that took place on a Golgotha cross where blood was spilt and death took the upper hand. A battle where death was cheering victory for three days. But a battle that ended with a comeback victory that the world has never seen, when Jesus, and Jesus alone walked out of that grave…ALIVE!

And after this battle was over, there were no handshakes given to the opposing foes, because none of them had survived. Only Jesus stood tall at the battle’s end. No, this was no game for Jesus, and if anything or anyone would like to wrest you or me from Jesus, they are going to find out, they are in a losing battle….because to Jesus, you and I are not only a game.

Have a great Holy Week,

God’s grace and peace

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 4-4-22

Hello,

Last week, my wife and I went into our back field to play fetch with our dog. I took a look up into the sky and saw I three bald eagles circling above us! (I wish I had a high powered camera. The picture that I have posted is from the internet, but it was exactly what I saw.) Sometimes they would follow each other, making a circle in the sky. Other times they would weave in and out of each other’s flight almost as if they were doing a square dance weave. They were low enough so that we could see their white tails and white heads with the naked eye. Three bald eagles in the sky. It was an amazing spectacle to take in and remember.

As I saw those three majestic birds gliding above me, it made me think about the Christian understanding of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit: the Trinity. Ever since the beginnings of Christianity, readers of the Bible have found a description of God that speaks of God’s singular entity that is expressed in three unique, but simultaneous manifestations. Three in one, and one in three. Many have tried to bring this trinitarian understanding to light through human images. They say it is like water that is found as a gas, a liquid and a sold. Or a book that has a beginning, an ending, and a middle. But both of these images fall short of the Biblical message that speaks of God as being all three distinct and also simultaneously. In my small mind, the triune being of God is beyond my human comprehension, but certainly within my human experience.

So, even those three soaring eagles do not express the exact nature of God, but in them I saw a glimpse of God’s being. One who intensely keeps watch over me with eagle sharp eyes. One whose presence is peaceful and calm, even in the midst of mighty winds. One who dances a dance of hope and joy that lifts my inmost being to join in. One who abides with me in majestic grace and power. Three soaring eagles that awoke in my imagination a slice of a vista of the nature of God who watches over me, leads me, and love me.

Jesus often said to his followers in the Bible, “Let those who have ears, listen.” It seemed to me that Jesus was saying in my ears as I stood in my back field captivated by the sky, “Let those who have eyes, see.”

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint,

and strengthens the powerless.

30 Even youths will faint and be weary,

and the young will fall exhausted;

31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40)

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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