The Bungee Cord 5-30-22

Hello,

I went to a wedding on Saturday, the wedding of the Pastor of the church to which Kate and I belong. Both the bride and the groom are pastors, so in order not to play favorites the wedding was at a “neutral “ church site, Heinz Memorial Chapel on the University of Pittsburg campus. I have worshipped in large churches before, but none as cathedral-like as this one. The ceiling soared way above us. The wall were marble stone with gothic arches. The stain glass windows reached all the way to the ceiling. It was cavernous.

The pipe organ was huge and powerful, and when it kicked in its power almost made the walls of the chapel move in and out as if holy lungs were inhaling and exhaling. In one of the pieces, the organist opened up a pipe whose sound you could feel in your bones. The noise that we, the congregation made as we sang our hymns was seemed like the squeaks of 100 mice compared to the organ.

Sitting there I found myself feeling like something really big was going on, and it wasn’t the marriage, although that was certainly big. What was bigger yet was the palpable presence of Almighty God. There in that Chapel, God was filling that place. God, the one whose power created the universe. God, the one whose power holds it all together. God, the one who authored life, sustains it, and crushed life’s ending, death. The power of that God was churning in that place.

As I found myself immersed in the power of God in that Chapel, I thought about how small and powerless I am in the midst of this universe. I thought about how weak I am when it comes to battling the struggles and strife’s of life. Decisions that come my way that feel overwhelming. Holes that I have fallen into or dug for myself that are beyond my climbing out. Fears and worries that take over my soul. Big things that act like school yard bullies. There’s lots of big things in the world that have their eyes on me, but there in that immense, God filled chapel I felt a peace that “passes all human understanding” awash in the power of God.

The church in which I worship every Sunday is much, much, much smaller . The ceiling isn’t nearly as high, the stained glass windows are not nearly as soaring, the organ is not nearly as voluminous, but when I am there I know something big is going on. Almighty God is filling that place, too, with his powerful presence. Powerful presence that enwraps me with the singing of the people around me, with the echo of the Word of God in the Scriptures, with the internal hug that I receive when I partake in communion, with the blanket of prayers that are said. The huge Heinz Chapel may bring to light the enormity of the power of God in the way that a gaze at the sky might do, but in my small church I find myself face to face with the enormity power of God in the way a gaze into an atom might do.

There is a sense of the “peace that surpasses all human understanding” that takes hold of a person in both place. In a world that is salivating to chew you and me up and spit us out, I invite you to spend an hour each week where something big is happening, God Almighty engulfs that sacred space with his presence and power and says to you and to me, “I love you.”

That’s BIG!

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 5-23-22

Today's Bungee Cord is my sermon from May 22.....I think it is Bungee-able.

John 14:23-29

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. “

Jesus says to you and me today, that he gives us his peace, not the world’s peace, but his peace. What’s the difference? What is the difference between Jesus’ peace and the world’s peace?

Here’s the difference. It’s the difference between a chihuahua and a Doberman Pinscher. Imagine if you were a burglar scoping out a home that held the most valuable diamond in the world, (and by the way, that is what you and I are in the eyes of God)and in the yard you saw a sign, “Beware of Dog”, and you saw that the dog of which you were told to beware of was a little yippie chihuahua issuing its fiercest barking behind the screen door, you would laugh and say to yourself, “This is going to be one easy job.” But if, on the other hand as you walked by the house, you heard the snarling growl of a drooling Doberman pincher and saw the fire in its eyes, you’ld think twice about trying to make that diamond yours.

That diamond – you or I – would be far safer - far more at peace - with a Doberman pincher in the house than a chihuahua And the truth is that a chihuahua is all the world can give us. The world just can’t breed anything to keep us safe from the burglars and thieves that prowl around us. When disease sneaks into our lives and tries to run off with us to a cave of despair, all the world can do is yip and yap to scare it away. When sin grabs ahold of us and tries to steal us away into shame, all the world can do is nip at sin’s heels as sin kicks it away as if it was a no more than a soccer ball. When tragedy busts down the door, all the world can do is wheeze and snort in anger and guard. The world can give us nothing more than a ferocious chihuahua to keep us safe, and I don’t know about you, but I know that for myself, having a chihuahua as a guard dog doesn’t give me much peace.

But Jesus is no chihuahua. Jesus is a guard dog that has grabbed ahold of disease and death and buried it, dead as a bone in the ground on Good Friday. Jesus is a guard dog that has clamped his jaws down on sin and dragged them to the cross. Jesus is a guard dog that has stood up to tragedy and has sent grief running away with its tail between its legs when Jesus walked out of the Easter tomb. Jesus is no chihuahua. When it comes to guarding the precious diamond that you and I are to God, he is a ferocious, snarling, salivating, raging, teeth baring Doberman pincher. A guard dog that brings chills to burglars and robbers, and protective warmth to those over whom he stands watch. And that is why Jesus says that he gives us peace, not as the world gives. For with his watchful presence over us, we need not fear, nor we need not let our hearts be troubled.

‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them,” says Jesus to us today in our Gospel lesson. And he also says, “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

So, today, and every day, as the burglars and thieves of the world creep and crawl around us, trying to steal us away, God tells us that God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have made their home with us and they have place a sign out on our lawns, not BEWARE OF DOG with a yipping chihuahua yapping at the door, but BEWARE OF GOD with Jesus, who is a mighty Doberman pincher, who will let nothing steal you or me away. Not disease or death, not sin or evil, not tragedy or grief. Nothing will he let steal you away.

7Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. “

Jesus is no chihuahua.

Amen

Have a great week.

God's grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 5-16-22

The Bungee Cord 5-16-22

Hello,

I was driving on Interstate 80 to Davenport, Iowa to help my folks who now need a higher level of care in the nursing home that is now their home, when I came upon a later model SUV with “Just Married” written on their back window. When I saw it, it brought to mind the brown Plymouth Horizon that Kate and I were in on August 8, 1981 with the same writing on our back window on our way to our honeymoon in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

It has been quite a ride that Kate and I have had over these nearly 41 years. It began with all of our earthly possessions involved in a fire in Rochester, Minnesota while we went off to get married in Pennsylvania. During the following years in our life in St. Paul we took our first steps in our vocations: me a pastor, Kate a physical therapist. We bought our first home, a yellow stucco house and began to fill it and our lives with our first two children. We tried having a dog, Shadrach, an Irish Setter that loved to wander off, and whom we would have to retrieve from some nice person who he had visited. As it turned out, two kids and a roaming dog did not work well together, so we gave him back to the person who bred him

As Kate’s parents were getting older, we decided we needed to move east, and so we did. Toledo, Ohio became our home. My church was in an inner city neighborhood and that led to a steep learning curve about dealing with people who have lost hope and also any purpose in life. Naïve and foolish at first, skeptical of peoples’ stories and much more streetwise by the time I left. Our youngest son was born there, and we took on a dog…a mutt, ”Newton”, who was a far better companion that Shadrach. It was there that I learned that people who see no value in their own lives, also see no value in other people’s lives. Shootings. Assaults. Protecting turf.

From there, we made our way to a small town in Ohio, Arlington. The first summer there, my youngest son and I went to the community pool on our bikes, and when we got there we were surprised that no one locked their bikes, but even more surprised to find out that after we swam our bikes were still there! It was a town where everybody knew each other and high school basketball and football games were the center of life. I was a member of the volunteer fire department, and a movie was even made about me (“Unstoppable”). I learned all about pigs, sheep and cows at the yearly county fair, and I began the practice of waving at cars that drove by the church on Sunday mornings. Waving is a vital part of small time life.

Next we moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota which is the final stop of civilization in the Northern Plains. The horizon is long and wide in the Dakotas, and winter is a mighty warrior. I worked in a very large downtown church, and then in two churches that stood among the cornfields and cattle. It is free range in South Dakota, so it wasn’t a rare sight to see a heard of cattle coming at you down the country roads. I got to see the struggles of the Native Americans who had several large reservations in the state. Of the problems that America deals with, the plight of the native Americans is certainly one of the most sever. We added Duncan, a Gordon Setter to our family, and I bought my first Mini Cooper to tool around in. While there, all three of my sons went to college, and when we left our family was down to Kate, Me and the dog.

Thankful to Kate for following me around for 30 years, I told her it was time for us to go where she wanted to live, so back to the curvy roads and colorful ridges of Pennsylvania we went. We undertook the adventure of building a house out in the country, an adventure that I discovered I knew little about. But we’ve lived here 10 years, and I have to say that I have gotten used to the elbow room of country living. My kids all live away from us: Denver, Charlotte, and Brooklyn. I had to put my dog Duncan down, a victim of cancer, but we got another Gordon Setter, McMahon, who makes sure life isn’t boring. In the last year, my first grandchild was born, I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, one of Kate’s brothers died, my dad has been tackled by Alzheimer’s, and my mom has become a shell of who she used to be.

I plan to retire in August, and people ask me, “What are you going to do?” My primary answer is, “I don’t know.” And although I think I’ll be continuing to play Pickleball several times a week, walk my nine holes of golf for exercise, and occasionally preach when pastors take vacation, I am not sure what the main plan is for the rest of my life.

But as I sit here, many miles past those first miles in a car with a “Just Married” sign on it, I find myself saying the prayer that I said so many years ago, in that brown Plymouth Horizon, “Lord God, you call your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that you hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN” (Lutheran Book of Worship)

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 5-9-22

Hello,

After hearing what I heard, I decided to take a risk on this week’s Bungee Cord. The risk that I am taking is addressing something that I heard on a political commercial, because what I wish to write, I hope, will not be seen as political in any way, but a matter of kindness verses cruelty.

I live in Pennsylvania, and apparently Dr. Oz, of TV, is running for the open Senate seat. I really don’t know anything about Dr. Oz. I have never watched one of his show, only catching a snipit or two while using the elliptical machine at the YMCA and the nearest TV was locked on him. (Couldn’t hear it, so I have no idea what it was about.) I don’t know if he is running as a Democrat or as Republican. I don’t know any of his political views or opinions, but when I play solitaire on my phone, an add from his opponent regularly comes up before the cards are dealt, and this is how the add starts out: “Dr. Oz uses his TV show to glorify transgender children…”

The reason this caught my ire is that this sentence seems to me to be very cruel, cruel to children and parents who are dealing with gender concerns. Let me confess, that I find myself confused about these things. These gender concerns were not a part of the world in which I grew up, and I claim to have far more questions than answers.

But this I do know: I know families that are struggling with gender concerns. I have heard them speak of the lostness their child feels. I have heard them tell of their feelings of guilt and despair. I have heard them recount times when their child has given up all hope and is contemplating ending their life. I have heard them call their children by their names. We are not dealing with a category named “transgender children”, we are dealing with Susan, and Paul, William and Daphne….real children who cry themselves to sleep at night, real children who dread going to school, real children who hear whispers and taunts. Tammy, Jose, Rachel, Larry.

These are kids who get kicked in the teeth every day. It seems to me to be very cruel that someone is forgetting the pain and struggle of their lives to say that “Dr Oz uses his TV show to glorify transgender children.” Now, I am not naïve enough to not believe that Dr. Oz is very motivated by ratings and viewers, so he may be guilty of exploiting their pain. Although, I hope his program helps the world see the pain and confusion that such families undergo. To say that he ”glorifies transgender children” seems to me to be a stab in the back of those children and their families that already know all too well what back-stabbling feels like.

To me, it is a sign of the brokenness of our world, that very often those who endure the ridicule of others (rightly or wrongly) are used as fodder by others. Jesus saw the same thing in his day. Lepers were shunned. People with deformities were not allowed in the temple. Women who had a reputation carried that reputation like a 10 ton anchor. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest critiques against Jesus by his foes was that he, “ate with sinners and tax collectors”.

When Jesus came into contact with those folks who were struggling in life, he did not see a representative of a category, but an individual person who was being crushed by the struggles of their life. Without exception.

If you, or someone you know finds themselves lost, confused, despairing, and unlovable, this is Jesus’ promise to you. Jesus will not kick you in the teeth and ridicule you, but rather he will embrace you with a love and mercy that nothing in the world can tether. If you need strength to get out of bed and face a cruel world, Jesus will be with you in the loving hand of a dear friend to pull you into the day. If you need a shield to ward off the insensitive and mean things people say, Jesus will step between you and those bullet shooters in the words of a wise adult or a pastor. If you look in the mirror and wonder if you are lovable, Jesus will say to you when you come to the altar, “This is my body, given for YOU. This is my blood, shed for YOU.”

The world can be very cruel, especially in these times of elections. As Ester’s uncle of the Bible said to her, the same might apply to you and me who hear cruelty blasting in deafening audibles, “Maybe you (and I) have been placed here for a time just like this.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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