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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