The Bungee Cord. 6-27-23

Hello,

I found this cartoon recently on my Facebook feed, and when I saw it, I didn’t laugh. Rather, I said to myself, “There’s a problem with this cartoon.”

And the problem is this: why don’t the people want to hear what God has said?

What has God said? The Bible says that if you want to hear God clearly, listen to Jesus, who is the living Word of God (John 1). And on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17), after showing the disciples that all the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament ) was wrapped up in Jesus, God said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved;* with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’.

Consider what Jesus said:

• 28 ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Matthew 11)

• 11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10)

• ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ (Luke 23)

• And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news* to the whole creation. (Mark 16)

• When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ (Mark 2)

• To the woman of ill repute Jesus said, “48 ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ (Luke 7)

• I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10)

All these things seem pretty life giving to me. All these things seem to provide a solid hope to build a life on. All these things seem to powerful words of amazing grace. All these things seem to be magnetic to me. So, if these are the things that God has said, why aren’t people filling churches to hear them?

In my view, at least part of the answer is this: these words of God are not being spoken in church. For some reason, people have come to believe that words of judgment and condemnation are the words heard in church. You know….you shouldn’t do this….you had better start doing that…of course, there’s no one on the crime log in the paper here today (I heard that on a radio broadcast of a worship service)…and, if you are not giving until it hurts, you are not giving enough.

And because these are the sort of things that people think are to be heard in church, people do flock to churches that tell them that they are right, and everyone else is wrong. Churches that are quick to point out other people’s sins but say little about their own. Churches who provide simple answers (usually answers that are within one’s reach) to very complex situations.

I started this Bungee Cord nearly 30 years ago, because I wanted to reach the ears of people who, I believe, had a misguided impression of what Christianity, and the church, is all about; the impression that the cartoon pictures. I wanted to bring what Jesus says to those who are being crushed by the world’s pressure to be something. I wanted to bring what Jesus says to those who the world says are forever stained by their deeds. I wanted to bring what Jesus says to those who are caught up in the complexities of life. I wanted to bring what Jesus says to those who are lost in darkness and hopelessness. I wanted to bring the unconditional love of God, which is grace, and which I believe magnetically draws people to God and to one another, and which is what Christianity, and the church is all about.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Like

Comment

Share

 The Bungee Cord. 6-20-23

Hello,

If you were looking for a Bungee Cord last week and didn’t find one, the reason is that I was in Davenport, Iowa visiting my folks. They both live in a care center. My dad, whose memory is gone, lives in a memory care unit, and my mom whose health is very fragile lives in a total nursing unit. I’ve been making regular trips out there as their health has gone downhill, but I try to call my mother several times a week.

On one of my phone calls, I asked her if she was still playing the piano in the gathering room in her unit. She plays it around 3:00 every day when her “fans” are there. On the phone call of which I write she said that when she was playing, a lady who regularly attends had a smile from ear to ear. “She has the prettiest smile,” she said. “But she also has the saddest frown, and when I play that frown becomes a smile. That really makes me happy, too.”

For nearly twenty years, my mom has gone to the nursing care place that she lives to play music for the residents….to bring a smile to their face. She has a two-octave keyboard that she would bring with her and take to the rooms of the resident who were bedridden. She would play. She would sing. The people would smile…even those who could not move their limbs. It was her Christian mission, and she did it with zealous joy.

About a year and a half ago, she had a significant fall from which she has not recovered. She progressively lives in her imagination, but she remains cogent when I talk to her. On Good Friday of this year, she suffered a stroke, but had an amazing recovery. Nevertheless, the stroke has made her even more frail and her lifespan uncertain.

I said to her on my last visit, “Would you like to play your keyboard?” (My brother and I bought her the keyboard to replace the organ that she had in her home.).

“Sure,” she said. I wheeled her over to the keyboard. She slowly lifted her hands from her lap, and she played…..and I smiled.

Music is a God-given gift that she has. A gift that the struggles of life has not taken from her. I give thanks to my mom who is a living example of the power of God’s love to break through the darkness and bring light (John 1). Believe me, it’s not all rosy (her name is Rose) with her, but in the midst of the thorns she brings a smile to the smile-less.

I hope that this Bungee Cord is akin to my mom’s music, a laser of grace and hope in your lives. There are moments when life is far from rosy for me, and I expect the same is true for you. But because others, like you, have shared their gift of compassion and care with me, a smile of hope spontaneously forms on my face. Likewise, because God, who refuses to let me be taken from his embrace, unites himself with me weekly at the altar, I find myself ready to laugh at the spiritual bullies of my life saying, “Okay. Hit me with your best shot!”

We are all gifted from God, and nothing, as my mom is living evidence, can keep you and me from being vessels of God’s love in this world.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

0:08 / 0:35

Like

Comment

Share