The Bungee Cord. 11-27-23

Hello,

Many people have a hard time believing the Christmas story. It is hard for them to believe that Angels filled the sky and sang to shepherds. It is hard for them to believe that a young virgin became pregnant without a human counterpart. It is hard for them to believe that a star could guide people to a manger in Bethlehem. It is hard for them to believe that the eternal, if there is such a one at all, could become incarnate in time. It is hard for them to believe that the “hopes and dreams of all the years” could be fulfilled in a mid-east baby.

And who could blame them. The events of the Biblical Christmas story do not regularly occur in most people’s lives. As a matter of fact, for most people they don’t occur at all. At least they have not occurred in my life….no angels….no virgin births….no guiding stars. I have heard people doubtfully say that if such events did indeed happen, surely there would have been a record of them outside of the Bible.

Personally, I do not find myself getting tripped up in the details of the story. Did God connect with humanity if different ways in different times? Maybe. Could it be that God, whose power filled the universe with life could fill the womb of one woman with God’s life? Seems reasonable to me. Might have God guided people in ways that were in their daily experience, albeit different from ours? To think otherwise seems very myopic to me. Although the verifiable historical truth of the Christmas story might be outside of our reach today, to me, to place the power of the Christmas event in the details of the story misses the whole point.

The whole point, in my mind, is far harder to believe, and that is that the one who engulfs the universe (or universes, as some scientists today contend) with power and might should care at all about the speck of cosmic dust that I am, that you are, or that anyone is. When I look into the night sky as the shepherds did, I don’t see a legion of angels, but I see stars who outnumber my count. Who am I in this universe? As the Psalmist says, “Who am I that God should care about me?” When I look into the mirror, I see someone who has brought fracture to creation. Sure, it may be an infinitesimally small crack in the universe, but as we found out recently in the small submarine that apparently exploded under the pressure of the ocean, small cracks are deadly. Why would not the maker of the universe simply want to eradicate me.

The whole point of the Christmas story is that as unbelievable as it is, the one whose hands formed and hold the universe(s) together, actually heartfully holds me. The Christmas event is meant to make that crystal clear in your eyes and mine. It’s meant to have the power to convince our unbelieving minds; to convince them in the same way that when you hear a knock on the door and someone is standing there with a megaball lottery check with your name on it, and they say, “This is for you.” You, with your jaw on the ground, say back, “I can’t believe it, I have never played the lottery.” And the holder of the check says, “I guess someone loves you enough to play it for you.”

The most unbelievable thing about the Christmas story is the most important thing of the story. God loves me and you and everyone. And although we might be inclined to hear that with disbelief, there, staring out from a Bethlehem manger is a child who was born to hang on a cross, and whose name is Jesus, which means God saves. “I guess the One loves me!” I, for one, find myself in awesome wonder, amazement, and….. belief!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 11-2023

Hello,

I have one week left on a 30 day trial to use Soundcloud.com to transfer audio files onto my Facebook page. So, consider yourselves the lucky (?) beneficiaries of my free trial period that will fill your ears with another song that I have written.

Over the course of my ministry, I have written eight “cantatas” (a fancy word for a series of songs that tell a story) putting Bible stories to music. One of the cantatas is the encounter that Jesus had with a tax collector named Zacchaeus. (Luke 19)

Zacchaeus lived in Jericho, and he had everything a person could want except friends. No one liked him because he collected taxes for the Romans who had taken over the country. He was a traitor. And the way that he had become so wealthy was to have collected more than the Romans required, which he pocketed. Because of the lavish lifestyle he lived, the people also considered him a thief. One other label that he wore was one that he did nothing to deserve; he was short.

So, one day when Jesus came to town, no one would let him stand at the roadside to see Jesus. Lucky for him, there was a Sycamore tree near the road which he decided to climb for a view or Jesus. When everyone saw him in the tree, they laughed at him for his juvenile action. And as they laughed, he gained another name: fool.

But when Jesus passed by and saw this grown man hanging in a tree, Jesus did not laugh. Instead Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house, something that no one in Jericho would have ever thought of doing….rubbing shoulders with a slimy eel of a person. Amazingly, Jesus’ visit to Zacchaeus’ house was transformational, because even before they got there Zacchaeus said, “‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ (Luke 19:8) Before Jesus, Zacchaeus had a cold, callous, compact, and self-concerned heart. After Jesus his heart was transformed into a fountain of goodness and mercy flowing out into the world.

There’s a point to this story that is often overlooked. Notice that Jesus never told Zacchaeus to do what he decided to do. Instead, Jesus’ goodness and mercy to Zacchaeus changed who Zacchaeus was, and that is what led to Zacchaeus’ actions. As I have studied the Bible, the same thing happened over and over again. Jesus’ goodness and mercy changed people’s hearts, and in turn the way they lived their lives were changed.

I believe that the same thing happens today in our lives. When Jesus invites himself into our lives, our hearts are changed: changed from vacuums of self-centeredness, to supercharged leaf-blowers of divine love and grace. Every time I write the Bungee Cord, I hope that it carries Jesus’ self-invite into your life as you hang in the limbs of a sycamore tree you have climbed. While the world laughs at you and calls you….fool, failure, betrayer, racist, weird,cheat, piece of filth, bad parent, addict, mooch, unwanted…I hope that as your eyes take in the Bungee Cord you experience Jesus opening up the door of your heart and gladly walking in….to change it, to change you, and to change the world.

Here's the song that I wrote that Zacchaeus sang when Jesus changed his heart, “Can’t Stop This River”. (Song Copyright Jerry Nuernberger 1998)

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

SOUNDCLOUD.COM

Zach 6 - Can't Stop This River

Listen to Zach 6 - Can't Stop This River by Jerry Nuernberger #np on #SoundCloud

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 The Bungee Cord. 11-13-23

Hello,

There’s a commercial on with a man and a woman in a restaurant booth. The man is informing the woman that everyone who is a customer of a particular cell phone company (I think that’s the advertiser) gets a low new lower rate, to which the woman asks with a tone of unfairness, “Even Suzie (can’t remember the real name) who took her bicycle and hid it in her garage all winter gets the special rate, too?”

With a look of truth on his face, the man says, “Yes, everyone who is a customer.” The woman says nothing with a look of disappointment on her face.

The Bible tells us that Jesus died for the world and did not come to condemn the world “but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17). Even Suzie who stole my bicycle and hid it in her garage for the winter? Even the one who spread ugly rumors about me? Even the person who told lies and got the promotion that I had worked hard for? Even the corrupt government official that embezzled money? Even…..you name it, from the smallest prick in your soul’s skin to the deepest and most heinous dagger stab….even them?

And with a look of truth on his face, Jesus, from the cross says, “Yes, everyone who walks this earth.”

I’ve seen the look of disappointment on the face of many a person who has heard Jesus’ words of forgiveness from the cross. They, like the woman in the commercial, wear a frown on their face to hear that those who have hurt others do not get what they deserve. They deserve, of course, to be left out. That would make things fair. That would even up the score. It is not right for such people to be included in this blanket of mercy. Right?

Well, if that is the exclusion that you or I might expect for others, then where does that leave you and me? Where does it leave you and me when we are the perpetrators of pain and suffering?

When I have posed that question to folks who begrudge God’s mercy to others, they have responded back, “Well, I haven’t killed anyone like they did.” To which I ask back, “How many minutes of sleep have you lost over the millions of children who are starving to death in the world while you have more than you can eat?” Or some have said, “But I didn’t mean to hurt them.” To which I have answered, “Even if you didn’t mean to cause pain, the pain still ripped into the other’s heart.” And still others have said, “But I said I was sorry, and the people that hurt me have never been repentant.” My response: if you squash a beetle, sorry doesn’t change the fact that that beetle’s innards are splattered on the sidewalk.

The mirror is a very aggressive prosecutor, a prosecutor who has never lost a trial….never has and never will. So, I thank God that there is one, that God is one, who doesn’t look at me and sees the image in my mirror. I am eternally thankful that God’s blanket of grace covers me and Suzie (whoever your or my Suzie might be). I am eternally thankful that God’s forgiveness is given to even the likes of me. I am eternally thankful that God sees me the eyes of the one who took every bit of pain and suffering that I could inflict on others and killed the agent of that pain: greed, pride, loneliness, hate, envy….you name it. And then said to me and to the world as Jesus walked out of the tomb, to inflictors and inflicted, “That pain will not rule your life, I will reign in your life with a power that brings healing to wounds, peace to suffering, and even life to death.”

For God so loved the world….that means you and that means me….that he gave his Son, not to judge the world as guilty….. that means you and that means me…but in order that the world might be saved through him…that means you and that means me….and that means Suzie, too.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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The Bungee Cord 11-6-23

Hello,

I don’t know why, but for centuries, November 1st has been observed as “All Saints Day”. I know that various Christian traditions hold different definitions for “saint”, but in my tradition, a saint is someone upon whom Jesus looks as sinless. That doesn’t mean that saints don’t sin, but what it means is that no matter the grime that one smears on one’s life, those who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 14) are viewed by Christ through cross-forgiven eyes. As a matter of fact, my tradition has a phrase describing Christians in this life: “Simul justus et peccator”. That’s Latin for “simultaneously saint and sinner”. (Latin always makes things sound more important…lol.). Of course, the day will come, when the final trumpet will sound and we are gathered around the heavenly throne and the sinner in us will no longer have breath, our songs will only be the songs of saints. That is the promise God has given us in Scripture.

Likewise, different Christian traditions have different understandings of when that label “Christian” or “child of God” becomes ours. In my tradition, it happens at Baptism. The water isn’t special water, and it isn’t “magical water”. It is just plain water, and as water that has been drawn from the church kitchen tap splashes upon a person, the life changing promise of eternal forgiveness is likewise splashed upon that one. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit.” Sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ, forever. Personally, it is in this Christening that I live out my life and faith, thereby my “focus” verse, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called Children of God; and that is what we are.” (1 John 3:1). I am a saint.

I tell you this because some years ago I wrote a song, “Baptismal Lullaby”. I wrote it for the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus, but just as Jesus’ baptism made it clear as to what Jesus’ relationship was to the heavenly Father, so, too does each of our Baptisms (I believe in all traditions) make it clear as to our relationship with the heavenly Father. So, on this All Saints week, a week in which you and I are included, give a listen to this song, and as you hear it see yourself resting safely and lovingly in the arms of God. (song copyright Jerry Nuernberger 2002)   Go to this link to hear the song:  https://www.facebook.com/jerry.nuernberger.3

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

SOUNDCLOUD.COM

Baptismal Lullabye