The Bungee Cord. 4-29-24

Hello,

Those of you who have visited me know that I live on top of a hill with a winding half-mile drive off the main road. This afternoon after I had made my ascent, I was greeted, as I always am in the spring by this beautiful dogwood tree. I don’t know how long it has been standing there. Long before we bought the property and built our house. But I would guess that for decades it has grown on the top slope of our hill, exploding, like an ariel firework bringing people who see it to say, as on July 4th, “Ooooh…….. Aaaaah.

Its beauty lasts only a week or so and then the bright white flowers begin to fade and eventually disappear as the petals fall off. In the summer it provides shade for small animals and plants. In the fall its leaves turn brown, and in the winter, it is nothing but dark branches and trunk. As I consider the yearly stages of this tree, I find myself realizing that each stage is important and essential to the life tree. It would not serve the tree well if it were only abloom, only greed leafed, only shedding leaves, or only leafless. Much can be learned about the tree as it reveals itself differently.

Of course, every analogy has its limits, and for the one that I am about to offer that is certainly true. Consider how we see life and the world around us. There are those who say that faith and science are enemies and battle one another for the truth. As a Christian, I do not find myself to be one of those thinkers. For me, science and faith are essential and important aspects of life. When I look at life with scientific eyes, I find myself awestruck by the wonder of life and creation. I am amazed at the formulas that span the universe, the structures of things both great and small, the rules that permeate all that exists. Like my dogwood tree in the winter, the amazing trunks and branches of life and creation are laid bare to see them clearly with scientific delight.

And when I see my dogwood tree in all it flowered glory, I find myself overwhelmed in awe that formulas, structures and rules. I experience beauty that adorns the structure. I find myself swept up with emotion that enliven formulas and rules. It is what the artist does with a canvas, that the canvas maker cannot do. It is the same thrill that I remember having when I first saw my favorite cartoons in color, and not just black and white. For me, this is the realm of faith. When I see in my mind’s eye Jesus hanging on the cross and walking out of the Easter tomb, I see a dogwood tree of an explosion of grace and mercy that is completely riveting like the finest perfume.

I know that people far wiser than I have noted that empiricism is the driving force behind science and that story is the driving force behind faith, and although there might be some who conclude that those differences are insurmountable. I wonder if that is true. It seems to me that these are both important and essential avenues for discovering the wonder in which we find ourselves…..like a dogwood in the spring: a solid structure of trunk and branches, and an incredible beauty of blossoms and bloom.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 4-15-24

Hello,

When a previous congregation was interviewing me, two very interesting questions were asked of me. The first was, “Who is you favorite musical artist?” This was a question that I had never been asked in all my previous interviews. Amazingly enough, on the way to the interview, I was actually thinking about that question. It is a question that I don’t often ponder in my mind, but there it was, in my thoughts just before it was asked. So, when it was asked of me, I had had time to consider my answer. “James Taylor.”

The second question had not popped into my mind before I sat in that interview. “What is one word that would describe you?” I suppose that people who conduct or prepare regularly for interviews would have been prepared for such a question, but I was not. I paused a bit as I sifted through a bunch of words, and the word that surfaced was, “Patient”. It is a word that other people used to describe me as I worked for many years with youth. I really liked working with the youth. I enjoyed their zest for life, their energy, their questions, and being part of their lives when life changes so quickly. As anyone who works with youth will echo, it also takes a lot of patience. Patience to deal with their growing pains and developing personalities. I think that one of the reasons that I so enjoyed working with the youth is because I am a fairly patient person.

However, I wish that this second question would have popped into my mind before my interview, because on the way home from the interview with that question still percolating in my mind, I think a different word would have been more central to my description. That word is “hopeful”. That may seem to be a strange answer coming from someone for whom depression is a daily companion, because when depression bites, it has a way of dragging one into a dark place where hopelessness becomes a firmly affixed blindfold. And yet, it is exactly out of that darkness where my hopefulness is born.

I have experienced as the first chapter of the book of John says, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” And I have experienced what the 8th chapter of Romans says, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;

we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

For me, it was and is, when I am in the deepest darkness that the power of God’s love in Jesus Christ is most palpable and present. It is when I no longer have the strength to “hang in there” that I discover that I am being held. It is when I am told that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but realize I simply cannot make it there, that I discover that Jesus, the light of the world comes to me. It is when I am so confused and become blindly dizzy from spinning around and around that I discover that “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” I am hopeful because Jesus Christ, the incarnate God Almighty went to the abyss of darkness on the cross and rose on the third day in a victory of eternal light and life.

It is out of the hope that God has implanted in me through Jesus Christ when I confront the darkest moments in life, that I have hope to face those that are not so dark. Like…I have hope that my work with the youth will make a difference in their lives, even when my work seems to make such small dents….I have hope that the sermons I have preached have fueled a fire of faith in the listeners, even when I have seen blank stares….I have hope that my children will take on life with courage and care, even when they have seen their father faltering in those very things…I have hope that nations who are committed to building up their muscles as they stand toe to toe with their enemies might come to see the tears that run down each other’s cheeks when tragedy strikes.

I have hope. Not because I see the power in my hands or the wisdom in my mind. Not because there is a goldfish of goodness swimming in the daunting seas of our lives. Not because I am a naïve movie goer who translates the fictional and feel good happy ending to every movie into the real world of ongoing suffering and pain. Not because I wear rose colored glasses that filter out tragically sad things. No…I have hope because I have seen that the one who permeates all of creation has taken hold of me and with the ferocity of a mother bear protecting her cub says to anything and everything that might come along, “You can’t have this one. This one is mine!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernbeger

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 The Bungee Cord. 4-24

Hello,

A couple of days ago I looked down at my weedy lawn and I realized something deep and profound: weed killer doesn’t grow grass.

As I listen to people speak about the Christian faith, I hear a lot of talk about “weed killer”. To many, it seems, Christianity is nothing more than a bag of do’s and don’ts that are strewn into the world to kill weeds. There are the 10 main ones that people are quick to spread on other people’s lives, but often water down when they are applied to their own. There are also bags of specialized “weed killer” that are aimed at weeds that the 10 main ones don’t seem to have the focus to deal with. These are the bags that I hear a lot of Christians spending a lot of time arguing over. There are also huge world-size bags that carry the label “Justice”. They weed out invasive things whose roots run deep into people’s souls.

Of course, weed killers have their place in the lawn of life and faith. When applied, they make room for grass to grow. They eliminate roots that entangle themselves in the roots of the grass, entanglements that choke and intercept nutrients. They topple the canopy of leaves that brings a shadow over the grass. Weed killers are important in creating a lush yard of grass, “Barefoot Grass” as one yard care company calls itself. But here’s the thing: they don’t grow grass.

Jesus tells the story of an orchard owner who is having some trouble with an unproductive tree, and he wants to cut it down. For three years, the tree has yielded nothing. The gardener has a plan to save the tree. First, he tells the owner that he is going to do some weed killing, dig around the tree to free the tree from the competition of the weeds. But he doesn’t stop there. He also is going to put manure around it….good, powerful nutrients…and then with confidence says, “Come back next year, and see what you find.”

There is a place for weed killer in the living of the Christian faith, but the power of the Christian faith is not in the weed killer…..it is in the manure! When the words of divine forgiveness are applied to the soil, those words, like manure, have the nutrients to lift one off of one’s knees when someone has wilted under the heat of the world. When the story of the empty tomb is stirred into ashes and dust, that story, like manure, has the power to raise up new and eternal life. When a piece of bread and a sip of wine embodying Christ’s presence slide down a hungry throat, those earthly things, like manure, have the power to nourish a seedling that is trying to grow in a rocky terrain. And when a splash of water hits with a universal staking claim, that splash of water, has the power to transform the manure into a means of grace that one’s roots can take in.

There’s a place for weed killer in the lawn of Christianity, but the power of the Christian faith is found in the manure. It is my hope that every week when I spread out the words of a Bungee Cord upon your life you smell the manure in it, manure that brings with it the power to enliven, strengthen, and ground you in divine hope, trust, courage, and love. Every week I try to liberally and overwhelmingly mix the manure into the week killer, because I have profoundly come to see from my lawn that weed killer does not grow grass.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 4-1-24

Hello,

Christ is Risen!

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

Christ is risen…..INDEED!

• It is not just a lie that was begun by 12 disheartened followers. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not the psychotic delusion of a bunch of awkward outsiders. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not a hyped-up slogan for an institution to build its ranks on. Christ is risen IDEED!

• It is not some sort of panacea to calm the nerves of death fearing people. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not the projection in the minds of people who need a crutch to live. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not piece of heavenly pie for those whose life is hard. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not rose-colored sunglasses made to help people see a silver lining in cloudy days. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not snake oil salve to keep people from worrying about burning in hell as Ronald Reagan, Jr. would have us believe. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not a feathery pillow of dreams to cushion the hammer blows of the world. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not sappy saccharine coating to sweeten up the sour taste of life. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not a diabolical piece of brainwashing used to control people. Christ is risen INDEED!

• It is not an explanation from a time when superstitions and simple-mindedness was common. Christ is rise INDEED!

• It is not lemonade made out of lemons. Christ is risen INDEED!

What it is….is the truth.

• It is an event in the history of the universe that has changed the course of everything for all time.

• It is the thing that brings everything that has happened into focus and gives a focus for everything that is to come.

• It is the thing that stakes a claim of God’s embrace on all humanity that can never be taken away.

• It is the event that struck a tuning fork sending an ever-ringing pitch of divine love and mercy into all time and space.

• It is the dropping of an atomic bomb of grace that has forever changed the way we live our lives.

• It is an earth-hitting strike of eternal lightning sending a cosmic rumble of hope crumbling every speck of despair in the universe.

INDEED! INDEED! INDEED!

Christ is risen!

He is risen INDEED!

Alleluia!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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