The Bungee Cord  8-17-20

 

Hello,

 

      I opened my  browser, and as usual a group of news stories appeared on the bottom of the screen.  One stuck out, “Noteworthy Deaths”.  What makes one death “noteworthy” and another death not worthy of note?

 

     Over the course of my ministry, I have done lots and lots of funerals. 

 

      I have done some funerals where there were so many people in attendance that people were standing outside.  I remember one such funeral was  for a young mother involved in a tragic accident.  Another such funeral was one for one who had been a pillar of the small community in which we lived.

 

     I have also done small funerals, never so small that it was just me and the deceased, but on a couple of occasions it wasn’t very many more than that.  One such funeral was for a very old person who simply outlived all of her family and friends.  Another such funeral was for someone who lived an isolated life and never had any friends.  

 

     I have done funerals where there was lots of crying and tears, and I have done funerals where not a sound is heard.  Sometimes the silence was because no one really cared about the one who died, and other times the silence was because the one who died was not cared for at all.  I have never heard anyone say of the one who has died, “Boy, am I glad he’s gone,” or “she was really a jerk,”  but the silence of anything nice to say was close enough.

 

     I have done some funerals where there was giggling and laughter. Never quite ruckus in merriment, but sometimes a bit more than the nervous snickers that are often part of the family stories that are shared.

 

     I have done lots of funerals, and as I look back on them, I wonder, how many of them would have been considered noteworthy?  Or another question, when I die, will my death be “noteworthy”?

 

     I guess that I hope that my life has been worthy of note.  I hope that in some way, the steps that I have trod in this life are more than just imprints on hard ground.  I hope that they have left some imprint of good in people’s lives….the lives of those closest to me, the lives of those who I have been called to serve, the lives of those who have been kicked in the teeth by the world.    

 

     But here’s the heart of the Christian message: no matter how noteworthy the world might consider your life or my life to have been, in the heart of God we live and die as people of unmeasured noteworthiness.  And the noteworthiness of our lives and deaths finds its value in the investment of love that God has put in each person. The Christian message is that God so values each person that God totally invests God’s self in each one.  When God sent Jesus, God didn’t just send Jesus for some people.  God sent Jesus for all people.  And when Jesus, the Son of God, died, Jesus didn’t just die for some people.  Jesus died for all people.  Including you and me.

 

     It may be true that on the day that you and I die, the our names may not be found on a Google search of noteworthy deaths.  But Jesus lived and died for you…. for YOU!  What could be more noteworthy than that!

 

     In the heart of God, I know that God looks upon me and my life and death as noteworthy.  And as I live out my life…any you live out yours…you and I get to treat others and tell others that no matter what the world says about them when they are tucked into the grave, a tear will run down the face of God when someone who God’s Son, Jesus, died for dies…..and a party will resound in heaven when that same one, who by the power of Jesus resurrection, rises from the dead!  And what could mark a death as more noteworthy than that!

 

Have a great week.

 

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord   8-10-20

Hello,

 

     With the companionship of Covid 19, I have had to readjust my exercise regiment.  Prior to the virus’ visit, I “excercised” by playing 2 hours of pickleball 3 or 4 times a week.  Unfortunately, given the closed in spaces and non-social distancing of pickleball, I had to give that “exercise”  up, even though I really enjoyed playing and the people I played with.  As a replacement “exercise”, I now play golf 3 or 4 times a week, alone.  When I golf, I always walk the 9 holes that I play, and I carry my clubs.  Generally, I go out in the afternoon heat, so when I am done golfing, I am hot and tired….thus counting it as “exercise”.

 

     I just got back from my “exercise”, and am resting my weary bones as I write this Bungee Cord.  While I was on the course….walking and carrying my clubs….a song from my youth started to run through my mind, “Every Breath You Take” by Sting.  As I was feeling the result of walking in the afternoon sun toting the weight of my clubs, I heard the words from the chorus, 

 

“Every breath you take and every move you make
Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you
Every single day and every word you say
Every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you

Oh, can't you see you belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every step you take”

 

 

“Every step you take…..”, by the time that the song hit my thoughts, I had taken lots of steps, and still many steps to go.

 

    I remember seeing an interview with Sting when this song came out.  Talking with the reporter about his song, he said that he was dumbfounded  to hear how this song was being used.  Apparently, this song was finding its way into weddings (although it has never part of a wedding service that I have conducted….but that’s another story and Bungee Cord”).  He was surprised because he wrote it as an expression of an unbalanced jilted lover. Far from the romantic way that it was being used, Sting’s intent was to verbalize unhealthy compulsive drives.

 

     If you read all the lyrics of the song, you, too would join Sting in amazement that it found its way into weddings.  The watchful vigilance of which it speaks is vindictive, vengeful, and spooky.  So important to listen to the whole song!

 

     It is no wonder to me, then, that when people hear of the watchful vigilance of God, a God who neither slumbers or sleeps, and is so consumed with humans that he knows how many hairs are on each head…..that they hear, as Sting intended in his song, of an obsessive, compulsive God that any sane person would want no part of.

     But once again, the importance of hearing the whole song.  God’s whole song of one who is watching those for whom his love is so great that he would die for them….watching them walk into the valley of the shadow of death….watching them step along a path inhabited by a brood of vipers…..watching them graze as lambs prowled by wolves….watching them stepping into a darkness so dark that they don’t know which way to go.  God knows the dangers that lie ahead, the perils that await, the failures that are bound to happen….and so, God watches vigilantly so that when trouble falls, those whom he loves will not face it on their own…..God will be with them.

 

     Far from vindictive, vengeful and spooky, God’s vigilant watch is caring, courage-building and comforting.  

 

     When I play golf, golf is far more exercise than sport for me.  I often wind up in the woods, in the deep grass, buried in the sand,  and plopping in the water.  Interestingly enough, likewise is the description of my life.  That is why I am glad that I have a God that gracefully, mercifully and powerfully watches “every step that I take” as I exercise….and live.

 

Have a great week.

 

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 8-3-20

Hello,

 

Today’s Bungee Cord is my sermon from Sunday….seemed to me that it was worth Bungee’ing.

 

 “And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”  So, if we add in the women and children that were there in that deserted place – people who had followed him in order experience his divine compassion and to be cured of their illnesses – there were about 10,000 people there.  10,000 people.  According to the 2018 records, Ligonier has about 1500 people living here, and Latrobe has about 7800 people living there.  So, if every man woman and child from both Ligonier and Latrobe gathered on the shore Lake Donegal, then we would get a picture of the size of the crowd that gathered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that day.

 

So, no wonder when Jesus told the disciples, “They don’t need to go away to get food, you give them something to eat,” they were shocked and stunned as they looked at the food in their baskets.  Five loaves of bread, and two fish…to feed the population of Ligonier and Latrobe…”Jesus, are you crazy?  What were you drinking when you were out in that boat!”

 

Five loaves of bread, and two fish.  That is all they held in their hands.  That is all they had to take on the task of feeding 10,000 people.  But what we find out today, and what those disciples found out that day, is that when five loaves of bread and two fish are in Jesus’ hands, that is more than enough to do what Jesus wants to be done.  “Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.”  In Jesus’ hands, five loaves of bread and two fish were more than enough to do what Jesus wanted to do.

 

I think that we have some sense of the futility in the disciples’ reply when he told them to feed that crowd of 10,000 people with five loaves and 2 fish….because today we are facing the same thing.  Millions of people in our country have caught this virus, 150,000 people have died, people’s livelihoods have been challenged and some have been lost, loneliness is flooding people’s lives, testiness and anger are rising up in people, and as of right now, there seems to be no clear end in sight.  And we say to Jesus, “Jesus, it’s getting late in this battle against the virus, and the people are starving for hope.  Send them somewhere they can find hope.”

 

And today, I hear Jesus tell us the same thing that he told those first disciples, “They don’t need to go anywhere for hope, you give them hope.”

 

“But Jesus,” we might respond, “all we have are these masks and bottles of hand sanitizer.”  

 

“Bring them here to me,” says Jesus.  And in a few moments he will do just as he did with that bread and fishes, he will bless these masks and hand sanitizers, and those who wear them, and he is going to send us, his disciples out into this world so hungry for hope.  “You feed them,” says Jesus.

 

And so we will go….go having been blessed and our masks and hand sanitizer being blessed.  And what will happen as we go….well, guess we’ll have to see, but after hearing our Gospel lesson today, I don’t think that we should be surprised if we see….

·      When you see the checkout person at the grocery store have a glint of joy in her eyes and a smile on her face that we cannot see behind her mask when you, by the patience you show and the kind words that you share, spread the hope of Christ with which you have been blessed…

·      When you hear the lilt in the voice of the elderly person who lives next to you when you call her on the phone just to say “hi” and check in on her, thereby sharing the hope with which Jesus as 

·      When the larger than usual tip that you leave for the restaurant person after you have picked up your supper to take home, is received with a response of, “Thank you.  Thank you very much.”

·      When the kids in the house near to you who are bored to death and are anxious about what lies ahead of them this fall, when you give them the plate of cookies that you have brought over for them, and they go running into the house, “Mom, mom. Look what the neighbor brought over.”

·      Or when your coworker who is exhausted from work says something uncharacteristically bristly to you, and out of the hope with which you have been blessed, you say back, “I know that you didn’t mean that.  We’re all a bit on edge.

·      Or when a spouse who is feeling worthless and empty, not being able to do the things that has brought meaning to their life is hugged by you and out of the hope with which you have been blessed you say, “Honey, I love you.”

 

I don’t think that you or I should be surprised to see hope rising up….no, not rising up, but gushing up, drenching the pervading parch path of hopelessness with buckets of hope – who knows, maybe even 12 buckets of hope – hope to step into the bleakness of the days ahead, hope to see the wonder of God’s love, hope to stand up to the pressures of the day and say “thank you Lord for another day of life”, and hope to step out into the world with courage, buckets in hand, and delight in being part of doing some divine drenching of the world with hope.

 

This just may be an exciting week for you as you discover the amazing things that Jesus can do with a few masks and jars of hand sanitizer!

 

Amen.

 

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 7-27-20

Hello,

 

Those who know me, know that I am a baseball fan.  I played a lot of baseball as a kid, and I enjoy watching the match-play of strategy and skill. If football and hockey are high energy video games, then baseball, to me, is more akin to an intriguing game of chess.

 

So, when the opening games finally began, I was to be found sitting on my couch in front of my TV. Of course, that is the only place to watch baseball games as of now, due to the coronavirus restrictions.  No fans at the games.  Some of the teams have filled some of the sections with cardboard cutouts of fans, fans of course which make no noise.

 

But that is not to say that there is no fan-sound.  In many of the stadiums, fan noise is being pumped in.  I don’t know how they do it, but they seem to be able to recreate the noise that would be made if the fans were there.  The increase in volume when a ball is hit.  The clapping in sync with the organ, and even the boo-ing of the opposing coach when he comes out to argue.  

 

If you are watching on TV, you know that the noise is not real, but if you are listening on the radio, you would never know the difference.  And listening to the radio is what I was doing yesterday as I was driving in my car.  The Pirate announcers sounded as if they were right there at the game, but they were not. They were in a studio in Pittsburgh. The stadium in St. Louis sounded like it was a sellout crowd, but it was empty.  Everything that came across the radio waves was so realistic, that when I took in a deep breath, I could almost smell the peanuts and popcorn that I would eat at the games when I was a kid.

 

It sounded so real…..but it wasn’t.

 

But that is the way things often are in this world that we live.  We don’t hear guns and tanks, and we think there is peace, but it just war taking a nap.  We see people of all races living in a neighborhood and we think we see love, but we don’t, it is just tolerance.  We hear money jingling in our bank accounts, and we think we have security, but it really is just a screen door as we face the future.  The world offers a lot of things that seem so real, but in truth, they are not.

 

But with God, things are different.  They are real.   They are what they say they are.   When silence surrounds us, we experience peace, true peace, because as Psalm 46 says that our Mighty Fortress God says to us, “Be still, and know that I am God.”   When we see folks of all ages and races kneeling side by side at the altar to receive communion, we experience love, real love, because the one who came in unconditional love to give his life for the world is at working to unite people in his cross-conquered love.  When we hear the vault of heaven resound in joy, we experience security, real security, as the one who danced his way out of the grave takes hold of us and gathers us in that dance.  

 

One of the things that I am finding to be true during these Covid days is the unveiling of the things of this world so that we might see them for what they really are….not really real.  Simultaneously, I am finding these Covid days to clear the vision of my eyes to see the things of God for what they really are….really real.

 

Have a great day.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 7-20-20

Hello,

Time for a little humor….a very little humor.  If you have ever lived in the upper-Midwest (Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin) than you have probably heard more than your share of “Ole and Lena” jokes.  These are jokes that Scandinavians tell, laughing at themselves and their idiosyncrasies.  Of course, when you tell them you need to tell them with your best Scandinavian accent…. So it’s …. OOOOOOOlee and Leeeeeena…..and you have to throw Sven in there, too (tuuuu).

So….starting off with a bit off color joke….

One day Sven was sitting on the porch of the sheriff’s office, and all of the sudden he looks and he see Lena running into town, and she’s got no clothes (“cloooose”) on. Well, don’t you know, Sven jumps from his chair and runs over to Lena and he says, he says to her, “Lena, you gots no cloooose on.”

Vell, Lena looks over at Sven and she says, she says to him, “Vell Sven, you know Me and Ole, ve vent up to the lake, and ve vas doing some smooching, and Ole, Ole he says to me, “Hey Lena, let’s take off all of our cloooose and really go to town……and it looks like I beat him here!”

Lol….

If you made it through that one, here’s another one….

One day as Ole and Lena were sitting in their kitchen eating their breakfast and drinking their coffee, Lena breaks the silence and she says to Ole, “Ole, how come you don’t ever tell me that you love me?”

Vell….Ole….he sat there thinking to himself, and then he said, “Vell, don’t you remember that vhen ve got married, I told you that I love you?   Vell, I haven’t changed my mind yet.”

Lol….

Vell…unlike Ole, God tells us over and over again of his love for us.  In the waters of Baptism, God says, “I love you.”  In the promise of forgiveness, God says, “I love you.”  In the fellowship of Sunday morning, God says, “I love you.”  In the bread and wine of Holy Communion, God says, “I love you.”  In the prayers that tuck us in every night, God says, “I love you.” Ole may not think that Lena needs to hear that he hasn’t changed his mind, but God says it over and over to us again so that we might not ever wonder if God has changed his mind.”

“I love you,” God.

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  7-13-20

Hello,

In these days of Covid, I find a general grumpiness taking hold of a lot of people.  

Last week, I stopped into the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things, and as usual the folks at the grocery store were hard at work, as they have been throughout the onslaught of this virus.  All of them wearing masks that I am sure are cumbersome and bothersome.  All of the cashiers behind plexiglass shields that I am sure makes it difficult to communicate with their customers.  All of them wiping their hands and counters over and over again with unmitigated repetition.  All of them daily putting themselves in harm’s way to help people like me stay alive.

So, I haven’t been surprised when the workers at the grocery store are a little grumpy, and sometimes that has happened.  I am not surprised if they seem a bit weary and worn out and are people of few words when they encounter me.  I am not surprised when they are not delighted by my presence.  Given all that they face, I know that I would probably be likewise.

But I was surprised this past week when I stopped to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store. After gathering what I needed, I proceeded my way to the checkout area.  The “express” lane was long, so I looked to see if there was a shorter “normal” lane with folks that didn’t have overfilled grocery carts.  I found one,  and  I stood on the green dots on the floor that kept me appropriately distant from those around me.  I was third in line.  As I waited my turn, I noticed something that took me by great surprise.  The checkout person was vibrantly friendly and wonderfully engaging the people.  When she greeted the person she was about to help, it was delightfully warm.  When the older woman in front of me reached the checkout person, I heard the checkout person call the customer by name, and said, “Oh hello, Mable.  How are you today?”  She engaged in some endearing chit-chat with the customer, and when her checkout was complete, she said with an energetic wish, “Mable, you have a great day!”

When I reached the front of the line, she likewise warmly and delightfully greeted me, someone she had never met before.  “Do you have a Giant Eagle card?”, she asked, not with an assembly line monotone but with a bounce in her voice.

“No, I don’t, but here’s my telephone number,” which I rattled off to her.

“Oh, Jerry.  Good morning!”, she replied when my number unveiled my identity.

She chit chatted with me as she rang up my few items, and when she handed me my receipt, I said to her, “Thank you for your cheeriness.  It is wonderful.”

She, with a lilt in her voice, “Well, I am trying.”

And then she said….., “My cat died this morning.”

The surprise of her words hit me in the face like cold water.  “Oh, I am sorry,” I replied, “I had to put my dog down this winter, and boy was that hard.”  And as I left her, I said, “Thanks, again, and take care.”

The saying is certainly true, “Be kind because you don’t know what battle someone is fighting.”  I was wonderfully amazed at her cheeriness in the face of the never relenting shroud of this virus, but I was astonishingly amazed at her cheeriness towards me in the face of the loss of a beloved companion, just that morning.  She didn’t know me.  I had never met her before.  I was merely a buyer of potato chips crossing her path that morning, and yet she treated me as something far more.  She greeted me with joy that I had come to her checkout line.  And she sent me away with a blessing of grace that made a dent in my life.

Thank you, Lord for the grace that that checkout person showed me and showered into my life. Lord, so fill me with your gracious love, that I, like she, might be able to overcome the battles of my days and make a dent of your joy, hope, peace, and love in those who cross my path. Amen.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  7-6-20

Hello,

This was my sermon on Sunday….thought it might be good to share it with you, too.  Read the sermon, and then play the video….and be hugged by God.

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

·      I don’t know about you, but I am weary.  

·      I am weary of being hunted by this virus, 

·     a hunt that has caused me to go into hiding, 

·     a hunt that has caused me to be constantly vigilant and careful, 

·     a hunt that has caused me to refrain from things that previously had brought much joy to my life, 

·     a hunt that has caused me to be on the look out wherever I go and concern myself with details 

….I am weary.  

·     And my weariness has had a way of sapping joy out of my life.  

·     It has had a way of making me more edgy and less patient.  

·     It has had a way of wearing me down

….and the hard part of all of this is that I think that we have a long way to go before this covid thing is under wraps.  I am weary.

And so when I hear Jesus say this morning, “Come unto me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens,”  I hear that invitation being spoken directly to me.  “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Notice when Jesus gives you and me this invitation, he does not offer to take all the wearying things away.  

·     No, what Jesus offers is to be the place of peace and rest.  

·     A place of gentle care in a world that is harsh and cruel.  

·     A place where he will enfold us in his shielding love, and we can take refuge under his wings.  

·     A divine lap to sit upon….to sit upon and be loved.

I think that most of you know that I deal with depression, and when depression hits life is hard.  Depression, like covid, is a constant hunter, and it, like covid, can just wear you out. It makes one weary.  And when depression hovers near and I am worn out, I have found that there is something – besides good counselling and medicine – that really helps out… and that thing is a 20 second hug from my wife.  

·     Embraced.  

·     Enfolded. 

·     Encompassed in the arms of one who loves me.

 It gives me a 20 second break from the hunter.  

·     It allows me to catch my breath. 

·     It refreshes my soul so as to give me strength to take the next step.  

“Come to me,” says Jesus, “ and let me give you a hug.”

“Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Here….in these next few seconds and minutes….feel the hug of the Lord.   

(Play the video)

“Come you laden with burdens…..”

Have a great day.

God’s grace and peace,(ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

(Unfortunately, I can't post the video here...but you can access it by going to my Facebook page, Jerry Nuernberger)