The Bungee Cord. 7-24-23

Hello,

I am now the Monday substitute driver for the Donegal Route for Meals on Wheels, and today was my maiden voyage. My wife has been driving for a number of years on Wednesdays, and on the occasion when her traveling partner was not able to go with her, I traveled along. But now I am on my own with my traveling partner, who took his maiden voyage along with me, today, too.

There are 14 houses on our Route, the Donegal route, and they vary from easy to find to hidden away. It is a completely rural route. Most of the folks are widows or widowers, and their health varies from not too bad to nearly bedridden. At a couple of the homes, the folks are not able to answer the door, so we are supposed to just walk in after we knock (it feels a bit funny to me, almost like breaking into a stranger’s house).

For some, the Meals on Wheels visit is foremost a dietary need, but for others the primary need is different, but just as important, a daily visit. Every weekday these 14 households get a caring visit, a reminder that they have not been forgotten. The visit also provides a daily check in to see how they are doing. It has happened that they have fallen and have been laying on the floor for hours, or have even died.

There are two daily routes that operate out of our little church in the country. So, every weekday, 3 people arrive early in the morning to prepare a hot meal for the 28 household that they serve. The meals are good! Today was Swedish meatballs on noodles, with vegetables, salad and bread. It’s a loyal group of workers, who they, themselves, vary in age and health.

Notice, that I have not used the word “volunteer”, because when it comes to doing God’s work, I don’t think the word volunteer applies. In the English translation of the Bible, “volunteer” only occurs twice, both in the Old Testament books of Chronicles, and it never occurs in the New Testament. Its rare occurrence is evidence that “volunteering” is not how God envisions our participation in his life saving and life giving work.

When the Bible talks about what it means to be a Christian, the image of a body (1 Corinthians 12) is used, saying that each part (member) of the body has a particular place and role, and each part (member) is of treasured value. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ “(1 Cor 12:24) Members (parts) of a body, Christ’s body. That is what every Christian is.

And when you realize that that is who you and I are, it makes the word “volunteer” inapplicable. Think about it, when you wake up in the morning, you don’t ask your eyes to volunteer to open up and do their thing. Nor do you open your mouth and take in air and hope that your lungs “volunteer”. And you know that when your stomach, a member (part) of your body, isn’t working quite right, every part of your body feels it and your body doesn’t work as well as you need it to.

In every church that I have been the pastor, I have tried to get the people to stop using the word “volunteer”, because as you can see “volunteering” does not fit in the Christian way of thinking. Instead, I have tried to have the people see what place they have in the body of Christ so that they would naturally and spontaneously do what they do…eyes see, ears hear, livers filter, inner ears balance.

When I see the Meals on Wheels folks doing what they do, I see members (parts) of the body of Christ doing what they have been made to do. When I see a neighbor making sure that the child next door makes it to soccer practice, because they know that child’s parents can’t, I see a member (part) of the body of Christ doing what it has been made to do. When I see a group of people going to help repair a storm destroyed house, I see members (parts) of the body of Christ doing what they were made to do. When I see a person in the nursing home playing the piano for her fellow residents, I see a member (part) of the body of Christ doing what it was made to do. Such folks don’t “volunteer”, as if it would be ok if they were to choose not to do what they have done. Such folks have come to see who they are in the body of Christ, and naturally and spontaneously do what they have done.

Most important of all, as members (parts) of the body of Christ, is to remember that when Jesus came to this earth, Jesus didn’t volunteer to do so. When Jesus hung on the cross, Jesus didn’t raise his hand and volunteer to do so. When Jesus was carried into that stone sealed grave, he was not a volunteer, and when Jesus rose from the dead he didn’t do so because he had volunteered. All these things, Jesus did for you and for me, because they were the things that Jesus was made to do…shaped, motivated, and empowered by the love of God for you and me.

Jesus was not a volunteer, and he continues not to be one. That means that we, the members (parts) of the body of Christ are not volunteers, either.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 7-18-23

Hello,

My wife and I are looking for a new car. We are ready to venture our way into the electric car world, or at least the hybrid version of it. So, a couple of weeks ago, we went shopping.

I am always a bit leery of what I am about to encounter when entering a car dealership, because I think that when the salesperson sees me, he sees the “sucker” that is written across the front of my church. What do I know about cars? Not much. What do I know about the tricks of the trade that salespeople know to get me to buy a car for as much as they want me to pay? Not much. What do I know about all the gizmos and gadgets that are in the car that I don’t really need but they, like a worm on a hook, lure me into wanting to buy it? Not much.

Some people like the challenge of negotiating and playing the chess game of sales. I do not. Some people like play a game of chicken with the salesperson and to see who will blink first. I do not. Some people see it to be almost a sport to master and enjoy the thrill of victory. I do not.

I am glad that cars tend to last many years, because I really dread the feeling of entering a bull fighting ring to face the matador/salesperson.

It seems to me that the very reasons that I do not like car shopping are some of the same reasons that people do not like to go to church. They fear the salesperson. They fear that if/when they walk into the church, they will be the target of someone trying to sell them something that they have to buy into. Someone who has learned the tricks of the trade of sales. Someone who will direct their eyes to gizmos and gadgets that will lure and hook them. Someone who sees them as one of a sales number that needs to be met.

And it may be true that there are those who await people to walk into their churches are such salespeople, but if they are I don’t think that they are following Jesus’ example, because as I read the Bible, Jesus was not a salesperson. Jesus was a talesperson. He, the Word of God, came to put flesh to the story of God’s love for all people. Every word that he spoke, every deed that he did, and every embrace that he gave told the story of divine compassion and mercy. When he took his place on the cross, was sealed in the grave, and then left death and sin behind in that grace, Jesus embodied the story of a God whose love for those who bore God’s image was so great that he would let nothing stand in the way of that love. You see, Jesus never came to sell anything. Jesus came to tell something.

And that is what I have tried to do, as a pastor and as a writer of this Bungee Cord. I have tried to be a talesperson, telling the story of this heart-driven God. A God who doesn’t see you or me as numbers in a sales quota, but a God whose heart aches for you connects with you with unconditional love. I know that love changes people’s lives and even gives them life, and so I see myself as one who gets to tell you about the love of God, a talesperson. I have nothing to sell, I only have something amazing to tell.

Thanks for listening.

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 7-11-23

Hello,

I woke up the other morning with an itchy rash running across my chest. The culprit….a caterpillar!

I had been picking blueberries the day before. We have six blueberry bushes, and if you have ever picked blueberries, you know what a labor-intensive job it is. The first task is to open up the netting that keeps the burglar-birds away, and then to get down on your hands and knees in order to start picking. The blueberries often grow in clusters, but not all of the blueberries in the cluster are ripe. So, you have to carefully extract the blue ripe ones without dislodging the purple, pick, and green unripe ones. To get to some of the ripe ones, you have to get on your back and scrunch around the bushes. The berries are intermixed with branches and leaves, so it takes some focusing skill to get your fingers on some of them. It is an every other day task when they start to ripen, a task that is hot and awkward.

As I was picking the berries, I noticed a small hairy caterpillar resting on my right wrist. I had heard these caterpillars could be pesky, so I quickly brushed it off. Apparently not in time. My wrist soon showed two small red bumps. It bit me!

The bumps started to itch, but I didn’t think much of it, because bug bites itch. When I came inside, I rubbed some ice on them to relieve the itch. It sort of worked. It worked, at least, until the morning, when I woke up with itch running across my chest, and when I got out of the shower, I saw the reason for my itching…..a rash.

I went to the internet and found out that this sort of itchy rash is caused by these “cute” caterpillars. To make things worse, these caterpillars have little quills that they leave in your skin that increases the problem. Nothing one can do to illuminate the itch and the rash. You just have to wait it out, which I have been doing, and although the itch and rash have diminished, they are both still with me…..more than a week later!

A caterpillar! A little caterpillar has the power to impact my life for more than a week, causing me discomfort and leaving me fighting off the inclination to scratch.

I know that some people find the possibility that one man could impact the universe as he bit into time. They find it a stumbling block to the Christian faith to believe that the death and resurrection of one man could cause a rash of Divine mercy that would bring an itch of hope, peace, and joy in all space and in all time. They find it hard to believe that the rash and itch of grace is one that cannot be resolved by any amount of goodness or evil done by the rashee.

But when I consider the negative and torturous impact that that one little caterpillar had on me, or when I think of the impact one little virus or bacterium carries, it does not seem so far-fetched that there is a life changing impact of grace and mercy that comes with the contact of one cross-hung man. Of course, not just any man, just like not just any caterpillar, but a man who embodies the life-giving power of creating the universe and whose heart pulses it with death shattering love. And that is the Christian witness. When Jesus took his place on the cross, he dug his teeth into the skin of this evil word, bringing to an end the pain and torture that that evil’s rash creates, and injects forgiveness and mercy that creates an itch of hope, peace, and joy that nothing can overcome.

One caterpillar disrupted my life with aggravation for a short time. One man, Jesus, has disrupted by life with grace for all time…and beyond.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 7

-3-23

Hello,

I am writing this Bungee Cord on the day before our country’s birthday. Over the past several weeks much red, white and blue has been draped over fences, shoulders, and heads. American flags have sprouted up from people’s yards and out from people’s houses. People are wearing shirts with USA blazon on the front and dangling American flag earrings decorate their ears. Patriotic songs play over the airwaves, and fireworks explode in the dark sky. Red, white and blue blood gets stirred up around the fourth of July.

Several years ago, a very generous man in one of my congregations wanted to donate a tall flagpole to be erected in the front yard of the church and on which the American Flag would be flown. He had fought in World War II. He was very proud of his service, which he said kept us able to live freely and worship freely. For him, it was a holy war. It was also a war in which many people had their lives taken away from them in order to win. It was for this holy service and sacrifice that he wanted to have an American flag flying high in front of our church.

It is hard to imagine what our world would look like now if this man and his comrades had not triumphed. And it is hard for me to imagine, because I have not had it happen to me, what it would be like to have a carful of military people drive up to my house with long looks on their faces, there to tell me the worst news my ears could ever hear. Having never fought in a war (I graduated from high school in the year that the Viet Nam war draft ended.) and all three of my sons grew up in years that excluded a military draft, I have only second-hand knowledge of the ravages that war inflicts on people. So, I have much to learn and much to listen to when those who have found themselves in harm’s way for the sake of this country start talking.

And so that is what I did when this generous man presented his desire for a flagpole flying an American flag in front of our church.

After listening to him, I said to him, “This is very generous and kind of you, and I am sure that a high-flying American flag in front of our church would mean a lot to many, many people. Thing is, though, a high-flying American flag in front of our church would not be a welcome sight to many, many other people; people who come from countries that view America as an enemy. Christ’s church, and the love and forgiveness that is found there, is bigger than any country. The very people that our servicemen died fighting are also the very people that Jesus died for, too. “For God so loved the world…”. When a person drives past our church, we want them to know that no matter who they are, be it military enemies, convicts, bullies, haughty high and mighty’s, pillars of the community, drug addicts, juvenile tempered, greedy, on and on…everybody… are being told that they are welcome here. So, I don’t think we can accept your offer of a flag and flagpole.”

The generous man got what I was saying, and we found a different way for him to honor the men and women of the military, and at the same time proclaim the love of God within the church for all people.

On this Fourth of July week, God would want you to know that his love and forgiveness is for all, including you and me. Wars are being fought daily all over the world. Some of them are between nations, but most of them are between neighbors and friends, husbands and wives, brother against sister, and even self against self. The powers of this world are determined to fasten their shackles on us and make us prisoners of war, but God will not let that happen. God, himself, took all of those shackles with him when he was bound on the cross, and on Easter Sunday morning, in the jailbreak of all time he left them all behind in death’s grave, never to have any grip on anyone again.

Every Sunday, the doors of churches all over the world are thrown open in an explosion of grace with a nuclear reactor of love drawing all people in, and there at the reactor’s core there is power, unbeatable power…power to change you and your life…to change you from an enemy to a friend, from a sinner to a saint, from a stranger to a beloved child, from a homeless wanderer to one who has an eternal home in God’s heavenly mansion, from a self-hater to a self-lover. And there is a symbol that aligns itself with this power…not a national flag, but a cross, a cross that announces Jesus’ passion to everyone who drives by, “I died for you! Come on in!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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