The Bungee Cord  11-22-16

Hello,

     What if there was a parade and no one came?

     The Greensburg Holiday parade was this past Saturday.  Not many people came.  The weather was atrocious.  It was 74 and sunny on Friday, 60 and beautiful on Saturday morning, and then at 10:00 on Saturday morning a front came through.  Temperatures dropped into the mid 30’s.  Rain and snow.  Thrashing winds destroyed umbrellas.  Parade time was noon, and as noon approached the curbsides were pretty bare.  It was miserable.

     I think that most of those who froze parade-side were related to someone in the parade.  Band parents.  Political friends.  Dance troop moms and dads (although I saw numerous little girls in their dance outfits heading back home before the parade began.)  Brave scouting families.  Normally the streets are lined 2 or three deep with kids ready to pounce on candy being jettisoned their way.  But not this past Saturday.  Parents must have decided the weather was a gift from God to keep their kids home and thereby off an unusual dose of sugar.

     It wasn’t that no one came, but compared to usual, it was hardly anyone.  All of which got me to pondering, “Who are parades for?  The watchers?  Or the paraders?”

     Of course the answer is both.  But what if you only had one.  What if you had a parade and no one came?  Or what if everyone came, and there wasn’t a parade?  Putting it this way, I have decided that a parade is a parade without the crowd, but without the parade it isn’t a parade.

     So, what if there was a parade and no one came?

     There would still be a parade.  The bands would play.  The flag corps would march.  The dancers would dance.  The politicians would politic.   The septic company trucks would rumble by and the fire engines would light up the road.  Even if no one came to watch, there would still be a parade.

     But what if you had a Sunday morning worship service and no one came to worship? 

     Maybe you had never thought about worship this way before.  Most of us ask the question of worship’s value saying, “What will going to church today do for me?”  In light of this year’s Greensburg Holiday parade, maybe a more essential question might be, “What will going for church today do for the world?”

     As with a parade and its paraders, worship provides the place for worshippers to blow their horns of grace, dance their way to the communion table, carry the flag of their faith in honor, and for people of divine hope to create a holy disturbance in a sleepy, gloomy world.  Parades and worship slice through despairing times with a rhythm of joy.  Parades and worship celebrate gifts and talents when the world is focused on its troubles.  Parades and worship awaken purpose and meaning when life if dull.  Parades and worship celebrate victories that have turned the world up-side-down.  The world needs parades.  The world needs the church to worship.

     Come on and join the parade….the parade of hope, peace, joy, forgiveness, and love…this Sunday morning at worship.  The world needs worship’s parade….the world needs you to be there!

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  11-14-16

Hello,

     I woke up about 1:15 last night, and if I wouldn’t have looked at my clock, I would have thought that daybreak had arrived.  The sky was completely clear of clouds and the moon was incredibly bright.  It was so bright that the light that it cast into my house was nearly enough to read by, and vivid shadows fell on the outside ground.  The brightness had been forecast and even named, “the super moon”.  Last night’s rendezvous with the moon was the closest encounter for the last 68 years, so the scientists said.

     Of course, the light that emanates from the moon does not come from the moon, at least the moon does not produce it.  The light comes from the sun.  The moon just reflects it, and as I discovered in the wee hours of last night, it is reflected most brightly when there is nothing blocking it and when it is closest.

     As one who bears the name of Christ (i.e. Christian), I see a lot of myself in the moon (I realize that I just set myself up for comments about likenesses to “the old man in the moon”, or “green cheese”.).  Although I, like the moon, may generate some energy and power, the truth is that the power that Christ has given me to reflect in the world is incomparably mightier and brighter.  And I have also seen that Christ’s darkness dissipating grace is most profoundly reflected upon others when there is nothing blocking it between me and they, and when I am closest to them.  Just like a super moon.

     There are, of course, many things that get in the way between others and me.  Many of my own making.  My greed….my narrowmindedness….my arrogance….my thoughtlessness…just to name a few.  And although I can’t do anything to declutter the things that others pile up in our interpersonal space, I can do something about the things that I hoard that get in the way.  Repentance.   It is a daily task, empowered by the grace of God.

     And then there is that other thing about the degree of reflection of the light of Christ from me to others; my distance from them.  I know that, like the moon, the closer I am to others the brighter the reflection.  Yet, I find myself falling into the temptation to keep a distance from many.  I have a way of naming others “them” instead of “us”.  It is less work, less painful, and less bothersome to orbit in isolation.

     But God won’t let me.  God, in Christ, has joined my orbit, and has brought into my orbit everyone in Christ’s orbit.  Jesus is drawing me ever closer to others.  That is what Jesus does when he draws me to church on Sunday morning.  That is what Jesus does when he opens my heart to others in prayer.  That is what Jesus does when he gathers me around his table.  That is what Jesus is doing through the writing and reading of this Bungee Cord!

     It was nice to wake up in the middle of the night and not stumble my way through darkness.  No bruised shins from bumping into a dresser.  No tumbling from tripping over shoes.  No stubbed toes from kicking a wall.  It is my hope that such delight does not only happen in my house, but in the world…..not once every 68 years….but every day.  “Shine, Jesus, Shine!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 11-7-16

Hello,

     It was 12:15 a.m., and my phone rang.  Usually, for a pastor, not a good omen.

     “Get up dad!  The Cubs just went ahead!”

     It was my son who lives in Colorado who was watching the last game of the World Series.  I had been doing so until midnight when the game was stopped for a rain delay.  Truthfully, I didn’t give up on the game because of the rain delay and the late hour.  As a long time Cub fan, growing up in Chicagoland, over and over again I have soared with the Cubs in a hot air balloon of hope only to have a spear of defeat puncture my hopes and come crashing to the ground.  When the game was tied in the last innings, I feared that I was witnessing yet another crash….a crash that I did not want to see.  So, I went to bed, and I texted my son to tell him so.

     "Get up dad!  The Cubs just went ahead!"

     So, I got up and watched the last nail-biting inning that proved my fears wrong.  Victory!  After 108 years of dashed hopes.  Victory!  Cubs win!

     But it is just baseball.  Not life.

     For many, and maybe you, life has been full of dashed hopes and hot air balloon rides hit with missiles of failure.  Shame and guilt have snatched joy and peace right out of your hands just when you think you have a hold of things.  Fear explodes when things finally seem to be going better.  Ever repeating disappointment easily translates into impending doom and gloom, and many are drawn to turn off the T.V. of life.  Some turn off the T.V. of life and fall into a dream world of over indulgence to numb the pain.  Others find themselves getting caught up accumulating anger that a small spark can explode.  Others turn to cynicsm and despair and toss and turn through life thrashing out at everyone.  And some find the despondency so overwhelming that they haunted by self-destructive thoughts and actions.

     But Sunday after Sunday, my alarm which is on my phone goes off at 6:30 a.m., and although my alarm ring tone is a startling buzzing noise, I can hear amid the buzzes the voice of God, “Get up Jerry!  Grace just went ahead!”

     Some days the fight against everything that would keep me in bed is harder than others, but the excitement that I hear in the sleep stirring buzzing, is enough to pull me out of bed.  It is enough for me to throw on my clothes and drive to where that voice is coming, to church.  And when I get there I don’t just watch the nail-biting events unfolding before me, I am also involved in them.  I can see the enemy still trying to strike me out with curve balls, change ups, and fast balls that travel with a sonic boom.

     But I also see grace getting a base hit when I hear the words, “As a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ, and by his authority, I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all of your sins.”  I see grace doubling when the music and the lyrics hit into the gaps of my heart.  I see grace loading the bases up when someone reaches out to me, looks me in the eye and says, “the peace of the Lord be with you.”  And I see grace hit a grand slam when I am kneeling at the altar and as bread and wine are placed in my hands, I hear, “This is the body of Christ, given for you….This is the blood of Christ, shed for you.”

     I am glad that I got up to watch the Cubs win, but I am even more glad that I  get up every Sunday morning and see how hard God is fighting to win…to win in my life….to win in me the victory that has already been won on the cross.  And here’s the thing; in seeing a bunch of persevering baseball players finally latch onto victory, I have even more faith that as the Lord perseveres with me….with you….when the final pitch is thrown there will be an exclamation that will fill the universe… “GOD’S GRACE WINS!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger