The Bungee Cord  9-5-17

Hello,

     When tragedy hits, like hurricane Harvey, Christians and non-Christians often ask the same question, “Where is God in all of this?”  To this questions, Christians and non-Christians give a wide variety of answers.  As I have listened to the answers that have sprung up, I have heard some lean toward answers that propose God’s providence behind such things.  Others lean toward answers that seem validate their disbelief in God, let alone God’s presence.

     Given my stature among the great minds of the world, my answer is probably not even worth two cents, but having seen this tragedy befall, and countless others in my lifetime and ministry, I find myself likewise asking, “Where is God in all of this?”

     Here’s the answer that settles in my heart: my answer lies in the cross of Christ.

     As I ponder these things, it seems to me that the Christian faith was born out of the question, “Where is God in all of this?”.   Where is God as the one in whom many had placed their hopes to be the one who would rescue God’s people from the grip of their oppressors hung and dying on a cross?   It seems to me that this is the question that stands behind all that is written in the New Testament, and is fore-asked in all that is written in the Old.

     Where is God in all of this?  On the cross.  Not in theory.  Not figuratively.  Not partially.  But in reality. Literally.  Completely.  Timelessly in time drawing all things unto himself .  Bringing to an end (that is, death) what was, and bringing to life what would be.  Like a black hole drawing everything unto himself, all the while everything holding on for all its worth from being pulled in, moaning and groaning in a losing battle.

     The Bible says that from the cross Jesus gave a great shout, and then he breathed his last.  It is in that shout that every cry and tear that this hurricane produced was gathered, every shudder of fear and hopelessness that Harvey produced was drawn in, and every pain and hurt that that bully inflicted was divinely inhaled……and then suffocated in a final breath.

     Sometimes when I hear Christians try to answer the question, “Where is God in all of this?”, I hear an answer from them that seems devoid of the cross.  Devoid of the cross because their answer keeps God at arm’s length from suffering and pain.  When people say that God has intended such a tragedy in order that a greater good might happen….or when they say that God is inflicting God’s judgement upon those who deserve it….or that God has a reason and purpose for everything that happens…or that God has allowed this to happen in order that many more people might come to believe in him....they are saying that when tragedy happens, God stays removed from the misery, chaos, and despair that tragedies bring about.  And of course, that belies what God shouted from the cross.

     I know that what I have written may sound like thoughts, words, and concepts that weave together to make a beautiful theological tapestry, that might be beautiful to hang on a wall, but not something on which to hang one’s heart.  But like the embrace of a parent after a child has found herself lost in a crowd, the cross is not a theological theory or an enlightened idea.  It is an event….an event that theories, ideas and words cannot fully capture…..but an event that gives my heart settled hope …..settled hope because the one who died on the cross (an event!) rose from the grave (an event!)…. settled hope when I ask, “God, where are you in all of this?”  

On the cross.

Prayers for all who suffer and are beaten down.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 8-29-17

Hello,

     Surprise!

     Friday evening I had settled down to watch a news program when my wife called down to me that her brother, who we were expecting for a late dinner, had arrived, and I should come up to greet him.  The request seemed a bit odd, because he lives near us and often comes over for dinner, but it didn’t seem too odd to follow through on her request.  So, I climbed out of the couch and made my way up the stairs and to the front door.  When I opened the door, I discovered that my wife had lied to me.  It was not her brother.  It was my eldest son, my middle son, his wife (all from Denver), my youngest son, and his fiancée (both from NYC)!  Waving at me from their cars, the University of Illinois fight song blaring from a car radio, and in unison saying, “Happy Birthday!”

     Surprise!

     I was…….shocked, astounded, amazed, awash in joy…..surprised!  It was beyond my wildest dreams that my wife and my kids should pull off such a stunt of a cascade of love.  It meant the world to me, that my kids would so care to bring joy to my life that they would carve out time in their busy lives filled with their own personal interests to come and mark with me my 60^th birthday.  In a day and age when the ease of texts, skype, and phone calls bring people together, the fact that they came to be with me made a statement to me of their love for me that made an impression that delivered a dent of grace to my heart that can never be pounded out.  Humbled.  Blessed.  En-couraged.  En-livened.   Delighted.

     The three of them bookending 30 years old…well aware of my weaknesses and frailties, my failings and faults, my myopic vision …. still came to be with me at this milestone of my life.  Their visit ignited a vitality that will pulse for the rest of my life.

     Coming to be with someone carries a message that nothing else can match in clarity and in power, especially when that visit happens with no strings attached, attached from the past, the present, or the future.  When it is a complete surprise!

     That is the message of the Christian faith.  That the one who is fully aware of my weaknesses and frailties, failings and faults, my myopic vision…..my sins….would not just tell me that he loves me nonetheless, but would actually come to abide with me.  No strings attached from the past, the present, or the future.

John 1:14 ff., “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. “

     Surprise!  Maybe surprise is the spark that ignites the life changing grace and mercy of God our lives.  Maybe surprise is the spark that sets off the explosion of God’s love in our lives that leaves a dent that nothing….nothing….will ever be able to pound out.  Maybe surprise is what causes us to remember that God’s love for us is not extended because of who we are….it is extended in spite of who we are.

     The Christian message is this:  Jesus has come, does come and will come into your life to share it with you. 

     Surprise!

Have a great day.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 8-21-17

Hello,

     I turn 60 this week.  60!

    I suspect that for younger readers of the Bungee Cord, that sounds pretty old, or at least it seemed old to me when I was young.  60!  But for those of you older readers, I suspect that 60 seems pretty young to you, and many who have passed this milestone in life have told me so.  Ah, 60!

     As I pass this milestone in my life, I am led to reflect on these 60 years.  To reflect with absolute amazement on all the things that have changed in the world.  Who would have ever believed in the year that I was born, 1957, that the phone that I carry in my pocket would be more powerful that a computer that filled rooms.  To reflect on all the pain and suffering that have etched their misery upon the retina of my eyes, and I find myself singing along with Jackson Brown…. “Doctor my eyes have seen the years and the slow parade of tears….”.  To reflect on the countless number of times that my heart has exploded in joy and wonder, creating a stream of memories that like marching bands have paraded through my life.  To reflect on my struggles and failures that like leaches live off of me and refuse to let go.  So many things to reflect on that have filled these 60 years…so many that I have forgotten more than I remember.

     But,

“³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established; 
⁴ what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals^* that you care for them?” (Psalm 8)

Although 60 years may be a long time for me filled with innumerable memories, the span and the events of my life do not add up to what God can gather in in the blink of God’s eye.  To the one whose hands have been endlessly at work creatively shaping the universe, and to the one whose vision encompasses time and beyond….the work of my hands and the gaze of my life is microscopic in substance and importance.  “What am I (a human being) that God is mindful of me, I (a mortal) that you care for me?”

     God answers that question by the Good Friday cross and the empty Easter tomb.  Everything.  That is God’s answer to this question.  What am I that God is mindful of me, I, that God cares for me?  I am everything to God.  So much do I mean to God that God gave everything in order that nothing might separate me from God.  So much do I mean to God that God conquered everything in order that nothing might take me from God.  God’s answer to the question that reflection on one’s life necessarily asks is, “Everything…everything to God.”

     Thing is that God’s answer is so outrageous that many find it hard to believe.  The product of an inner need to feel important.  Wishful thinking that stems from the fear of death.

     One thing that has happened to me in this span of 60 years, happened 36 years ago.  I married.  On the day that I got married, I heard someone say to me that I meant so much to her that she would let nothing ever separate us for as long as we both should live.  And the question that kept running through my mind?  “Who am I that someone should care so much for me?”  It seemed an outrageous thing to me.  An inner need?  Wishful thinking?

     Over the course of these years, I have come to believe the seemingly outrageous words that my wife spoke to me.  Her persistent love of me has made a believer out of me.  And so it is with God.  God’s persistent love of me has made a believer out of me.  Not the events of my life over these 60 years, but the relentless love with which God has filled each of my days has made a believer out of me.  As outrageous and unbelievable as it might be that I mean everything to God, God is determined that I would believe it….believe it so that I might live each day in divine peace, that I might confidently step in tomorrow after I have failed today, that I might stop spending all my time trying to become worthy and spend my time reaching out to those who the world has decided is not worthy of any one’s time, that I might look square eyed at my greatest fears and snicker with victorious delight.

     This week I turn 60.  60!  Don’t know how many days or years lie ahead, but this I have come to believe that as has been for 60 years…..  “What am I that God is mindful of me, I, that God cares for me?”  Everything!

     And so are you, too, no matter how old you are.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger