The Bungee Cord  6-19-18

Hello,

     Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

     That saved a wretch like me.

     I once was lost, but now am found

    Was blind, but now I see.

What is grace? Undeserved and unmerited love. That is what grace is.  A good definition, but rather bland in my mind. Not very heart gripping, if you ask me. Yet, that is exactly what grace is meant to be…to grab our hearts with life giving and life changing love.  So, with that in mind, let me offer a definition that I have come up with that I hope packs a bit more punch.

Grace is

God’s – grace begins with God, because it is God’s, and it comes from God.  Grace belongs to no one or anything else.  It’s God’s, and because it is God’s, God can do with it what he wishes.  God can use it any way God wants to.  God doesn’t have to listen to anyone else’s suggestions or expectations.  Grace is God’s.

Resolute – And when it comes to God’s use of his grace, God is resolute.  God is not wishy washy with grace.  God is not tentative with grace.  God is not cautious with grace.  God is resolute.  Single minded.  Hard headed. Stubborn. Unwavering.  Once you’ve squeezed the toothpaste out, there’s no getting it back in.  God is resolute with grace.

Amour – That is French, of course, for love.  I had to use French because I needed to use the “a”, but beyond the need to use the “a”, maybe the French word, Amour, actually better captures what grace is.  Amour…captivating love, falling head over heels love, intense love, ever on your mind love.  God’s love isn’t “strong liking”.  It isn’t vanilla in flavor.  It isn’t found on the surface of God’s heart.  God’s love is “amour”.  Grace is the kind of love that your find yourself falling into….as the French would say, “amour”.

Completely – When it comes to God’s love, like the most smitten of lovers, God holds nothing back.  God doesn’t love experimentally, seeing what might happen, and if it isn’t what he has hoped would happen, he stops the experiment.  No, God rips open his heart and lets every last bit of his love pour out. God’s love is not like a little stream that can be dammed up.  No, God’s love is like a Tsunami cascading over everything with unstoppable force. It doesn’t go around mountains. It floods over them.  It doesn’t wind around strong obstacles.  It gathers them up in its current.  God’s love is complete in its dispersal into the world, and it is complete in its expanse.

Enacted – Not extended, as if God was merely reaching out his hand.  Not enabled, as if God was providing a door to be opened.  Not extolled, as if God was simply telling about his love.  But enacted.  God is at work embracing, gathering in, holding tight.  Grace is the grip on which God has taken hold of us, a grip with which nothing can ever loosen.  God isn’t waiting for us to get the ball of his loving rolling our way.  Grace is the love of God that God, like a bowling ball, as sent careening upon us.  When Jesus died on the cross and walked out of the grave, God enacted his love in an unstoppable reaction exploding throughout the universe.

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come.

‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home.

That’s God’s grace!  God’s Resolute Amour Completely Enacted.  

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 6-13-18

Hello,
Today's Bungee Cord is an audio/visual message, and it exceeds the bandwidth allowed for this blog...so, if you go to my Facebook page, Jerry Nuernberger, you will find it there.

Have a great week.
God's grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 6-5-18

Hello,

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Why did the turkey cross the road?

Two questions that I asked myself on my way back home from my pastors Bible study this afternoon. Taking my normal route over the ridge from Latrobe, I came around a corner only to have to come to a complete stop, waiting for a chicken to cross the road.  Not two hundred yards later, rounding another corner, again I had to apply my breaks as a wild turkey strolled its way across the road.  I wonder how many people who have made that trek can say that they were met by two birds, a chicken and a turkey, crossing the road?

So, why did the chicken and turkey cross the road?

The answer:  I don’t know.  There may have been a specific reason for their crossings, but then again maybe there wasn’t.  In the end, the answer to the question, “why?”, is far less important than the fact that I didn’t hit either of them.

Unfortunately, often not so the case when you and I are the chicken or turkey.  As you and I cross the road, that which comes barreling around the corner sometimes does not stop in time to let us pass, but instead it hits us head on.  A tragedy. A great mistake.  A Mack truck sized sin.  A horrendous diagnosis.  Feathers fly.  Wings mangle. Road gore.

But when that happens, the Good Friday cross and the Easter morning grave have something to say, and it is not, “Why did you cross the road.”  (That is the question that the judging world asks of us, wagging its accusing finger at us, blaming us for the mess that we are in. Of course, the world may be right in its blame, but what good does that right judgement do us or the world?)  Jesus, who hung on the cross and stepped out of the tomb says something to our road killed selves that is beyond amazing.  “So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5.17) You see, Jesus didn’t come to blame….he came to resurrect….to bring new life to the dead.  New life every day, and new life at the end of our days.  

Jesus takes hold of the crumpled mess that we have become and doesn’t just mend and repair it, but he makes it brand new.  That tragedy…that mistake…that sin…that diagnosis does not have the last word.  Jesus does, and with the power that spoke all of creation into being, Jesus
re-creates you and me.  Recreates you and me to cross the road, again….and again….and again.

So, fear not to cross the road…any road.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  5-29-18

Hello,

    My son and I went out this morning to play a quick nine holes of golf.  The forecast was for a hot and humid day, so our hope was to beat the heat.  When we arrived there were very few cars in the lot. We went into the clubhouse to pay and discovered that two older guys had just paid.  We would be behind them.

     Since we and they had to first go to our cars, get on our shoes, and pull out our clubs, we, being younger, thought that if we hurried we could beat these two “older” guys to the tee and not have to dawdle behind them. So, we sped out way to the tee, and did, indeed, get to tee off before them.  However, just as we were walking off the tee, there they were.  They on their cart, and we about to pick up our bags and walk.

     I suppose that we could have pressed on in front of them but knowing that they really had the tee first and they were in carts, I told them that they should go ahead and tee off, and that we would play behind them. They were most gracious, saying that we didn’t need to do that.  But it was the right thing to do to let them play, and so they did.

     One guy’s shot went far to the right, the other’s went far to the left.  Surely a slow round of golf, my son and I thought.  They walked off the tee, thanking us, and hopped into their cart, sped off down the path, and then took a hard left across the path to the hole…..a very mushy piece of ground….and they got stuck!  Their cart sunk into the muck, going deeper and deeper as they spun their wheels.  One of the guys got out of the cart to try and push.  Unsuccessful.

     So, my son and I took a look at one another and did the only thing we could do….play through them…..NOT!  No, we plodded through the muck, joined the guy behind the cart, and pushed with him.  The cart was freed, and with a wave of thanks the two of them went on to play ahead of us (as a matter of fact, playing faster than we could keep up).

     Why was giving them a push the only thing we could have done? Because I have been one who has been pushed out of the muck.  More than once in life, I have taken a path through a mucky piece of land, gotten stuck, only to sink deeper as I have spun my wheels.  The times that I speak of, of course, have not been on a golf course, but have been in life. There is plenty of mush in life, and I have a pretty good way of finding my way into it.

     And when that has happened, along has come one who certainly could play a round of life much speedier and precisely than I but has allowed me to venture ahead….along comes one who walks through the muck that I have gotten myself into and given me a push.  Sometimes that push comes from the pronouncement of forgiveness, or the blessing of communion at the altar when I am worshipping.  Sometimes that push comes from other people who knowingly or unknowingly are the hands of the Lord.  More often than I can count, I have been pushed out of the muck, allowing me to play on in life, and generating a wave of thanks to the pushers.

     Why did I push those guys out of that muck….why do I find myself pushing other people out of the muck they have driven into?  Because I have been pushed.  I bet that you have been pushed, too.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 5-22-18

Hello,

     There was a guy, and some of you of my vintage might remember him, who made it his mission to get on camera during major sporting events…the Super Bowl, World Series, Basketball Payoffs.  When he was on camera, you knew it because he always sported the same multicolored fro-wig and he was waving a sizable sign that said, “John 3:16”.  Of course, he was directing people to the Bible, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  Many have said that this verse is the heart of the Christian message, so with his sign and his hair, he was endeavoring bring the Christian message to a huge audience.

     I don’t know how successful he was.  I don’t know how many people who saw him found a Bible and opened it to John 3:16, and I don’t know how many people who read this verse were captivated by it and found their way into a life-giving relationship with Christ.  All I know is that I would not have done what he did.

     When I say that I don’t mean that I don’t mean that I would not have donned funny hair and tried to get the Christian message out to the world (although truthfully, I am a bit too reserved to do that).  What I mean is that I probably would not have written what he wrote on his sign, and here’s why.

     Although I don’t think it was ever intended to be so, this verse in our day has taken on a message of fear and warning.  “Sure, God sent his Son into the world out of love, and you had better believe it….or else!”  For a long time, that is the message I heard from it, too.

     But as I have wandered with Jesus, it has become clear to me that this verse is meant to be a word of hope and promise, not warning and fear. It has become clear to me that God is not one who bullies people, “Be my friend, or else!”  It has become clear to me that God is not one who is so desperate for love that he threatens people to love him (and what kind of love would that be?).  It has become clear to me that God is not one who tries to scare people into heaven. That is not the kind of God I see in Jesus, the Son of God, who was sent into the world, dying on a cross and rising from the grave.

     No, the kind of God that I have come to see is one who raises up my belief in him by standing between me and the world’s bullies and says, “If you want this one, you have to go through me first.”  The kind of God that I have come to see is one who is not desperate for love, but overflowing in love, loving me into loving him.  The kind of God that I have come to see is not one who tries to scare me into his arms, but instead wraps me in his arms when things are really scary.  And for me, this God that I have come to see and know is not spoken of in John 3:16, alone. The God that I have come to see and know is spoken of in John 3:16 and John 3:17.

 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (3:16)

 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (3:17)

     As you can see by verse 17, the Christian message is not one of a God who is seeking to condemn.  It is one of a God who is determined to save….save you, save me, save the world.  That, I find to be, a message that captures my heart and takes hold of my life.

     So, if by chance you are watching a sporting event on TV and you see some guy with weird colored hair getting on camera….holding a sign that says, “John 3:16,17”….well, believe it or not, it might just be me!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,(ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 5-15-18

Hello,

     A big spring storm came through yesterday, and I watched it in the protective cover of my house.  The big windows to the west and east provided me with plenty of sight to see it’s fury.  When the storm began, my two dogs were with me in my loft, but as soon as the thunder started rolling in the distance, my older dog, Duncan, headed for the basement. He’s become quite averse to storms and loud noises at his older age.  My younger dog, MacMahon, rested comfortable on the floor, only occasionally lifting his head when thunder clapped.

     When all of the sudden a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, so near to our house that I could see (and smell) its earthly connecting spot.  Even though it was in the middle of the afternoon, the sky lit up when it struck, and the sound that came with it was immediate and shook my house.  Windows rattled.  The rafters creaked.  Needless to say, MacMahon jumped up, and I sat up straight.  What a powerful awakening!

     The storm, of course, had not suddenly gained power over me, it is just that when the lightning strikes and thunder peals were far in the distance, I wasn’t aware of the degree of the storm’s power.  The booms and the flashes made little to no impression on me.  But when the lightning bolt struck near my home, an impression was definitely made.

     In my mind, that is the whole point of the Christian faith. Christians confess the witness that in Jesus Christ God came visibly near (near enough to smell?) to us in order that God would make an impression on us.  And what is that impression? The power of God’s love for us.  It is not that God’s love suddenly gained power when God struck near to us in Jesus, it is just that in the incarnation (God becoming human in Jesus) that power hit with a brightness and intensity that comes with a near hitting lightning bolt.  God aimed his love to strike as close as God could to us, to shake up our lives and rattle our hopes.  Sure, God’s love has been thundering throughout all of time and space (even outside of time and space), but lest that love leave us unmoved, God, in Jesus bolted upon us in human form, and continues to strike closer than we can imagine in water, bread and wine.

     CRASH! BANG!  I LOVE YOU!                         

     Jesus said that he came to bring life…to wake us up out of the doldrums of our days, to shatter the dark shroud of our fear and shame, to rattle us loose from hopelessness and contentment with what is, to stand us strong on our feet against despair, and to sit us up straight in thankfulness and praise of the one who has us in his power.

     Sometimes God’s love seems so far away.  Sometimes it seems so quiet when it rumbles.  Thank God, that God is not willing to let me sadly and slovenly slumber in faraway rumbling and flashes of his love for me. No, for me, and for you, God is aiming a “love-bolt” that strikes so near that it will leave you with an impression…..a great impression!

     CRASH! BANG!  I LOVE YOU!

     Get ready to be stirred!

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Hello,

     As I was driving home from a pastors’ Bible Study that I go to every week as part of my preparation for writing my Sunday Sermon (all Lutherans use the same Bible passages each week, so we pastors get together to dig into things together), a large pileated woodpecker flew in front of me and grabbed ahold of the trunk of a tree.  Of course, it had to be a strong trunk upon which this pileated woodpecker landed because pileated woodpeckers are BIG birds!  Almost 20 inches long with a wingspan of 30 inches.  Red crested, black backed, and white stripes under their wings.

     The thing about pileated woodpeckers, due to their size, is they are also powerful birds.  Their smaller woodpecker cousins leave their mark in their pursuit of bugs that live in the wood of the trees, but when a pileated woodpecker starts hammering its beak on a tree it has the force and the impact of a wrecking ball.  When a pileated woodpecker starts pounding on a tree, no bug is safe.

     Anyway, as I saw this pileated woodpecker, it occurred to me that if Jesus had ever seen one, he may have said of himself, “I am a pileated woodpecker.”  I say this because it is clear to me that when God sent his Son into this world, he wasn’t sending some small downy woodpecker whose power limited it to just pounding away at soft trees.  No, when God sent his Son into the world, he sent him with the power to tackle the trees with the thickest bark and the hardest wood.  No insect can be burrowed so deep, or hidden behind a hardened knot that Jesus, the pileated woodpecker, cannot reach it.

     When I saw that pileated woodpecker today, it opened my mind to a very powerful and important truth about Jesus, a truth that I sometimes forget.  And that truth is that when it comes to me, Jesus is a pileated woodpecker.  Jesus is determined to get a hold on me, and that determination is not that of a downy woodpecker, but a pileated one. Sometimes I can find myself pretty deeply burrowed in the mess of my life with my shame and guilt taking me deeper and deeper into the wood.  Sometimes I can find myself fearfully hidden behind my solid failures.  The world does a pretty good job of toughening up the bark all around me.  The tap, tap, tap of a downy woodpecker is no sound of hope….but the thunder of a pileated woodpecker…..now that is a sound of hope.

     I suppose that there are days when the wood of your life, and the depth of your burrow is within the reach of a downy woodpecker, but if today, or any day,  is a day that you find yourself well beyond the scope of a downy woodpecker, let me remind you, as God reminded me today, that Jesus is not a small, timid downy woodpecker.  No. Jesus is a pileated woodpecker and he attacks the trees of this world with unstoppable might, pounding away at them until he has found you and gathered you into his embrace.

     I am sure, that if Jesus would have seen one, he would have said of himself, “I am a pileated woodpecker!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger