The Bungee Cord. 8-4-25

Hello,

“Can’t we all just get along?” Those words were spoken by a guy named Rodney King in 1992. Riots had broken out in Los Angeles after a police officer had been acquitted from assaulting Rodney King. The rioting lasted six days and 63 people were killed during it, and 2,383 other people were injured. (Wikipedia). On May 1, as the mayhem was wreaking havoc, Rodney, with his voice trembling said these words that seem still unanswered, “Can’t we all just get along?”

Since these are the only years in which I have lived, I don’t know if there was a time where people were more aggressive with each other, but it seems clear to me that our days are marked by strident, confrontational divisions. Divisions at dinner tables, neighborhood streets, government halls, and national borders. “Put up your dukes and fight,” seems to be the mantra of our time.

But when I see the faces of the people of Gaza and Ukraine, the dilapidated neighborhoods in which people live, the lines of folks at food banks, the fire in the eyes of people on different sides of the aisle, the erupting population of imprisoned, the fences around gated communities, and the fear in the eyes of a child walking into a school building…..I have got to believe that there is a much better mantra to be said, a mantra that answers Rodney King.

To me, that mantra comes from the cross of Jesus Christ, “I love you.” When Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross, he did so with no exceptions coming from his mouth. There were no “ifs” in his outreach. There were no qualifications or prerequisites. Over and over again in the Bible, we are told that the love that God was pouring out on the cross was for everyone. “There is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!” (Col 3:11). “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28)

What would happen if the first thing that came to our minds when we encountered anyone was, “Jesus died for this one”? Might our response to a pesky neighbor, an ethnically different stranger, a “lazy freeloader”, a diametrically opposite thinker, an arrogant personality, a person who mortar fire is aimed at be a good answer to Rodney King’s question?

I know that the mantra of the world has a way of slipping in through the doors of the church, but when I hear the scriptures, sing God’s praises, be fed at the altar, and fold my hands in prayer I hear Jesus words concerning all people, “I died for this one.” The weekly imprint of those words leaves a mark in my heart as I look in the mirror and as I look into the world, a mark that shapes my life, a mark that with its weekly renewal speaks louder than, “put up your dukes and fight”.

“I died for this one.” “I died for this one.” “I died for this one.” “I died for this one.”……

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 7-28-25

Today's Bungee Cord is my sermon from Sunday, based upon Luke 11:1-13. It seems to me to be Bungee-able.

If someone was to ask me, “What is prayer?”, this would be my answer, “Prayer is a blanket of grace.” Prayer is a blanket of grace. It is a gift from God. God says to you and to me, and to the whole world as he hands us the gift of prayer, “Take this. Use it when you’re cold. It will warm you up.”

And that is what we do. Sometimes we put this blanket of God’s grace on ourselves. Sometimes others put it on us, and sometimes we put it on others. You may have put it on when you woke up this morning, taking a step into the brisk unknown of today with a prayer. You may have put it on a friend when you prayed for them who just lost a parent or had a major blow up with their child. And in a few moments, we will be putting a blanket of grace around a number of people when we, together, pray for them in our worship service. And tonight, as you tuck yourself in to sleep, maybe you’ll tuck yourself in under a blanket of God’s grace when you say a prayer.

Jesus tells us today that we have a God who knows us and loves us, knows us and loves us more than anyone else. Consider this, Jesus says. “You may you have a neighbor who, when you come in need to that neighbor in the middle of the night, will help you out if you bang on his door long enough. But I am telling you,” says Jesus, “That is not the kind of neighbor God is!”

1. “God is the kind of neighbor who doesn’t slumber or sleep because his ears are alertly waiting for the softest tap on his door. (Psalm 121)

2. If you knock on God’s door, God will answer it immediately.

3. If you ask of God, you will see God embracing you with everything that he has.

4. If you seek where God is leading you, you will find that you are standing in green pastures, beside still waters.

That is the kind of neighbor God is.

And of course, if you and I hold enough love and wisdom in our hearts for a child who asks for a fish or an egg that we would never substitute what they are asking for with something that would bring them harm, like a snake or scorpion, know that God, whose love for you and me far surpasses any human love, that although he may not give us exactly what we are asking for, in doing so he would not play harmful and deceitful games with us. We have a God who loves us with the life of his Son, not a God who entertains himself by playing with us as pawns on some cosmic chessboard.

So, when we pray for ourselves, we literally , like a blanket, wrap this all-attentive divine neighbor around us. When we pray for others, we literally, like a blanket, wrap this God who doesn’t play games with us but instead gives his life for us, around those who are in need of divine care. And when others pray for us, they literally, like a blanket, wrap this God around us when we are shivering cold.

The confusing thing about prayer is that some people would have you and me believe that the power of prayer lies in the result of the prayer….you know….

1. a severely injured person is healed,

2. a financially strapped person suddenly has money,

3. a lonely person finds a friend,

4. an addiction is thwarted,

5. a parking place is found.

And although such things may be blessings we receive, Jesus would have us see today that the power of prayer does not lie in the result of the prayer, but rather the power of prayer lies in the warmth of the blanket in which we are wrapped. For when we are wrapped in the blanket of God’s grace we are kept warm, even when the coldest winds blow…

• when you have fallen flat on your face and failure kicks you in the teeth,

• when you have betrayed one whom you have loved and you see that relationship sifting like sand through your fingers,

• when you have lost a job and bills keep on coming,

• when the world is spinning so fast that you can’t keep up,

• or when the doctor looks you in the eye and says, “There’s nothing more we can do.”

….those who are wrapped in the blanket of God’s grace stay warm. Warm with peace. Warm with hope. Warm with forgiveness. Warm with mercy.

Prayer is a blanket of grace, a blanket in which to wrap ourselves, in which to wrap each other, and in which to wrap the world… …a blanket that snuggles us in in divine warmth…. a blanket to use, not keep in the linen closet. Won’t you join me in prayer…..Our Father who art in heaven…..

Have a great week.

God's grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord. 7-22-25

Hello,

It’s been a hot summer in Western Pennsylvania. Upper 80’s and 90’s with thick humidity. I guess that we complained too much about the cold winter. Anyway, I was playing pickleball outside last week when it was really hot. I am sure that the hard, dark surface on which we were playing didn’t help things out. Combining my age, my being out of shape to some degree, and the heat …the pickleball games came to an end in about an hour. Tired and worn out, heading for shade and something to drink, ready to go home and take a shower.

So, it got me to thinking, “How hot was it in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified?” I looked it up and found out that the average high temperature on April 15th (around the date when Jesus was crucified), Jerusalem’s average high is 74 degrees. Of course, as one ventures into the summer months, the high raises up to nearly 100 degrees. 74 degrees is a pretty nice temperature, but when you remember that crucifixions took place in the middle of the day, in a shadeless place, with the crucified one completely naked, and could last from three hours to a couple of days, the agony of the nails met the pain of the scorching sun to augment the torture of being crucified. And with your hands nailed to the cross, bugs could crawl on you and bite you, and birds could land on you, defecate on you , and peck at your eyes without being disturbed.

Crucifixion was designed to bring fear to the people, that is why it was done out in the open for people to see and remember that this could happen to them. The humiliation, the pain, and the helpless struggle could be theirs, too. “Come down from the cross if you are the Messiah,” the people mockingly shouted at him, and I am sure that it was they on a cross who had the ability to remove themselves from the cross, they would have done so in an instant. Like running off the pickleball court on a blazing hot day, anyone hanging on a crucifixion cross would have dashed off to find some shade, something to drink, and a pool of water to cool themselves down…..if they could have.

But Jesus, who could have, did not. Jesus stayed on the cross until he died so that every sin and evil of the world that he had taken to the cross with him also died. When it comes to all people, such things as hatred, greed, murder, false witness, coveting, dishonor and the like lost their breath to call anyone’s name and stake their claim on them. It was only Jesus who walked out of the tomb on Easter Sunday morning with breath in his lungs, and the names of all people on his lips pronouncing his claim to all, “You are forgiven. You are mine.”

Although there are some who will tell you that the next time you find yourself swelteringly hot on a sunbaked day that you should remind yourself of the heat of hell that awaits to swallow you up, lest you change your ways….today, in this sweltering heat, I am telling you to remember the one who willingly faced up to the heat so that no matter what you say, or think, or do the heat of hell will not be yours, but the refreshing steams of heaven are yours to splash around in….forever!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 7-13-25

Hello,

Last week, I was with a group of local pastors where we do two things: support each other, and join together in preparing for the upcoming Sunday’s sermon. Being a pastor can be quite isolating for a number of reasons, and the more minds the better when it comes to working on delivering the Good News of Jesus each week. I find these weekly gatherings to be important. Anyway, as we were discussing the Gospel lesson for this past Sunday, the story of the Good Samaritan, one of the pastors started talking about something that is going around in some circles of Christianity, speaking out about “the sin of empathy”.

Maybe it is because I am retired, but I had never heard of this before, and so I asked, “What is the ‘Sin of Empathy’?” Apparently, as I learned from my fellow pastors and from doing some research, it is something of the sort of being so deeply drawn into someone else’s problems that emotions take over decision making, rather than logic and reason. Joe Rigney, a proponent of the “Sin of Empathy”, gives this analogy: “The analogy that I give the most often is if someone’s drowning, empathy wants to jump in with both feet and get swept away. Empathy jumps in. Whereas compassion says, I’m going to throw you a life preserver. I’m going to even step in with it and grab you with one arm, but I’m remaining tethered to the shore. I’m not letting go of what’s true, what’s good.”

I find this troubling, and the reason is that as I am fluttering and flailing my way through life, caught up in all sorts of flooding rivers … rivers of anger that ahold of me, rivers of depression that sweep me up, rivers of selfishness that pull me under and blind me to the pain of others … over and over again, I see Jesus, the Son of God, risking everything, even his life, jumping into the raging water and taking ahold of me. And when I see Jesus doing that, I find myself wondering, “Why would Jesus do that for me?”

The answer is that God loves me, and love is not something that stays within the boundaries of logic or reason. Love is driven by emotion, and out of love, Jesus jumped in to save me. Instead of staying on heaven’s shore with a life preserver to throw at me, a preserver that I might miss, Jesus jumped into this world, with both feet, and grabbed ahold of me with nail driven hands and rescued me from being washed away from God’s love.

Loving is a risky endeavor, and it is risky to jump into rivers which are swallowing people up and carrying them away from God’s love. But unless we jump into those rivers, we never discover how hard the struggle is to try and stay afloat in those rivers. It is far too easy for us to stand on the shore and judge someone else’s ability to swim. It is impossible to feal the fear and pain that envelops their lives.

When I was a pastor in East Toledo, where drowning rivers of drugs, violence, and poverty were raging way over their banks, I discovered that by taking the call to be the pastor of that church, I had jumped into major flood waters. Something I learned in those years of being tossed by those rivers is that desperate people do desperate things. I saw things happening as I bounced around that I knew were not right, and as a matter of fact, made the rivers run with increased rage: lying, killing, stealing, assault, overdoses, spousal abuse, family violence. I never lost sight of the destructive power of those things, but because I was in the water with the people (that is what empathy is all about), I saw and felt the desperation that was stirring everything up, which opened my eyes to how I might best be a little Christ in that river.

So, if you find yourself fighting the torrents of a raging river, know that there are people who won’t just stand safely on shore and watch you be carried right by. They are the people who have taken you by the hand and have invited you to worship with them, to receive the communion with them, to be loved and cared for by them….people who have jumped into the waters of your life. And why have they done that? Because that is what Jesus has done, and he has shouted to those who bear his name, “Follow me!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord. 7-7-25

Hello,

As many of you know, I am back in the pulpit for a while. The pastor of the church of which I am a member left in February, so I’ve been assuming Sunday morning responsibilities until a new pastor is “called” (that is the word we use when a person becomes a pastor of a church). There was a day that weekly church attendance surpassed 100 people, but not now. Now it is about thirty or so, so there’s plenty of room in the church. Many of the people of Bethel are related to families who were part of the church’s early years, and they sit in the same pews that their families always have. As a matter of fact, even “new” people sit in their self-assigned pew.

This past Sunday, I stirred things up in my church. I knew that the person who normally runs the sound system was not going to be there, and I was right. It was time to start worship, and we had no sound operator, so I asked the people to move toward the front of the church so that they could hear. The groan that came from the congregation was a little less gruesome than the groan that comes from pulling teeth, but the people did obey my request, grudgingly.

Jokes are sometimes made about the fact that people who worship regularly regularly sit in the same place. Although I have not personally witnessed it, but some tell stories of folks being told to move because they were sitting in the requestor’s pew.

Although such stories are certainly unwelcoming, as I reflect on the congregation’s response to my oral surgery request, I have come to see something significant in the people’s groans. It may seem like the people’s regular seating places are simply a matter of habit, but I think it is something deeper. The folks of Bethel Lutheran church have gone through much in their lives, the same sort of struggles and trials that are common to everyone who spends their life on this earth, and they have weathered their storms because they have been firmly planted on solid ground, their faith in Jesus Christ. And the seats that they find themselves sitting in every Sunday are the spot of their planting. They have sat there when children have been born, when bills could not be paid, when marriages have taken place, when tragedy strikes, when jobs have begun, when jobs have been lost, when birthdays have been celebrated, and when death has come to loved ones.

Those seats that they sit in every Sunday are not just the result of a matter of habit, they are a result of being the place where roots of faith are deeply set. Jesus tells a parable about a Sower who goes out to sow seeds. Some of the seed falls on the road, and it never grows. Some falls on weedy ground, and the growing plant get choked and dies. Other seed falls on thin soil and after it sprouts quickly, the sun and the heat of the day wilt it because it has shallow roots. Other seed falls on good ground where it sprouts and thrives and creates a bumper crop.

Worshipping the Lord every Sunday in church is not just a matter of habit. It is having been sown in soil where roots can grow deep, deep to hold steady when storms hit, deep to hold steady when swirling winds hit, and deep to produce a bumper crop of hope, peace, forgiveness, love and joy. It is my hope that this Bungee Cord will be a Sower’s hand for you, tossing you into the great soil of God’s grace where your roots can be deeply set and your life a harvest thirty, sixty, or even a hundred-fold of God’s mercy.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord. 6-30-25

Hello,

Last week I called our church publishing house to order some things for the church that I am preaching at. After passing through the fake person who answered the phone, a friendly real person’s voice spoke to me. “Good morning, my name is Anna. How can I help you?”

I paused a moment in a bit of confusion. Did I hear rightly? Anna? It is not that the connection was fuzzy, as a matter of fact it was crystal clear. Anna? The confusion was that the name did not match the voice, as the voice was clearly a male voice. I assumed my hearing must have been wrong, and I proceeded with my order which was done with extreme politeness and efficiency.

As it happened, I needed to call back again a few moments later, and once again after receiving the bland reception from the electronic answerer, a real person picked up the phone who said, “Good morning, my name is Anna. How can I help you?” This time, I knew that I had heard correctly, “Anna”. I told Anna that I had just spoken with her, and she delightfully recalled our conversation when I told her my name. And just as the first time, Anna politely, kindly and efficiently took care of my order.

When I got off the phone after my second call, I found myself a little bit off balance, figuratively. Although other people may encounter this sort of audio surprise with some regularity, this was the first time that this has happened to me. Being a senior citizen, I have lived through the changes of our times, and when I have encountered a change, I have found myself dealing with a bit of vertigo.

It took me a few moments to regain my sense of balance, and when I had done so, I thought to myself, “I can’t imagine the inner conflict that person has had to deal with.” I can’t imagine how hard it was to grow up with that turmoil in one’s soul. The confusion and lostness one must feel. The overwhelming mystery of what life was going to be like.

As I think about these things, it seems to me that all this inner turmoil and struggle gets hidden from our eyes behind a categorical name, transgender. I have to admit with a degree of self-disappointment, that until I spoke to Anna the mention of “transgender” brought my confusion into the spotlight to the point that its glare made it hard for me to see the turmoil and struggle in the other’s life.

I know that encountering someone who is dealing with gender identity is one of those things that creates a balance issue for a lot of people, if not most, and for some it knocks them off their feet. But the thing that steadies my wobbling is when I consider the person that the world leaves un-named is someone’s child, is someone’s sibling, is someone’s beloved, and suddenly the turmoil in that person’s life shine brighter than my confusion.

The grace that we discover in Jesus Christ is that Almighty God is likewise steadied. Instead of seeing humans as un-named gatherings of cosmic dust, God looks upon us and sees someone’s child, someone’s beloved…..God’s child….God’s beloved….and the turmoil in our hearts shines with such blinding pain in the eyes of God that God can see nothing else, leading God to hold nothing back to address our pain, not even to hold back his very Son who smothered the flames of turmoil on the cross and left them behind in the grave when he arose.

It may not be that I deal with the turmoil of transgender, but I have plenty of turmoil in my life. I deal with the rumbling of depression. I am constantly reminded of my mortality as a cancer survivor. I could list more….we all could list more. That is why I am eternally grateful that God, for reasons that bear no understandable reason, is moved by the turmoil in my life, and is at work through Jesus to bring peace to my heart, and God will not stop until it is accomplished. And know this, it is also true that God is likewise transfixed on the turmoil in your life and is unstoppably at work to bring peace to your heart…and Anna’s, too.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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