The Bungee Cord. 1-13-25

Hello,

• I don’t believe in a God who sends fires that consume thousands of homes and kills elderly people who cannot escape. Jesus’ disciples did, that is until Jesus told them that God was not that kind of God.

“52And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’* 55But he turned and rebuked them. (Luke 9)

• I don’t believe in a God who answers prayers based upon the number of people praying and how good they have been. Jesus’ disciples did, that is until Jesus told them that God was not that kind of God.

22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15)

• I don’t believe in a God who turns his back on people when they have done stupid and foolish things. Jesus’ disciples did, that is until Jesus told them that God was not that kind of God.

‘There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So, he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need…..20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”* 22But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15,16)

When I see the tragedies that pummel people all over the world, I also see a God who has stepped into a battle ring with all of them, like a lamb surrounded by wolves, and has brought each of them to their knees…more accurately….to the cross, and when that lamb yelled, “It is finished!” and breathed his last, so also were the wolves of tragedy finished. Dead. No longer with any power to claim casualties from their torment. And to the wonder of all, even to this day, the lamb who was once dead emerged from the grips of death itself and made its claim of life upon all who the wolves had beaten down. “You can’t have these ones,” said the lamb to the lifeless wolves as he gathered up the world in his arms like a child zealously gathering their toys, “these are mine!”

• This is the God in whom I believe,

“What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;

we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans

The Lord be with you.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 1-6-25

Hello,

Happy New Year! 2025! If you ask a bunch of Christians how they perceive that God will be at work in their lives in the year to come, you will get a variety of answers. I have heard some say that God will be orchestrating their future in such a way that everything will happen under God’s purpose. Big things like hurricanes and tornados, and little things like finding a parking spot on a snowy day. At the other end of the spectrum, there are Christians who will listening for God’s encouragement each day, cheering them on like a thrilled parent.

Truth to be told, who knows for certain.

Neither end of the spectrum of answers matches my daily encounter with God, nor my understanding of the picture the Bible paints of God’s presence in my life. As I sit here at my computer on this cold and snowy winter’s day, I find myself drawn to an analogy of God’s working in 2025, and every year actually, that takes me back to my freshman year in high school: water skiing!

We had friends that owned a boat that they kept in a medium sized lake in Indiana, Lake Maxinkuckee. The summer before my freshman year, they invited my family to come with them to the lake to water ski. I was thrilled. I had never water skied before, and the thought of skimming across the lake, kicking up rooster tails of water, was thrilling.

There were two things that I discovered on the first day of our water-skiing adventure. First, the lake was cold! Really cold! It was spring fed, and so no matter the air temperature, the lake stayed cold. Second, water skiing is not as easy as it looks. Getting the skis on as you bob up and down in the water takes some coordination, and getting up on the skis takes strength and balance.

So, as instructed, when it came my turn to give it a go, I jumped into the cold water and my teeth began to chatter. I squirmed around in the water and got my feet in the holders on the skis. I grabbed ahold of the handle of the rope and watched the rope straighten out, and when it was taught, I yelled, “Hit it motorboat man!” (That was the command that our friends had learned from some “real Indiana” folks.)

The boat lurched forward and with its jerk, I found myself going head over heels over my skis and gulping a mouthful of water. “You gotta stay leaning back,” I was instructed as the boat circled around me bringing the rope to my hands. When it reached me, I grabbed the rope again and shouted, “Hit it motorboat man!” Several times, with the same splashing result. But eventually, upon my command of “Hit it motorboat man!”, I managed to keep my balance and battle the force of the water against my skis, and I came up out of the water gliding on my skis….tentatively gliding. As time and the years went on, I became much more adept at water skiing, being able to come up out of the water on one ski without much problem and sending rooster tails into the air as I made cuts across the wake.

It was great fun, so much fun that I looked forward to our skiing adventure every summer. Since it was not our boat, we would only go when our friends invited us. That meant that we skied no matter what the weather might have been. Rain, cold, windy, sunny…we were out there, and sometimes were the only ones out there, water skiing.

So, what does this have to do with God’s working presence in my life? Well, I might describe my life as one long water-skiing adventure, skiing every day no matter the conditions of the lake, and I see God the one at the helm of the boat in whose hands is the power to lift me up out of the water and pull me along the surface. Sometimes the water is full of white caps, but that doesn’t stop God from pulling me through. Sometimes the water is calm, and those days are a delight to ski through. Sometimes I can go for days, skimming along in life. But other times, I lose my balance, and fall. And when I fall it never fails that I discover God circling the boat around me to pull me up again.

Of course, every analogy has its flaws, and in this case the flaw might come in asking, “What if one doesn’t have the strength or balance to come out of the water when pulled?” To that observation I find myself saying, “Well, that is something that God will find a way to overcome.”

So, as you and I find ourselves looking ahead into a new year, I invite you to imagine with me that we are afloat in Lake Maxinkuckee, skis attached to our feet, hands holding on to the handle of the rope, and shouting with me to the one at the throttle of the boat, “Hit it motorboat man!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 12-30-24

Hello,

“Keep Christ in Christmas!”

As the world has more and more gotten its fingers into Christmas, many Christians trumpet the reminder of what Christmas is originally all about: Jesus Christ. Frosty the Snowman, sleigh rides, Silver Bells, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, Home Alone, holiday giving, and even Santa Claus may all carry the spirit of Christmas, but it is the nativity of Jesus Christ that is the “reason for the season”. So, for some of those who seek to maintain the basis of Christmas, they faithfully proclaim to the world, “Keep Christ in Christmas!”

It may come to you as somewhat of a surprise, but although I support their reminder of Christmas’ foundation, Jesus Christ, I find myself not joining in the cause of those who declare “Keep Christ in Christmas”. Here’s the reason: Christ’s presence in Christmas is not for us to keep, it is and was and will be for Christ to keep. To some, this may seem like a petty semantical point, but I think not. It is not a small thing or a matter of words when our words betray an essential truth about God, and that truth is that the Bible shows to us from the beginning to the end of Scripture that we do not control where God wishes to be and what God wishes to do. It is clear to me that God is doggedly determined to embrace us in his grace and mercy, to love us “nomatterwhat”, so that God will not let anything stop him from doing so. Jesus, the Son of God, did not come to save the people (that is what “Jesus” means”) because we allowed it to happen. God did not take on flesh and bone, be incarnated, because anyone said or did the right or faithful things. The point that I am trying to make is that one of the most important things about Christmas is that Christ is in Christmas because Christ stepped into Christmas. Christmas is Christ’s. Christ keeps himself there.

That is important to soak deeply into our lives and proclaim boldly to the world, because it is at the heart of the hope that we find in Jesus. If it were up to us to “keep Christ” in things, we would find ourselves in great jeopardy. When tragedy hits and our future looks bleak, who among us has the power to keep Christ there? When sins mess up our lives with such a stench, who among us would be able to persuade Christ to keep himself in our cesspool. When we are drawing our last breath and we are soon to be “earth to earth, dust to dust”, who among us can provide the reason for Jesus to care about us? No one does.

However, that is the wonder of Christmas, and the Christian faith. Christ has the power to do so, and God in Jesus Christ has irrevocable chosen to do so. God cannot undo the incarnation. God cannot undo the life of Jesus. God cannot undo the death on a cross of Jesus. And God cannot undo the resurrection from the dead of Jesus. God has chosen to be with us, and that is a choice that God cannot undo. It is God who keeps Jesus in Christmas and every day of our lives, not us, and in that we have hope that nothing in life or death can shake.

Know this: from the very beginning, the forces of the world have tried to kick Jesus out, even to the point of crucifying him and sealing him in a tomb, and the world failed. The world hasn’t given up trying. So, when the world comes a’pounding on your door, trying to kick Jesus out…..you don’t have to go to church more, read the Bible more, pray more, be a better witness of Christ’s love to the world (of course, all of these things are good to do) to keep Jesus in your life. Jesus has chosen to make his home in you, and he is not moving out!

So, rather than telling the world to “Keep Christ in Christmas”, let me invite you to tell the truth of Jesus that will be an explosion of hope, “Rejoice! Christ is in Christmas!”

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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