Hello,

The Bungee Cord is back!

In June, I moved to Pennsylvania and gave the Bungee Cord a rest while I settled myself in my new locale.  I thought that I would restart the Bungee Cord when I got a new job, but as that has not happened yet, I decided that the first Sunday of the church year, Advent 1, would be an equally appropriate time to jump back into the cyber world with the Bungee Cord.

The Bungee Cord got its name from my hope that this weekly contact would be a tangible word to all who receive it that God’s grace has no breaking point, and that no matter where you are in life or faith, God will stretch out his arms in unconditional love to you and embrace you with a grip that you can count on.

Not having a job that swallows up most of my evenings,  as the ministry is apt to do, I have been able to take in a couple of the game shows that follow the evening news on TV.  “Family Feud”, a show that I remember watching years ago with Richard Dawson of “Hogan’s Hero’s” fame, has caught my eye.  Hosted now by someone else, I find it both brain relaxing and culturally interesting.  If  you have never seen it, the show sets families against one another in a game of trying to match how a certain group of people respond to all sorts of questions.

One night this question was asked, “100 people were surveyed, ‘How many of the 10 Commandments have you broken this month?’”  When I heard this question, I thought to myself, “This is easy.  There’s only one answer….ten.”  To my surprise, the answer the first contestant gave was “four”, and the host looked at her with a gaze of surprise as if to say, “Really, that many?”  Her answer matched many of the surveyed, but it was not the most popular response.  So, the other contestant was given the chance to guess, and she said, “One,” at which the host gave an approving nod.  Her answer was the most popular response.

I was amazed and dazed.  Hadn’t either of those contestants become angry with her brother or sister?  Hadn’t any of those contestants looked upon another’s deeds in less than the most favorable way?  Hadn’t any those contestants been less than a clear witness of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness to all people?  According to Jesus, to have done any of these things would have been a commandment breaker.  If I had been asked, “How many of the 10 Commandments have you broken this month?”, I know that my truthful answer would have been quick, and it would have been “ten”.

Many have complained that Christmas has become far too commercial, and maybe so.  But it seems to me that one of the reasons it has taken that direction is that we have become blind to see how broken our lives are.  If “Family Feud” is any indication of how we tend to see ourselves in the world, it is clear that we have so trimmed the scope of the 10 Commandments that we do not see the hurt that we spread.

Jesus reminded us that only the sick are in need of a physician.  So, is it any surprise that  Christmas, the event of God’s inoculation of grace, has been commercialized by a world that has become blind to how broken we continue to be….”only the sick need a physician,”….or a savior.

If Christmas has become a bit ho-hum for you, a time of burdensome gift buying and party-going, of frayed tempers and mandatory family get togethers, let me invite you to ask yourself under the crystal blue skies of Advent (blue is the color of Advent for the hope and the clarity of vision that blue skies provide) “How many of the 10 Commandments have I broken this month….or even today?”  And if you do, I am sure of this, Christmas will not spotlight Rudolph, or Frosty, or a flat screen TV.   The spotlight will fall upon Jesus: the incarnate word of God’s healing, the light which came into the darkness, and the darkness will never overcome it.   And you will say with renewed vigor to those around you and in your heart, “Merry …. Merry Christmas.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger