Hello,
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!
As I wrote last week, I was under the weather the Sunday
after Easter…two Sundays ago.
Fortunately, it was one of those short, but miserable bugs, and I was
back in the saddle yesterday, having learned something from my Sunday when the
horse had bucked me off.
As I wrote last week,
for my whole life, if it is Sunday morning, I have been in church. One of the wonders of this
technological age, is that on those occasions when the horse wins, a worship
service can be found on the internet in which to participate at a distance. (Of
course, just like anything else, the internet or T.V. cannot capture wonder and
awe of actually being there, but when one can’t be there at least it keeps the
horse from kicking us when we’re down.)
So, being a Lutheran Christian, I started searching through
the internet to see if I could find a Lutheran service that I could take
in. I discovered a couple of
things about my fellow Lutheran churches who make their services available on
line. First, it seems like none of
us Lutheran stream our services live over the internet, thus I found myself
taking in the service from the week before, which was Easter. Secondly, I discovered that we Lutheran
Christians have taken the most amazing, most spectacular, most cosmos changing,
most life impacting event that has taken place since the dawn of creation and
make it seem as though it is about as monumental as milk toast.
Let me explain myself. Every one of the services that I took in, about 5 of
them (I realize the sample size is small), the service began with the words
with which I began this Bungee Cord, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” Well…not exactly.
Actually, the services began this way, “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.” The first phrase said by a pastor with the enthusiasm and
force of the clerk at the drivers license bureau calling the next number holder
to come up and have their picture taken.
The congregation responding with the second part with the energy and
fervor of a bunch of hospital patients looking at the food that was just set
before them.
Now, I know that Lutheran Christians tend to be people who
are a bit reserved in emotion, and we value artistic quality….but I have seen
even the most stoic of Lutherans get their dander up at a football game or a
school board meeting. And isn’t
the resurrection of Jesus a bit more amazingly cataclysmic than either of those
things….actually anything? When I
took in those internet services I thought to myself, if this is all muster that
we portray to the world about the event that is at the center of our lives and
faith….no wonder the Christian message seems to heard with little relevance by
the world….no wonder Sunday morning worship falls way to the bottom of people’s
priorities…no wonder the exuberance of T.V. car salesmen seems to have greater
impact in people’s lives than pastors and Christian congregants.
So, I thought in this Bungee Cord that I would come out of
my Lutheran Christian shell, and open my ears to the events that happened on
the first day of the week so many years ago….that when the world thought they
had done everything to rid themselves of this man named Jesus….tortured and
discredited him, nailed him to a cross and plunged him with a spear, heard him
breath his last and watched him hang his head in death, put him in a tomb and
sealed it with a large stone…..that on Sunday God showed the world that they
just wouldn’t ever be able to get rid of Jesus and the love with which he loved
the world. The stone was rolled
back, breath returned to Jesus’ lungs, blood resumed beating from his heart,
and he got up from his death repose and walked out of that tomb….alive!
“CHRIST
IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace.
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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