Bungee Cord 1-25-16

Hello,

     I have heard many people say that they don’t need Jesus to make it through life, and truthfully, I have to say that they are probably right.

     This past weekend brought a fall of snow upon us Easterners the likes of which many haven’t seen for a long time.  More than 2 feet fell upon the Nuernberger house and hill in Stahlstown, Pa.  Saturday afternoon, as the snow was still coming down, my wife and I decided that there was no time like the present to see if we could make our way out to civilization.

     Those of you who have been to our house know that we live on top of a hill with about a half a mile serpentine lane to and from the main road.  Always having been able to plow ourselves out, we set out with determination to conquer this storm.  Unfortunately, we discovered that the 2 feet of snow was mightier than our tractor and after working for three hours and only making it about a quarter of the way down the hill and the path that we had made was not traversable by car or truck….we surrendered.  I made several calls to people in my congregation to tell them that I was snowbound and would not be able to make it to worship in the morning.  They rallied the troops and prepared to have worship without me.

     So, Sunday morning I got out of bed, participated in worship via the internet with a congregation in Mankato, Minnesota (a place that is used to 2 feet of snow…and I have to say that although I was thankful for the time spent with them over the internet, my belief was supported that it just doesn’t match being at church), and then put on my snow gear to go out and wrestle with the snow again.  As my wife and I worked, she on the tractor and me scooping stone, throwing it under the tires, and digging down into the snow to find the side of the lane…we began to make some progress.  Inching…and I mean inching…our way down our lane.  After about two hours we had reworked our work from Saturday, and had made it about another 50 yards.  We were making progress….and I had great hope that eventually…eventually we would make our way out.

     Then on a glance down the hill I saw a well welcomed sight.  There, making its way up our lane was a plow equipped truck!  It, too, was struggling its way through the snow making runs that would only move the pile a few feet.  But they were making progress…more significant and less laborious progress than we were.  It was our neighbor Ralph who had enlisted one of his neighbors to come and dig us out.  To say that I was thankful is far to mild a word.  Had I not been worn our from my digging and not be standing in two feet of snow, I would have danced with joy.

     So, my wife and I backed our little tractor up the path we had made and watched with delight as Ralph copiloted the plow  widening our bucket-wide effort past us on its way up to our house.  Alleluia!

     The truth is, we probably could have and would have cleared out narrow path from our house to the road without Ralph and his truck driving neighbor….but this is certain: I am very thankful that they arrived and helped us out!

     Can a person make it through life without Jesus?  I am pretty sure that a person can…but I know that when I have found myself plowing through the blizzard of my life, wearingly inching my way through waist high snow, battling the cold wind of the world….I am thankful that there is one whose power and might comes to open a path of forgiveness, hope, and peace for me.  I am thankful …very thankful…that Jesus comes to help me make it through life.  Alleluia!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 1-18-16

Hello,

     I discovered something yesterday.  I am getting older.

     I happened to look through the pictures that are part of my facebook page, a page that I have had for about 10 years, and over the past 10 years the pictures told me, “You are getting older!”  Lesser hair.  Grayer hair.  Fuller cheeks. 

     It is not that I was unaware of the passing of the years, but living with myself day after day, I hadn’t noticed the degree of aging that was happening in my appearance.  Thing is, I don’t feel all that older.  I know that I can’t do all the things that I used to do when I was younger (like run up and down a basketball court for hours or pile up a bunch of firewood and not wake up sore then next day or stay up all night with a bunch of high school kids and not feel exhausted), but I still feel like I approach every day with the vitality that I have always had.  For me, I have tried to look at life as an adventure, and I feel as energetic today as in my younger years to take the adventure on.

     It makes me also think about what my faith looks like now, verses what it looked like when I was younger.  Maybe the same things can be said about my faith as my face.  Lesser hair.  Grayer hair.  Fuller cheeks.

     Lesser hair.  I don’t find myself having to take a comb to my faith as much as I did when I was younger.  It just doesn’t have to be as neat as I used to think it had to be.  I don’t find myself “splitting hairs” as much as I did when I was younger.   I find myself less focused on that which the wind of the world can blow around and more focused on that which the world cannot change, God’s love for me.  My bald spot has grown….my bald spot of grace.

     Grayer hair.  If graying is a sign of waning vitality, I see the graying in my faith.  I don’t mean that my faith is getting weaker….rather I see that the strength of my faith is far less of me and far more of God.  As much as I still seek to hold onto God, I am far more concerned that God is holding tightly onto me.  Over the years of stumbling and tripping I have seen that God has always been there to hold me up and pick me up.  As my faith has aged and grayed, I have found myself more aware of the vitality of the grip of God on me.

     Fuller cheeks.  The lifetime of feasting on the grace of God has made its mark on me.  My faith is not gaunt.  If anything my faith shows the years and years of being well fed with God’s mercy and grace.  Even though on my side of my relationship with God, I may have been stingy at times, God has never been stingy.  Always feasting me with forgiveness…always refilling my empty cup with hope…always serving up a desert of love that is sweet and irresistible.

     Indeed, I have aged…and that’s ok.  I think I would go as far as to say that my aging is a good thing.  I know that my aging facebook pictures portray the many things for which I am thankful in this adventure of life, and I know that my aging faith-book pictures portray the many things for which I am thankful to God as God has shared this adventure with me.

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 1-11-16

Hello….this week’s Bungee Cord is an adventure into new technology for me….but I think that it works.  Just copy and paste the following internet address, and it should take you there!

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=987358824654657

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

Bungee Cord 1-4-16

Hello,

A little over a week ago I joined the ranks of the C-papper’s. 

For years, I have snored with a rumble that can be heard as far away as Australia (at least that is my wife’s conviction), apparently accompanied by multiple episodes of breathless gasping (also according to my wife).  So, with my doctor’s recommendation in my hand I went through a sleep study process…..which I failed.  I failed all the sleep questions that the doctor asked of me (“Wow, you’re really sleepy!”), and I failed the adventure of trying to sleep with 45 wires attached to my legs, torso, arms, and head.

The solution to my failure?  A C-PAP machine.  I suspect that many of you know of these devices.  They are small air pressure machines that force air into one’s nose while sleeping to keep the airway open.  Having seen them on other people, I was not looking forward to joining the C-PAP ranks.  The thought of trying to sleep with a flight mask attached to my face, tethered by a hose to a reverse vacuum machine did not seem to be the kind of sleeping attire that I would find helpful to a restful night’s repose.

My doctor assured me otherwise, but I am sure that he knew I didn’t believe him.  The technician who gave me my machine and instructed me on its use, likewise otherwise assured me, and she could clearly see my unbridled skepticism.  She said, “When you put the mask on, just say to yourself, ‘I am going to have a wonderful night’s sleep.’”

Right.

So, I brought my C-PAP home and set it on the night-stand and prepared for my maiden voyage into tethered/pressurized slumber.  I have to say that the experience was not as miserable as I had anticipated, but the hose and the mask were less than cuddlesome.  The second night was better…the third better yet…and well….now with a week an a half under my belt, I have to admit that my C-PAP is serving me well.  No more snoring, and no more breathless gasping.  Yesterday, I have to confess that I even awoke with energy that I haven’t felt for years.  It’s not that the mask and hose have become like snuggly teddy bears to me, but I have gotten used to them.  The 4-6 hours of tethered pressure is actually making my life better.

I don’t know how many of you Bungee Cord readers are weekly church attenders, but I hear more and more often people saying that they don’t like to have themselves tethered to a church.  They say that they don’t want the message forced upon them.  They would rather discover it themselves.  And truthfully, the way that some churches talk and act, it does seem like attending them and being part of them is akin to the tethered torture of a sleep study, wired from head to toe, monitored, and judged.  It does seem like to enter them is to enter a pressure chamber where rules and doctrines are constricting your lungs.

I hope that when people come to the church at which I am a pastor (and I am sure that there are many others of like mind), that what they fear is not what they encounter.  I hope that they discover, as I did with my C-PAP machine, that the breath of the Holy Spirit that blows inside is gentle and air-passage opening.  I hope that they find it to be just enough force to unclog all the guilt, failure, pain, and fear that comes from breathing the air of the world.  I hope that they find it just enough force to relieve them of the rumbling snoring that agitates all those around them.  I hope that they find the 1-2 hours a week of tether to the church to actually enliven them and make their lives better.

I have decided that it is a good thing to be tethered to my C-PAP machine when I sleep, and so I am going to commit myself to doing so.  I have personally experienced that it is a good thing to be tethered to my church, that is why I am committed to weekly worship.  Let me invite you to be likewise tethered.  The first, second and third times may be less productive than you might have hoped….but soon I believe that you will find it something that you are used to…and maybe even something that you enjoy.  You might even find Jesus to be far more closer to a snugly teddy bear than a bothersome hose and mask.  But of this I am certain, it is not Jesus’ intent to tether you to himself and the church (which he refers to as his body) in such a way to torment you in a lifelong sleep study.  Jesus said himself that he came to give life…to enliven….in a far fuller way than my C-PAP machine.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger