The Bungee Cord 2-27-17

Hello,

To all of those who ventured south to escape the cold winter…nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah (said with appropriate 2^nd grade intonation!).  We almost hit 80 degrees here in Western Pennsylvania last week, and after a cooler weekend, the forecast for the near future is continued warmth.  It was wonderful to sit out on our deck in February in short sleeves and watch the sun go down.

We, humans, however aren’t the only thing that is enjoying the warm weather.  Our bulbs have begun to produce their shoots, and our fruit trees have begun to prepare to bud.  Both of which will be hearing that second grade teasing taunt by the snow and wind when the winter decides to strike again.  And when that happens there is a lesson to be learned from the plants…..its a wise thing not to put your winter coat away.

Myself, I have learned this lesson.  I am grateful for the unseasonably warm times in life and try and soak up the most of the warmth during those days…when health is good, when finances are stable, when family is functioning well, when there is relative peace in the world.  I have great memories of being excited about the adventure ahead in life as my wife and I drove off to hour honeymoon, and playing hot-box with my kids when they were young.  But the weather always turns.  Dark clouds and chilly winds have rolled into life, sometimes with increasing aggression.  And when that has happened, I have not found myself unpreparedly shocked, shivering like the plants asking, “How could have this happened?”, or “Why me?”.  No, I gone and put my coat on, my coat that I have been thankfully wise enough to not have put away.

I wrap myself in my coat, my Christian faith.  Faith that when the wind is blowing so hard that I can barely stand up is a thickly woven garment of grace that promises, “My grace is sufficient for you.”  Faith that when I am losing the battle to generate enough warmth by shivering, God blankets me in his powerful love woven with his word, “Be still and know that I am God.”  Faith that when I have fallen on the ice, my bum and pride severely bruised, pillows me with soft forgiveness.  Faith that when life becomes a blinding blizzard, I am wrapped in the compassionate care of the one to whom I have cried out, “I believe, help my unbelief.”

Of course, faith is far more than just a blanket from the cold and harsh world, but the blanketing nature of God’s grace is certainly a very important part of the Christian faith.  Life can be a tundra at times, a tundra with the chill that no human garb can insulate.  Because of that, I don’t put my faith away.  I keep it handy.  That is one of the reasons that I go to church every week.  To keep my faith close at hand.  To keep my faith well prepared for the cold.  To keep my faith ever suited to deal with the chilling world that will certainly swirl my way.

Who knows what the weather will be like this Sunday…warm or cold, but if the bulbs and the buds could give you and me advice from a lesson learned the hard way, I think they would say of this coming Sunday ( and every coming Sunday), “Don’t put your coat (faith) away.”

Have a great week…see you Sunday!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  2-21-17

Hello,

     If you were wondering where last week’s Bungee Cord was, well I was gone last week….but as you can tell, I am back!

     I drove out to Iowa to spend some time with my folks.  It is about a 11 hour drive that I split in two on my drive out and back.  On the way out I stopped in Toledo, Ohio where I had been a pastor in my 30’s and ate supper with a “kid” who is now 47 but was 16 when I was his pastor, and on the way back I stopped in Indy….just because.  I stayed at a Comfort Inn in Toledo, and a Holiday Inn Express in Indy.  Both were fine places to stay, but if I was going to rate them, I would rate the Holiday Inn Express higher for one reason…..the shampoo bottle.

     Figuring that I would stay at Hotels with those little shampoo bottles in the bathroom, I didn’t feel a need to pack my own.  When I woke up after my night’s sleep in Toledo, I made my way for my shower.  I grabbed a towel on the towel rack, and then I glanced over to the sink to gather my shampoo and soap.  The soap was nicely wrapped in plastic.  Next to it was three small tubes, one of which was the shampoo.  Problem was because my eyesight has waned, the printing was so small that I couldn’t make out which tube was the one that I wanted.  I stood there trying to stretch my arm out far enough for the printing to come into focus, but when it reached focus, then the letters were far too small to read.  So, I had to fumble my way back out into the sleeping area, search for my glasses, put them on and then I could read which one was the shampoo.  It was the middle one, just for your information.

     Expecting the same thing to happen in Indy, when I woke in the morning, I put my glasses on before heading to the shower….needlessly, because the printing on the three tubes on the sink was in large print!  A person with twice my blindness could have easily read the word “SHAMPOO”.  I was thankful for the forethought of this hotel for persons such as me.

     I am also thankful for the forethought of God for persons such as me. When I search for God’s love for me, I can sometimes find it difficult to see….the darkness of fear, the clutter of my life, the foolishness of distractions…all impede my vision.  But God has taken the sin-cataracts in my eyes into consideration, and he has done what that Indy hotel did.  God has written, “I LOVE YOU!” with huge and bold letters….by writing them in human flesh and blood….Jesus.

     I am thankful for the foresight of God for me that he wrote when Jesus died on the cross.  I am thankful for the foresight of God for me that he wrote when Jesus walked out of the Easter tomb.  I am thankful for the foresight of God for me that he wrote in the promises of my Baptism.  I am thankful for the foresight of God for me that he writes every time I gather with his body in worship and around his table to receive Holy Communion.  I am thankful for the foresight of God for me that he has written and keeps on writing his love for me in big, bold human letters….Jesus.

     He, likewise, writes those same letters for you, too!

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 2-6-17

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord!"
    In the days when I was a kid going to Madison Elementary School in Hinsdale, Illinois, we had two recess periods a day.  One in the morning, and one in the afternoon.  15 minutes each.  The highlight of the day for us restless kids who tried to sit keep all of our youthful energy in line while we sat in our desks.
   On recess, we would do all sorts of things:  play on the swings and slides, in the winter we'd slide down the big hill on plastic, we'd play tag...but the thing that I remember most doing was playing kick ball.  If you have never played kick-ball, it's much like baseball, except you use a playground ball that the pitcher rolls to the plate and the "batter" kicks it and tries to get on base.  There were some kids who were really good at it...kids who were strong and could kick it a mile, kids who were agile and could place their kicks where they wanted, and kids that were coordinated and could field balls kicked their way.  Everyone knew who the best kids were, and so the two best were the captains, and everyone else would like up in a row, and the captains would pick their team.
If they weren't captains, everyone knew who would be picked first...and everyone also knew who would be picked last.  I was usually picked toward the top end of the selecting, and every time that I was picked toward the top I could feel my ego expand just a little bit...my kickball prowess receiving its due acknowledgement.  

     Back then, I didn't think much about it, but now I wonder what it must have been like to always be the last ones chosen.  As I think about it, it must have been somewhat disheartening to over and over again be told how awful you were at kickball, and how unwanted you were.  Come to think about it, I am amazed that those kids kept on playing kickball with us.
    But imagine if this were to happen....it takes imagination because it never happened....what if one day when everyone was lining up to be picked...all of us kick ball experts anxiously awaiting our name to be called and have our ego's stroked again...and lo and behold, the first pick of the day was none of us "pro's" but the kid who had always been the last pick every day.  If that was to happen, can you imagine the shock in that kid’s eyes?  I bet that that kid looked around to see if anyone else was moving to see if it was really true.  I wonder if that kid raced out to take a place right behind the captain or if that kid was so shocked that the trip to the captains side was stumbling with unbelief.
     And I wonder when the recess bell rang and the game was over, and the team on which this kid has been selected had been creamed by the other team because the captain had not chosen a pro for his first pick, and when they were running back to the school building the picked kid asked the captain, "Why did you pick me first?", and the captain said, "Because you are my friend, and I wanted you on my team."
     "But we lost...we got creamed!"
     "I know, but I don't care.  You are my friend, and I wanted you on my team.  That is what I care about."
     I wonder how that normally last picked kid felt?  I wonder what that normally last picked kid who was picked first recounted what happened at school that day?
     I bet it went something like this;
"Mom, Dad...I have the best friend in the world.  Today at recess, he picked me first to be on his team.  And even though we got creamed and I asked him why he picked me, he said, "You are my friend, and I wanted you on my team.  I have the best friend in the world."

1 Cor. 1:26-31
26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters, not many of you were wise by human standards not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31in order that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'

I have the greatest friend in the universe!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Jerry Nuernberger