Hello,
Life is full of
adventures, and I am off on a new one. I
have decided that the time has come for my ministry to end at First Lutheran of
Greensburg on June 11th. I am ending
this ministry with no plans on the table.
I am not retiring….not seeking another pastoral call at the moment. My “plan” is to use the summer months to
rejuvenate, and then see what might come my way when the fall arrives.
I began my life
as a pastor in 1983, and it has indeed been an adventure. It has taken me to such a variety of places
and people that has brought a breadth to my life that I count as a great
blessing. I have been with people in the
most joyful times of their lives, and in the darkest times. I have been with people when they have faced
struggles not of their own making and tried to help them plod ahead with divine
hope. I have been with people when they
have faced confusing decisions and have tried to help them sort through a whole
host of options, assuring them that although none of which is perfect,
forgiveness will be a rock upon which to stand.
I have been with people when they have made such a mess of their lives
that the world discards them like kitchen garbage, but I have come to gather
them in the embrace of God. I have made
my home in rural, urban, suburban, and inner city neighborhoods. All in all, I have come to have a deeper
appreciation for the spectrum of life experience and the importance of humbly
walking alongside others with the grace of God.
I know that every
vocation carries sacrifices and stress with it, but I believe that pastoral
ministry provides unique ones, or at least levels of certain sacrifices and
stresses that are unique. Being a pastor
is a bit of a fish-bowl life (to put it mildly), not just for the pastor but
for the whole family. Regularly I find myself paddling upstream in
the world, fighting against a current that counts what I do and the message
that I bring as somewhere between foolish, irrelevant, and peripheral. I often find myself in situations where people
look to me for answers, but answers are not my companion, Jesus is. Many times I have been expected to have
super-human patience, compassion, and resilience, which, if they have been
present in my dealings have been there only because of the Holy Spirit who
inhabits my life.
Likewise, as a pastor,
I also experience unique blessings that are rare in this world. I have experienced the blessing of someone
looking me in the eye and saying, “You were there for me when no one else was.” I experience the blessing of holding an
infant in my arms and splashing upon them the promises of God that no matter
how arid life is, those promises will never be dried up. I experience the blessing of placing in a
quivering hand the grace of God encased in bread and wine. I have experienced the blessing of a community
of faith that cares for me, even though I am a stranger to them. I have experienced the blessing of a tearful
good-bye from a stoic man and hearing him say two words as he shook my hand,
“Thank you.”
In a world that
tends to measure things in categories of success, I have tried to remember that
the category by which I am measured is “faithfulness”. I hope that over these 34 years that God more
often than not has said of me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And so, as I “leave what is behind and press
on to what is new”, I do so with prayer and hope that faithfulness will accompany
me.
Though much is
uncertain, there is one thing that I certainly plan to do: continue writing the
Bungee Cord. I hope that the grace of
God has reached you through it, and through it you have felt the embrace of
God. As always, now and in the future…..
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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