Hello,
It’s a cool,
crisp day in Western Pennsylvania.
Sunny. Breezy. 50 degrees for a high today. A great day to stay inside and write the Bungee
Cord.
Ah, but not
according to my Dog, McMahon, a 1 year old Gordon Setter. According to him, cool, crisp, windy autumn
days are not to be spent inside, but outside doing his favorite thing. Chasing leaves! Nothing more fun than scampering after some
leaf that is floating by unaware of the impending danger that is lurking. Like a skilled hunter, McMahon sets himself
in lurching position, his head jerking right and left to spy his prey. And when a leaf saunters by, McMahon springs
at it, pouncing on it, and then chewing it up.
What fun!
Unfortunately, he
thinks he needs an audience for his play, and so he won’t let me stay
inside. So, I have given into his
unrelenting demands to join him outside, and have decided to write today’s
Bungee Cord where he wants me to. I find
it too chilly to try and sit on our porch and write, so I have taken my place
about 50 yards from our house amidst some trees where I fire ring is. Seeking to stop the chatter of my teeth, I
decided to build a fire. Not an easy thing
to do with wood that has recently been rained on, and wind that bullies the
weakling flames. But with a little help
from lighter fluid, mission accomplished.
As I write, my
once fledgling fire is now burning strong.
However, there is a problem. The
wind is too strong to allow the heat to radiate very far. The heat flows quite well directly down wind,
but so does the smoke which stings my eyes and rankingly permeates my clothes. Though I add more fuel to my fire, the
lateral expanse of the heat is still truncated by the gathering wind. Every once in a while, the wind dies down a
bit, and I can feel the heat blanket around me.
It seems that the only way to stay warm is to stay close to the fire.
Likewise, in
life, it seems the only way to stay warm is to stay close to the fire. Sure enough, there are days when life is calm
and peaceful, and the warmth of God’s grace radiates without hinder in every
direction. But when the wind blows
strong and sharp – eroding hope, billowing with despair, fear chilling the bone
– the wind has a way of truncating the reach of God’s warming grace. When that happens, draw near to the
fire. That is what Sunday morning
worship is for; to be the fire that warms people’s lives. Warming it with the power of God’s grace and
mercy that nothing in this world….or universe for that matter….can
extinguish. If hopelessness is swirling,
in worship there is an inferno of hope in the tangibly given promise, “This is
my blood…this is my body….given for you.”
When life seems like a wind tunnel of despair, there is a great warming
shelter given in worship in the divine words, “Your sin is forgiven…as far as
the east is from the west.” When fear is
tornadic in power, there is, in worship a bunker of grace that no tornado can
pierce in the promise of God, “I am with you always.” There is a furnace churning out divine heat,
heat to draw near to when the sharp and piercing winds blow.
So, does that
mean that one only need to go to worship when the cold wind blows in one’s
life? I think not….and this is why…the
wonder of worship is that not only is the place that we experience the warmth
of God’s grace, those who gather in worship are also the fuel of that very
fire. An infant crying in her mother’s
arms is a visual and verbal sign of hope to the 90 year old who has a hard time
seeing life in their life. The shake of
one’s hand by another when one’s brokenness has scandalously and shamefully landed
on the front page of the paper carries divine warmth. Singing brings beauty to life’s boredom, and
joining voices in prayer creates a human shield against the wind. It may be that your life is peaceful and
calm, but be assured of this; it is not so for everyone, and on those days…you
and I are the fuel for the fire that God ignites in worship.
So, on this cool,
crisp, windy fall day….as I sit next to my fire…I am thankful for the fire that
I can draw near to and be part of in this world where the wind never rests.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,(ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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