The Bungee Cord. 5-27-24

Hello,

For the last several months, I have been involved in a community discussion group called “Great Decisions”. I was invited to these once-a-month gatherings by a pickleball friend of mine who is a retired air force pharmacist. Our group is one of many throughout the country that seeks to gain a greater understanding of international issues. We’ve discussed middle east tensions, high seas treaties, and this past month we took a look at alternative energy. These discussions are facilitated by a central organization which publishes a guidebook and led by local “experts”. Our leader is a retired social science prof. I have found these gatherings to be interesting and enlightening.

In our discussion on alternative energy, we found ourselves dealing with worldwide tensions coming from the location of resources around the world and how the use of those resources effect the world in which we live. I don’t remember how the discussion got focused on the conflicts that are currently being fought and those that might come from our “enemies”, but I thought my two cents were worthy of their part in the discussion and I said something to the effect, “Isn’t it time for us to realize that we are all riding in this boat, earth, together and figure out how to work together and live in peace together?”

My question was sarcastically answered by a person who said, “Well, if you want to sing Kum By Ya…..”

I was caught off guard, and I felt like my two cents were being handed back to me for being foolish. I retorted, trying to assert that I wasn’t a complete fool, that I was a pastor and am well aware of the presence and power of evil in the world. And then I buttoned my lip…at least for a while.

When I got home after the gathering, I gave some further thought to what I had said and what I had been told, and I wished that I had been sharper of mind to say two things. First, I wish I would have been quick minded enough to say to the sarcastic person, “Actually, I find myself singing “Blowin’ in the Wind” a lot now, and “If no one sings “Kum by Ya” anymore, maybe we will forget the words.”

I decided to write about this encounter today because today is Memorial Day, a day that we pause to keep in our memory all of those who have died in warfare. There will be parades, rifle fire at cemeteries, laying of flowers, speeches by veterans, and the trumpeting of taps to honor those who served and died. All important. But I wonder if the greatest and most important thing we can do to honor those whose lives were taken by warfare is for each of us to do something that might lead to the day when war will be no more.

God dropped one small pebble of a person into the world in a Bethlehem manger and the ripple of that splash has been changing the world ever since. You and I are the ongoing ripples of that splash. So, guided by the one who was born as the Prince of Peace, the one who Isaiah foretold would bring about the day when “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid (Isaiah 11), the one who died for all and took the word “enemy” to the cross……guided by that one, might we pray for our enemies, offer a cold cup of water to the thirsty, bind up the wounds of a beaten one and place him on our donkey, dine with a Zacchaeus, visit the dying daughter of a Centurion guard, and maybe sing a verse of “Kum By Ya”.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 5-20-24

Hello,

I don’t know much about the group R.E.M., but recently I heard one of their songs, “Everybody Hurts”, sung by a priest on Britain’s Got Talent. Dressed in his clerical collar, Father Ray Kelly sang a rendition of the song that left the judges speechless, and the audience so stunned you could hear a pin drop. Some of the song’s lyrics:

“Everybody hurts

Take comfort in your friends

Everybody hurts

Don't throw your hand, oh no

Don't throw your hand

If you feel like you're alone

No, no, no, you are not alone

If you're on your own in this life

The days and nights are long

When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on

Well, everybody hurts sometimes

Everybody cries

Everybody hurts sometimes

And everybody hurts sometimes

So hold on, hold on

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on

Everybody hurts”

Maybe you have heard and know this song. As Bungee Cord readers may know, I have lived with depression for the last twenty years. Depression is a menacing predator. Thankfully, through the care of many people and the wonder of medicine, I have most often been able to live with hope, peace and even joy. But there have been times when the depression hits hard and the goodness of life is hard to see or feel, even though it is right in front of my eyes. One of the most important soldiers in the battle against this darkness is a person who cares enough to listen to the swirling irrationality going round and round in my mind. When they have acknowledged my hurt and allowed my tears, it has helped me to hold on. I have been blessed to have brigades of such soldiers. As the R.E.M. songs says, I have taken “comfort in my friends”.

None the less, the onslaught of depression doesn’t wane even when one is holding on. It almost seems like the depression sees its target wrapping their hands around the comfort of others and sees an opportunity to strike with a crushing blow. And the one who is holding on can feel their grip loosening and their fingers alit with burning fire. When that happens, “hold on” seems like an impossible command to obey.

I have found that amid the “comfort in my friends” who fill my ears with encouragement to “hold on” , an encouragement that I covet, there comes to me a friend who encourages me differently. “I’ve got you!” Jesus is that friend. When Jesus had his arms stretched out on the cross, those arms opened wide to gather me in. When Jesus stepped out of the grave, he took ahold of my hand and said, “Follow me.” When the waters of Baptism christened my life, Jesus said, “You are mine.” When I kneel at the Lord’s table and dine, Jesus unites himself with me with a hug from the inside and says, “I won’t let you go.” And when I have tumbled into depression’s black hole, I see a light of grace coming towards me and with a grip that is stronger than anything in all creation, even death, and I hear the words of greatest comfort, “I’ve got you!”

“I’ve got you!” If you are ever holding on for dear life and the holding is becoming unattainable, hear Jesus’ ever faithful word to you, “I’ve got you!” And cradled in Jesus’ grip you can breathe in and catch your breath, you can let your wearied muscles gather renewed strength, you can look around and see a path of hope opening up, you can feel courage pulse from your heart giving you power to step into life.

Every day I am thankful for the friends whose words have helped me hold on. I am thankful for scientists and doctors and therapists whose medicine and advice I gladly take. Most of all, I am eternally thankful for the unique voice of a divine friend who has ahold of me and won’t let go, “I’ve got you!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 5-13-24

Hello,

My 3-year-old grandson brought his dad (my son), his mom, his mom’s mom, and his dog to visit us this weekend. They live in Brooklyn on the 13th floor of an apartment building, so visiting our house is a visit to a completely different world than that in which he lives. We live out in the country with rolling hills and woods all around us. He lives in a cement world with traffic lights and high-rise buildings. When he comes to our house, he hears birds and see sunsets. In his neighborhood where a fire station and police station are across the street from him, he hears sirens and sees flashing lights. Brooklyn is a far different world than Stahlstown, Pa.

When he comes, it is a thrill to see his eyes delight in all the discoveries that he makes here. He watches with undeterred attention as a robin searches for worms. He goes on adventure walks with my wife to see if any blue birds have laid eggs in the dozen bluebird houses around our house. He builds bridges and circles of track for the Brillo (sp?) train to traverse. He checks out the mason bee houses that my wife has set up in the flower gardens. And on this visit he planted in our garden a bean plant that he started in his preschool. This visit, as are all of his visits, was a visit of discovery that opened his eyes to a world of wonder.

But more important than all the worldly discoveries that he made over the weekend, this weekend he discovered what is like to be loved by his “mama” and “yay yay”. (His mother is from China and the Chinese names for the father’s parents are “mama” and “yay yay”.). He discovered what it was like to have the complete attention of someone of whom he bears his name when he wants to play with cars and trucks. He discovered the feeling of sitting on his “mama’s” and “yay yay’s” lap and read books and laugh together. He discovered what it was like to be hugged with the unhindered love of his grandparents in the morning when he woke up and at night when he went to bed. He discovered the comfort of being picked up when he fell and feeling the truth of “it will be alright”.

Sure, we chat with him on facetime, and we send him notes and pictures. We tell him over the internet that we love him, but there is something about a visit that brings to life the love and thankfulness that his “mama” and “yay yay” have for him.

That is what Jesus is all about. Over the centuries, God told his people through the prophets that he loved them and would never forsake them (although the Bible tells us that sometimes God got really angry with his people and wondered what he had gotten himself into). But when God made his visit in Jesus, the love that God spoke of through the prophets came to life, making every day an adventure of discovery….not a discovery for God, but a discovery for the world. We, the world, saw God embrace the filthiest of people, and by his embrace their lives were changed. We, the world, felt what it was like to be so loved by God that it brought tears to God’s, Jesus’, face. We, the world, heard the comforting power that brings hope to the future, “Take up you mat and walk.” We, the world, felt an embrace coming from eternity when God, in Jesus, wrapped us in his outstretched arms on the cross and called us by name in his resurrection in the waters of Baptism. What a life changing visit of discovery is ours, the world’s, when God made his visit to us in Jesus.

And the wonder of it all is that God keeps on making that visit into my life and yours. Every Sunday when we gather in the Lord’s house Jesus’ words of forgiveness and mercy are re-spoken in our ears. He visits us with divine power to pick us up off of the ground when we have fallen in the past week. And most of all, he breaks down every barrier that might keep us from him in a way that no human hug can attain….he hugs us from the inside when we come to his table and communes with us.

If you haven’t been to worship in a while…or if you have gone every week of your life…there’s a discovery waiting for you….the discovery of a three-year-old who finds out what it feels like to be loved by his “mama” and “yay yay”. Actually more than that!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 5-6-24

Hello,

The title, “Christian”, means “little Christ”, as I suspect most of you already know.

The picture with today’s Bungee Cord is another Dogwood tree, a little Dogwood tree. We planted it in front of our house a couple of years ago. When we bought it, it was slightly smaller than it is now, and it did not produce any flowers. We had to put some support stakes around it as its roots had not taken hold of the surrounding soil, and without the support it would have easily blown over in the winds that rattle our house. This year, however, its roots have woven themselves deeper in the ground, so it is no longer in need of auxiliary support, and after my wife has tended the soil with nutrients it produced around 10 blossoms. (You might be able to see them in the picture, and if you do you will notice that they have already begun to wilt.). I don’t think that in my lifetime this little Dogwood tree will match the big Dogwood tree that I wrote about last week, but in the years of my life that remain, I will watch it grow and develop with a clear picture in my mind of what it will one day become.

I am a Christian. Through nothing of my own doing, but completely by Christ’s doing, I am who I am. I am not the product of my deeds, good or bad. I am the product of Jesus’ deed, his death and resurrection. I am not “dust in the wind” (as the band Kansas has said ). I am clay in the potter’s hand. I am not a random sub-microscopic speck in the universe. I am the apple of the eye of the one who permeates the universe. I am not an accidental particle of time and space. I am one who the one who is beyond time and space has inhabited as his home. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called Children of God; and that is what we are.” (1 John 3:1). God has named me a beloved child, and God, whose word contains creative power has made me what I am: a child of God.

When I, a child of God, stand myself next to Christ, the Son of God, I feel like a 6th grader who is stepping his toes into puberty with my older college graduate sibling by my side. No zits on his face. No cracks in his voice. His arms and legs fully muscled, mine like the twigs of a tree. My head barely reaching his shoulders, and my naivete dwarfed by his wisdom. I am a “little Christ”, far less than Christ, himself.

The peace in my mind, the joy in my soul, the love in my heart is pretty trifling compared to Christ’s. I am much more akin to the little Dogwood tree in our yard than the big one. The beauty that I bring to the world is far more minimal than that which Jesus brings. When the world comes at me with its clubs and bats, I wish that I had the peace that Jesus had in the Garden of Gethsemane. When evil tempts me and seeks to bring me to my knees, I wish that I had the joy that Jesus had when he laughed at the devil’s trickiness in the wilderness. When I feel like I have been pummeled by the beater bar of life’s vacuum, I wish that I had the love in my heart that Jesus had when he prayed for his enemies as he hung on the cross. I am a little Dogwood, a Christian, a little Christ.

But all is not hopeless. As a matter of fact, all is full of hope because Christ, like my wife, is at work in my life, loosening the soil around me, feeding me with nutrients, staking me down against the wind. The day will come that I, who has been under Christ’s care from the day that he made me his, will be like him. “2Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he* is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. (1 John 3:2). Just as the little Dogwood tree sees what it will be like when it looks at the big Dogwood tree, I can see what I will be like when I l, a Christian…a little Christ, look at Jesus Christ.

So, fellow little Dogwood trees, live each day in great hope, for the day is coming that you, and I, will bring the beauty and grace to the world that comes from the daily care of the gardener. Take a look at the big Dogwood tree…..it is beautiful!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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