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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