The Bungee Cord. 11-13-24
Hello,
I am a day late on the Bungee Cord this week, because I am on the road. A dear college friend of mine (I wrote of him a couple of Bungee’s ago) died, and I am off to his funeral in Northwest Illinois. I am taking a little detour on my way there to visit my dad who is in a memory care unity in Davenport, Iowa.
On my way to Davenport, I drove as far at Valparaiso, Indiana, home of Valparaiso University, which is the college from which I graduated. By looking at my wardrobe and my mancave, you might think that I graduated from the University of Illinois. Well, I did attend the University of Illinois my first two years, but it was there that I decided to be a Pastor, and I needed to transfer to get the courses I needed to go to seminary. I learned a lot at Valpo, but I had a great time at the University of Illinois. My mind may have left U of I, but my heart did not.
Anyway, it’s been decades since I wandered back to Valpo, which is about an hour southeast of Chicago in Indiana. When I got off the Indiana tollway at the Valparaiso exit, I was immediately lost. Some of my confusion was due to the length of time of my absence that was straining my waning memory, but the larger part of the confusion was due to the major change that has transpired around Valparaiso since I left in 1979. The fields of corn and soybeans have all vanished and have been replaced with housing developments, businesses, storefronts and apartment buildings. Traffic lights, round abouts, and congestion. I was so confounded that I had to ask Siri to direct me to Valparaiso University.
The University has also changed. New buildings, new roads, blocked off roads, and athletic facilities that were not there 45 years ago. I have to say that the campus has a new and fresh look to it, which I guess is necessary in this day of competition for students. The chapel, which is one of the largest in the U.S. still stands majestically above everything else, giving witness to the school’s foundation of Christian mission to the students, the town, and the world. I have heard that the huge chapel, which was packed on Sundays and was well attended for chapel during the week is more akin to an empty echo chamber these days with far more people attending basketball games with Valpo’s team in the national spotlight. (When I was there it was much more in the national dungeon.)
I find that visits like this, to the haunts of my past, give me a clear picture of how much time has passed in my life. When I stay in my familiar abode or visit new places, time does not seem to have scooted by that much. Sure, my face and figure give me evidence of time’s march, but the transition is so slow that it is hard to see the change from day to day. My Valpo visit put a microscope to time’s advance in my life, and made we contemplate on who I am in this drastically different world.
Even further ago was the day that Jesus was crucified on Calvary’s hill and then rose from the stone sealed grave. I have been to that hill and tomb, and it, like my Valpo visit was a stark reminder of the passage of time. But I don’t think you have to go to these holy sites to be made aware of vast difference in that world verses the world in which we live. Visiting the pages of scripture take us to a time in the past that we have a hard time imagining. We might then wonder, “What does this ancient story of Jesus have to do with me? Is the work of God that it speaks of have any impact on me who lives so far removed, both in time and space from Jesus?”
To those wonderings, I hear a timely answer that comes from Jesus making a direct and tangible visit into my world. When the waters of baptism splashed over me and I heard, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” and when I receive a piece of bread and a sip of wine with Jesus’ promised presence, “This is my body given for you …this is my blood shed for you,”….my wonderings are answered. “I have come to visit in your time and place” says Jesus, “and embrace you with my love and mercy.” Although time may change a lot of things as we age our way through life, time does not change the most important thing in our lives, God’s love for us.
1 John 3:1 “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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