The Bungee Cord. 1-27-25

Hello,

Over and over again, one hears that these are very chaotic and dangerous times. World orders are crumbling and changing. Natural calamities. Worldwide epidemics. People deeply polarized with matching deep anger. You don’t have to be awake too long to hear people tell you that we are in a time of walking on thin ice.

As we tread this cracking ice, people are responding in many ways. The biggest response that I see is fear. Fear often does take hold of a person when one finds one’s self watching the ground that one is standing on become brittle and eroding away. It’s natural. So, out of fear people try and hold onto something new, and we see that happening. Hatred of strangers. Hoarding of things. Strengthening one’s muscles, figuratively and literally. Building walls, once again figuratively and literally. Being cynical about everything. Grabbing onto things that don’t make sense.

Of course, it would be foolish to passively ignore the fact that a lion is charging at you. Fear is not necessarily a bad thing. The bad thing about fear is that it can lead us to do things that are bad for us and bad for the world.

As many of you know, I am a rabid University of Illinois fan. I consider my fandom to be a healthy meaningless diversion to cope with the daily realities of life. Anyway, the Fighting Illini were playing a game a couple of weeks ago that personal scheduling problems did not allow me to watch. But thanks to the many wonders of technology, I was able to watch it the next day.

In the meantime, between the game’s end and my watching the game, I came across the score. Illinois victory! This was the first time that I have ever watched a game having already known the outcome. I had always thought that to do so would be boring. However, as I watched, I did not find myself feeling boredom. What I found myself feeling was two things: peace and curiosity. When we were falling behind due to sloppy play and missed shots, I was not worried. I knew we were going to win. And when we were digging holes for ourselves, I found myself wondering, “How are we going to get out of these holes and win?” Amid the chaos and disasters, I watched with peace and curiosity because I knew…I knew..the outcome.

I, who lives with the knowledge of the empty Easter tomb, carry with me the rock solid knowledge of how the on court battle of my life will end. When it ends, I will find myself embraced by Jesus in an eternal victory hug, and hear Jesus say, as a victorious coach does, “Well done good and faithful servant.” So, with that impending hug and words of praise I need not fear the chaos and danger. Though the world may be quaking, the embrace of the one who has “the whole world in his hands” will be mine. Though my sins blind my eyes and burden my shoulders, the light that enters the darkness and the yolk that is easy will be mine. Though the holes that I get pushed into or dig for myself may seem bottomless, the grasp of the good shepherd who search will not end for me until I am found will be mine. Though the pain that might bring me to my knees in paralysis may take ahold of me, the life giving, power-laden words of one who speaks, “take up you pallet and walk,” will fall upon my ears.

I have witnessed the end of the match…that is the witness of the Christian faith…a witness that has been passed on to me, and which I pass onto you. So, in these days, when so many are reacting out of fear, you and I can live these days in peace and curiosity. Jesus has won the victory!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 1-20-25

Hello,

WWJD?

It wasn’t too many years ago that many Christians adopted these for letters as their guide to their life of faith. “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?” I remember that wristbands were made carrying these letters, and many people wore them daily. Not to disparage the question that these letters ask, nor those who wore the wristbands, but I do think that there is somewhat of a difficulty with the question the letters pose. The difficulty: the answer is not always readily answered. If you put a handful of Christians in the same complex situation, I suspect you might get a handful of different answers.

I was watching a “reel” from America’s Got Talent, and onto the stage came a girl in her teens, and her mother and father. They had come to sing. As Simon Cowell was asking them about their background and if they had ever sung to a big crowd before, the mother said that she had. She had been a Christian singer and had put out some albums produced by a Christian Record company. However, she lost her job. Seems that she, who had been single at the time, had become pregnant, and because of that her record company dropped her.

Is that what Jesus would do?

The crowd, who I wonder the percentage of those whose lives were guided by the Christian faith, groaned at what happened to her, and maybe you, too gave out a groan as you read of her plight. But truth to be told, I have heard and seen the record company’s decision often carried out by those who bear Christ’s name. “How can you call yourself a Christian after what you just did?” “Look who just walked into the church. What is he doing here after what he did?” “We can’t let that person come to our church. People will leave and no one will come.” “She’s not even sorry for what she did. She doesn’t belong here until she is.”

What would Jesus do? What is the clear answer?

Well, maybe someone wiser than I has also seen the unclarity of WWJD, and offered a different question, the question that I offer to guide the Christian life, and that question is “WDJD?” “WHAT DID JESUS DO?”

Jesus broke bread with Judas on the night that Judas betrayed him. Jesus went to the house of Zacchaeus, a thieving tax collector. Jesus told his disciple to put away his sword when the crowds came to arrest Jesus. Jesus stopped and talked to lepers, and he healed them, whether they were thankful or not. Jesus loved his disciple Peter, even though Peter denied him three times. Jesus, who was without sin, threw no rocks at a woman who was caught in adultery. Jesus died on a cross, took sin and death to the grave, and left them behind in the grave when he rose from the dead on Easter morning. These are some of the things that Jesus unquestionably did.

So, if you are one who finds yourself heavily burdened by the struggles of this life, or by the boulders you have sinfully placed upon your shoulders…..and don’t we all find ourselves so burdened to a greater or lesser degree in our lives…let me invite you not to ask “WWJD?” and find yourself guessing and caught in a swirl of answers. Instead, ask “WDJD?”, “WHAT DID JESUS DO?”, and you will find a certain answer: Jesus loved people just like you, embraced them with that love, welcomed them into his life, died for them so that nothing else might have the breath to put a claim on them, and rose from the dead and breathed new life…eternal life…into them. That is what Jesus did…..for that singer who got pregnant…and for you!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (GGAP)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 1-13-25

Hello,

• I don’t believe in a God who sends fires that consume thousands of homes and kills elderly people who cannot escape. Jesus’ disciples did, that is until Jesus told them that God was not that kind of God.

“52And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’* 55But he turned and rebuked them. (Luke 9)

• I don’t believe in a God who answers prayers based upon the number of people praying and how good they have been. Jesus’ disciples did, that is until Jesus told them that God was not that kind of God.

22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15)

• I don’t believe in a God who turns his back on people when they have done stupid and foolish things. Jesus’ disciples did, that is until Jesus told them that God was not that kind of God.

‘There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So, he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need…..20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”* 22But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15,16)

When I see the tragedies that pummel people all over the world, I also see a God who has stepped into a battle ring with all of them, like a lamb surrounded by wolves, and has brought each of them to their knees…more accurately….to the cross, and when that lamb yelled, “It is finished!” and breathed his last, so also were the wolves of tragedy finished. Dead. No longer with any power to claim casualties from their torment. And to the wonder of all, even to this day, the lamb who was once dead emerged from the grips of death itself and made its claim of life upon all who the wolves had beaten down. “You can’t have these ones,” said the lamb to the lifeless wolves as he gathered up the world in his arms like a child zealously gathering their toys, “these are mine!”

• This is the God in whom I believe,

“What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;

we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans

The Lord be with you.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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