The Bungee Cord 3-24-25

Hello,

Mondays are the day that I deliver Meals on Wheels to fourteen people. It is the “Donegal Route”. We always go out in two’s just in case the meal receiver is having difficulties. The people we serve (who are officially called “clients”, but that name disguises the fact that they are people) are of varied needs, and because we bring a daily meal to them, they are able to remain in their homes until their needs surpass their abilities.

The meals are homecooked out of the kitchen of the church to which I go, Bethel Lutheran Church. For many years, it was just a small kitchen in the corner of the basement, but for the last ten years or so, the meals have been cooked in a larger, professionally equipped kitchen in an addition that the church constructed. Every weekday morning, a different three -person crew shows up early to make and cook the meal for the route that I drive and the other route, the “Rector route”. Ham, scalloped potatoes, corn on the cob, a salad and a brownie. Backed chicken, those little potatoes, beans, an apple, and a cookie. Just samples of the treats the cooks cook up. When I walk in the building at 10:00 a.m. the smell of the meal ignites my saliva glands. The food, however, is not for me.

The meals are placed in reusable plastic trays and placed in a heated satchel. The cold parts of the meal are placed in paper bags. Once loaded in my car, my delivery partner and I hop in my Mini to wind our way through the hills and valleys of our area to the homes on our route. The reception at each of the houses is unique. Some of the places have placed a small refrigerator on their porch, instructing us to put the food in it, and we rarely see the recipient. But the vast majority of the people await our delivery, and when we knock on the door, we get a chance to greet them face to face. Some are pleasant. Some are a bit grouchy. Some are unable to get to the door, so we walk in and shout, “Meals on Wheels”, and find the person resting in a recliner. There is usually at least one person, who in their loneliness or confusion needs someone to talk to, and so we spend a little time doing so.

I suspect that for most of our people, the world spins too fast for them to keep up, and when that happens, I suspect, they can easily feel forgotten and left behind. In my ministry I have spent a good deal of time with aging people who have sometimes asked me, “Pastor, why am I here?” Their days are full of emptiness as their children have moved far away and their spouse has died. They don’t get out much, and the most often destination is a doctor’s office. The things that they used to enjoy doing, like reading or driving a tractor, they can’t do anymore because their eyesight is nearly gone, and their arthritis prevents them from getting into the tractor seat. The pain is always clinging to their bodies, and the phone doesn’t ring anymore. And so, they ask me, “Pastor, why am I here?”

I wish I knew the answer, but of this I am certain, their value to God, has nothing to do with what they are able to do, but rather what God has done for them. God sent his Son, Jesus to engage anything (including aging) that might claim anyone away from God in a battle to the death, and in Jesus’ Easter victory God staked his eternal claim on all people. Irrespective of what value the world places on a person, God has placed the value of someone he is willing to die for on each person.

Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15.13) Granted, my once a week Meals on Wheels visits fall far short of Jesus’ act of unconditional love on the cross, but when I deliver a meal without any expectation of receiving something in return (that is things like: “it makes me feel good”, or “it assuages my feelings of undeserved blessings”), I get a taste of the wonder of sharing in God’s unconditional love. I get to experience the power of God’s grace.

When asked, “Why am I here?”, I find myself saying, “I don’t know. But this I do know, when I am with you, I get a chance to experience the greatest love of all, giving myself unconditionally to you. Thank you.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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