The Bungee Cord 6-23-25

Hello,

I was watching coverage of the turmoil going on in the mid-east, and in the discussion one of the U.S.’s military experts said that if things escalate, we will find ourselves putting “boots on the ground”. In the same program the panel said that with our current efforts, we are trying to keep “collateral damage” to a minimum. And when battle assessments are given, we are told of the number of “casualties”. These terms bother me.

But it is not just on military actions that I hear terms or words that bother me. I’ve been in meetings with church leaders who observe the declining of worship attendance and say, “We need to get more butts in the pews.” When banks are dealing with mortgages, they put a number on a file and name it “applicant #203. Or when politicians speak of those who have come into our country without following specified directions, they speak of “illegal aliens”, “undocumented”, or the worst that my ears have heard, “poisoners of the American blood”. These terms bother me.

These terms bother me because they hide something that is essential to the discussion, and that is that at the heart of all these terms is that we are speaking of people. Sometimes these words are used to numb us to the fact we are speaking about people. Who cares about boots or collateral damage. Sometimes these terms are used to cover up the pain that lies behind them. Speaking of casualties doesn’t hurt as much as naming children. And placing a number on an applicant for a loan doesn’t put a face on the mother who is working two jobs and is trying to put a roof over her children. Other times these words are used to inspire fear and animosity and erase the compassion we might find in seeing fear in a person’s eyes running from starvation. And when people talk about “butts in the pews”, we desecrate what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus didn’t die to fill pews. Jesus died to fill every person with the grace of God.

I am writing about these things in today’s Bungee Cord because of what I heard in church yesterday. “27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3)

The whole point of the incarnation, God’s taking on flesh and bone, is to make it crystal clear that the focus of God’s attention and work is on people. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the “Word of God”, and so when God spoke to the world with Jesus, God uncovered any term that we might use, and said to each person, “I love you.” And as that pronouncement bellows from the cross and the grave, it sears our ears with a filter of love and mercy, it awakens our eyes from a nightmarish dream, and it jolts our heart into a rhythm of God’s grace. We experience ourselves as the beloved of God, and we experience others as the same. Consider the wonder that will bloom forth in our world as the pronouncement of God, “I love you,” is the molder of each of our lives and all of our lives together.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 6-15-25

Hello,

I returned home on Wednesday from my trip to visit my dad in his memory care unit in Davenport, Iowa and my eldest son in Denver. As I have in the past several years, I drove the trip alone (my wife just hatched twelve chickens….so, she was tied down here). 1447 miles and 21.5 hours each way. There was a day when I would tackle such a trip with no stops and still have energy when I reached my destination. But that day is far gone. I broke the trip up in four legs on my way out, and three legs on my way back, and when I finally arrived back home, I was exhausted.

I drive a Mini Cooper Countryman with a 301 horsepower engine, so the drive is fun. You feel the road in my car, and when you need a bit more zip when passing, stepping on the accelerator gives you a thrilling jolt pushing you back into your seat. I have found it helpful to put the car in “Sports Mode” when going through Gary, Indiana to Joliet, Illinois on Interstate 80. If you have ever driven that section of road, you know how adventurous that drive is. Once you get on it, you find yourself bumper to bumper on five to six lanes for as far as you can see. Sometimes the traffic is “flowing” at 80 miles per hour, and then suddenly you find yourself crawling as if the road was covered with a foot of molasses, and then brought to a complete stop with that molasses turning into glue and you sit and sit and sit.

Do you ever feel like your life is a life-long ride from Stahlstown, Pa. to Denver, Co.? Of course, your starting point and destination might be different, but nevertheless a long road trip? Behind the wheel, trying to get somewhere? Advancing in your job, dealing with family issues, obtaining financial stability, gaining a sense of peace, _________ (fill in the blank)? Personally, I think that such road trips are well worth the road time, but that doesn’t make the driving any less exhausting or monotonous.

I don’t know if you have seen it, but there is an often-posted sign on all of our road trips, a sign that says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” It is spaced out every seven days, and right after that sign there is an exit ramp with an arrow pointing off the road. I know that it is tempting to pass by that sign in order to put more miles underneath us, but I have found it worth the exit…..to get out of my car, stretch my arms and legs in praise, to take my eye off the road and rest in God’s grace, to revive my soul around a table that God has set for me, and discover a deep sense of contentment in just being on this road trip rather than thinking such contentment will only happen when I reach Denver (Didn’t John Denver sing that West Virginia was “almost heaven”?)

I took the exit ramp today, and having done so, I find myself ready to get behind the wheel. There will be another exit ramp in seven days. From one traveler to another, it a great place to find deep rest.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 6-11-25

Hello,

The reason that I am a couple of days late with the Bungee Cord is that I just got home from a long weekend with my son in Denver. My father, who is living with complete dementia, is in a cognitive care unit in Davenport, Iowa, and so after visiting him, I continued my drive to Denver. Now that I am home from my trip, I have become completely certain that when I did not choose to become an over the road truck driver, I made the right decision.

Distance makes being with my son far too rare, but he has spread his wings, and he is soaring well. While I was with him, we did a bunch of father/son things, of which one of them was to go to an Italian restaurant that he had been wanting to go to. Not knowing the restaurants exclusiveness, I went severely underdressed as I wore an Illinois hoody. No one said anything, although everyone else was clearly more sharply attired. The restaurant was such a hot item, that it was hard to get a reservation , so we got the only reservation we could get: a couple of seats at a common table. I had never done such a thing before, so I didn’t know quite what the appropriate etiquette was.

There were two open seats on one end of the table that sat eight, so we sat ourselves in them. A couple of mid-aged ladies sat on our left, and a young couple sat on our right, which was at the end of the table, so they sort of faced us. Soon after we took our seats, a waitress came and placed a menu that was leather covered in front of us. When I opened it, I saw the price tag for the “sampler” page, $115.00. I snickered as I noted the price to my son, thinking that my credit card was going to be the recipient of the cost.

My snicker must have been audible as the young woman at the end of the table, snickered, too. And with that snicker a two-hour conversation began. My son gave me a tap on my thigh to tell me that I should leave them alone as he sensed they were out for a special meal. And they were. It was their 5th anniversary. We briefly shared our stories, and I figured that that would be the end of it, but not so. Every time that I tried to end our conversation by saying that I didn’t mean to interrupt their celebration, the woman would always say, “Oh no, you aren’t interrupting .”

Being naïve about these sort of things and realizing that I would never see these people again, I kept the conversation going. As it turns out, the young woman’s father grew up in Ligonier (the town that we are nearest to, and the town where my last parish was), and he was very active in the Episcopal church in the neighboring small town. What a small world!

So, on and on we chatted amidst the waitress’ interruptions. She had been to Africa, as had I. Her husband was an attorney that dealt with food safety cases…very interesting. She knew of where my son lived, next to a hospital. She was the head nurse in a NICU unit. It was all very fascinating. She even was hoping to make further plans to meet my son’s wife at a dinner.

After dinner, my son told me how nervous he was about my lack of etiquette when our conversation got started. They were obviously, as far as he could tell, on a significant dinner date. But funny enough, as the conversation got rolling, the significance of their dinner time was swept up in an enjoyable sharing of stories and lives.

When we left the restaurant, we thanked the maître d’. After our thanks, she said to us, “Sounds like you made some friends. I think that couple needed some love.” Of course, we were given no idea of why they “needed some love”. Maybe they had been quite bothered when they were seated? Maybe they had brought with them obvious baggage that they were carrying? Who knows?

Just as Jesus said, you never know when you find yourself in a position to bring life changing love into people’s lives. It would be fun to know what might become of our loving interaction with those two young people, but this I do know, it was a delight to unknowingly put a dent of love in their lives.

A delight that I hope you will one day come to encounter, too.

Have a great week

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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