The Bungee Cord. 11-17-21

Hello,

At those times in your life when your world is falling apart, what are you going to hold onto to get you through? Or even a bigger question, when the world is falling apart, what are you going to hold onto to get you through?

I know that when I was diagnosed with cancer four years ago, the first question was not hypothetical for me. And when I listen to the news coming across the T.V., newspapers, and the radio, the second question is one that it seems a wise person should start asking.

So, what’s the answer?

Listen to the voices around you and they will tell you to hold onto the things that you have built with your hands: your reputation, your friendships, your bank account, your job or job skills. But as Jesus told his disciples in Luke 21 as they were standing next to one of the most amazing things that they had built with their hands, the temple, that even that temple would one day crash to the ground. (And it did in 70 AD, when the Romans demolished it leaving no stone standing on another.). Bad idea to hold onto the things we have made with our hands.

Others tell us to hold onto the powerful, the wise, and the mighty. Politicians promise us that they can and will save us. Scientists and philosophers tell us that their knowledge will solve our problems. Admirals and Generals tell us that they can clear the way for us. But, as Jesus told his disciples in Luke 21, no matter how powerful, wise or mighty they may be wars continue to wage, earthquakes continue to rumble, and governments continue to fail. Bad idea to hold onto the words of the powerful, the wise and the mighty.

Others tell us to hold onto the things nearest and dearest to us, like family and faith. But we have all seen how families, even the strongest of families, can find themselves being washed away like sandcastles on the beach when the storm waves crash in. And when the world is spinning around like a fast playground merry-go-round, eventually the centripetal force of doubt and pain can peel our hands, even the strongest ones, off the bars of faith to which we cling. Bad idea to hold onto the things nearest and dearest to us.

So…..what is there to hold onto? In Luke 21 Jesus answers that question by telling us that these questions are ones that we need not ask….what should I hold onto when the world is falling apart?....and we need not ask them because Jesus says to us, “I have ahold of you!” Jesus, whose hands, the Gospel of John tells us, created the universe(s) has ahold of you. Jesus, the living Word of God, has staked his claim on you with his life, and he’s not about to release it to anyone or anything in life or death, has ahold of you. Jesus, who sees you as the apple of his eye and values even the hairs on your head, has ahold of you. When your world is falling apart, or when the world, itself, is falling apart and you reach for something to hold onto, Jesus is bellowing out above the din of destruction and turmoil, “I’ve got ahold of you!”

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

Havde a great week….resting in Jesus’ grasp.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord. 11-10-25

Hello,

How big is God?

In my mind, Christians often tell the world that God is quite small. They tell folks that the God who sent his Son, Jesus, into this world is only big enough to be understood through one lens of thought. Ever since the beginning of Christianity, Christians have argued out loud as to who is right and who is wrong, and God is only big enough to love those who are “right”. That seems to make God pretty small.

When the Bible took its shape, there were lots of writings that claimed to speak the truth of God’s revelation to us, but just like witnesses to an accident or crime in our day, some of those writings were deemed not as reliable as others. Faithful people sought to provide a clearer picture of the truth. So, they “canonized” Scripture into a yardstick….not a point. “Canon’s” etymology lies in the meaning of “yardstick”. For a variety of reasons, certain things fell outside of the yardstick, and so they were left out of the Bible. But that which was “used by everyone everywhere” (at least as far as the New Testament is concerned) was included. It doesn’t take a very careful reading of the Bible to see that the contents of the Bible speak its message through a variety of perspectives. It is, after all, a yardstick, and not a point.

Keeping this in mind, we begin to see how big God really is. God is big enough to embrace a whole variety of people whose life experiences have given them different lenses through which to see God. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans and many more find their spots within the yardstick length of the Bible. As God has embraced this grand variety of temperaments, of personalities, and of talents, God has brought together an orchestra of praise to fill the world with the unmatched beauty of the music of God’s love. Trumpeters, violinists, clarinetists, drummers, players of the trombone, flutists, tuba players, and all the rest of the unique instrumentalists have a place in God’s orchestra. And as with any orchestra, its music is most beautiful when each musician plays their instrument with maximum accuracy and quality of tone. And because God is big enough to conduct an orchestra full of instruments, there is a place for you and me in God’s concert of mercy, whatever instrument we find ourselves gifted to play.

Because of how big God is and the fact that Scripture is a yardstick, it doesn’t surprise me that as different people read their music, they find themselves playing different notes when it comes to addressing some of the most complex issues of our time. It just may be that the score calls us to play different notes at the same time.

So, as you add to the concert of God’s grace in Jesus Christ this week, do so with gusto and delight, keeping you eyes affixed both on the music and the conductor in front of you. The sound we will make together is a tune that can transform the world onto the symphony that God intends it to be. It’s a BIG SOUND!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 11-3-25

Hello,

One of the most helpful parts of Scripture that I find when it comes to understanding the life of the Christian faith is Romans 6. At the end of chapter five, the Apostle Paul, who wrote Romans, says that God addresses every sin with God’s grace. Then as he begins the sixth chapter he asks, “Well, if grace is a good thing, maybe we should sin all the more so that we can receive more grace from God.”

And to that somewhat “creative” way of thinking, Paul says, “How can we who have died to sin continue to live in it?” Then Paul goes on to say that when God takes ahold of us, God doesn’t just refurbish our broken selves, instead God makes us into something new. Paul said it this way in 2 Cor. 5:17, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!”

I begin this Bungee Cord with this short Bible study because it has led me to be a little more careful with my words when it comes to living the Christian faith. I hear many Christian folk speak of being “called” to do something, and there is certainly truth in their words. Pastors in my tradition often speak of their “calling” to be a pastor. As a matter of fact, the word “vocation” comes from the Latin word that means “calling”. Jesus gathered his disciples by “calling out” to them, “Follow me.” And so, when Christians say that we, as Christians, are called to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, care for the sick, cloth the naked and visit the imprisoned (Matthew 25), there is truth to their words.

But as I consider Romans 6, I think there is a deeper truth behind the Christian faith, and that is to say that we whom God has gotten ahold of are “made” to do what Jesus says the Christian life is meant to be. In my way of thinking, when one is “called”, one can ignore that specific calling and follow some other calling voice, but when one is “made” in a certain way, if one acts in such a way that one is not made, life is clumsy, if not painful, at best. So, although we might be born as creatures consumed with ourselves (some theologians say that is the crux of sin), and we all are, when God gets ahold of us in Christ, we are reborn, new creatures filled with the self-giving love of God. We are more than “called” to live lives of self-giving, we are “made” to do so.

When I understand my Christian life, I see God as a divine mechanical engineer. Just as mechanical engineers design things to do a specific task, just so, God has done so with you and me as Christ has taken hold of our lives. As I look at this world that is so full of hatred, violence and fear, and I wonder if there is anything that I can do about it, I find myself hopeful rather than helpless. I am hopeful because Scripture tells me that God, the divine mechanical engineer, has designed and made me to do something about the deadly mess we find ourselves in. God has made me, as St. Francis penned in his prayer (Google it!) a channel of God’s peace, and since I am God’s handiwork, I have the confidence that God has made me with his best. I am no antique wash board that cannot meet the challenges of today, instead I am a high-tech, divinely powered industrial washing machine of God’s grace….and so are you!

So, join with me and be of good courage as you and I face this world that stains all people with hatred, fear, and violence (just to name a few), because in Christ, God has made (not just called) us to be brand new instruments of God’s cleansing grace….”scrubbing bubbles” of grace!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger