The Bungee Cord 1-25-26

Hello,

I am sad.

Over the course of my years of being a pastor, I have sat with people who are weeping. Often times they have said to me, “I’m sorry, Pastor,” apologizing for their tears. Without exception, my response to them is, “No need to apologize. Sad things are sad.” No matter how tragic or trivial the situation may appear to be to me, when a person is weeping , the situation is obviously deeply felt by the weeper. Sad things are sad.

When I say that I am sad, I do not find myself at the verge of tears. Rather I find myself moved to sadness by the things that are swirling around me. It saddens me to hear people count others as “casualties” or “collateral damage” rather than human beings. It saddens me to hear people name others as “enemy” and divide the world into “us” and “them”. It saddens me that human made borders seem to also be borders of care. It saddens me that the pain incurring way of dealing with things, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”, seems to have morphed into an even more painful way of doing things, “two eyes for an eye, and I’ll punch your teeth out.” It saddens me to see kindness mocked at as being weak and naïve, and callousness applauded as a sign of strength. It saddens me to see people wielding shovels that dig holes of hate deeper and deeper, rather than to see those shovels being stored away in a shed because people have stopped digging. I am saddened when I look in the mirror and see that I, sadly, have a hand in the things that are going on around me that makes me sad.

What do I do with my sadness?

I have decided to share my sadness with you, the readers of the Bungee Cord. I do so not to create an online pity party where we might gather together to wallow in the state of things and wallow in our sadness. That does me, or you, any good.

Rather I share my sadness with you because I am tired of being sad, and I have come to know that fighting sadness alone is a losing battle

Sad things are sad, and I have come to see that there is a God who not only understands that but also feels it in the depths of God’s being. So deeply does God experience the sadness in what God sees rumbling through those who were created in the image of God, that God took upon himself, in his Son, Jesus, all the sad-creating things of this world on the cross and took them to the grave….forever. Like logs thrown into a roaring campfire, their future was to be powerless ashes, but out of their burning a great fire erupted…a great fire of hope…a great fire of alleluia’s and joy…a great fire that exploded out of the grave raising Jesus from the dead with power that erupted into the world with newness of life.

I share my sadness with you as a way of throwing all the tinder of my sadness into the blazing fire of Good Friday, inviting you to do the same, so that our combined sadness might fuel that fire into an ever more, all-consuming blazing fire of God’s Easter grace and mercy …. a fire with the power to transform all things into a new creation full of hope, peace, joy and love…where the lion lays down with the lamb, where spears are melted into pruning hooks, and where tears flow not from sadness but from joy because sad things will be no more.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord

Hello,

Does God care about who will win the college football championship game tonight?

I do. I am hoping that Indiana will beat Miami. It’s not that I am anti-Miami or that I am a big Indiana fan, actually quite the opposite since Indiana crushed Illinois this fall in our game against them. But in this game, I find myself rooting for Indiana. Why? Well, it is always fun to see a cellar-dweller team rise out of nowhere, like a phoenix, suddenly coming to life. Indiana, as you may know, has lost more games in its history than any other major college team. Year after year it has dwelt among the dregs of the Big-10. Much like people asked of Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, the same, football wise, has been said of Indiana, “Can anything good come out of Indiana?”

Well, this year we may find out. I’ve been impressed with Indiana’s quarterback who seems to be a well-grounded person. When he won the Heisman Trophy, he acknowledged that the award was really a team award, and even more so credited his resiliency in sports and life to his mother who has been in a knock down battle with Multiple Sclerosis. When he speaks, he also gives glory to God, not so much in crediting God for his victories, but rather for God’s steadfast presence and blessings in life that have come his way. Interestingly, he even took the Heisman Trophy to show the priests in his hometown parish.

Although I have never heard it asked of him, “Does God care about who will win the college football championship game?”, it is my feeling that he would answer in the same manner as I, “No.”

Sometimes when I hear people talk about the way that God works in the world, it sounds like some people do think that God cares about football victories, as if God was on their side…seeking to reward them for their righteousness, their hard work, and their devotion. But as important as a football game might be to those who are playing or cheering , when I read the Bible, it seems that there are other things that bear far more import in God’s desires.

What might be more important than a football game? Surely the relationship of love and trust that is held between God and all people. So important is this to God that he sent his Son to take to the grave anything that might come between the world and God. Even as clearly, the Bible tells us that the plight of people is more important. The plight of the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned lie heavily on God’s heart. So personal are these plights that Jesus has said that whenever we reach out in Christlike care to such as these, we are reaching out to Christ, himself. The list of things superiorly important to God than a football game could go on and on, forever: peace between nations, care of the earth, hope for the dying, strength to battle despair, calm to overcome fear.

I have always thought of sports as great momentary diversions from the weight of the world. They give us something to stick out our necks for that really doesn’t matter so that when we encounter those things that really matter, we have had some practice. They give us a display of talent and ability that might lead us to use our talents and abilities in things that are of great consequence. They help us see that the good guy doesn’t always win, but those who have been trampled upon sometimes overcome their tramplers.

I’ll be watching the football game tonight, because I appreciate the diversion that it gives me. More importantly, however, I will be in church on Sunday, because I need the nourishment that it gives me to face the far more consequential things that I daily encounter and which are far dearer in the heart of God than a football game.

By the way, Indiana 35, Miami 24.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 1-12-26

Hello,

I walked into church yesterday, and I was caught off guard. Christmas was gone.

Gone were the trees and the decorations that adorned them. Gone were the garlands draped over the windows and doorways. Gone was the manger scene that sat near the altar. Gone were the trumpeting angels that hung near the cross. Gone were the advent wreath and its blue candles. Gone were the candelabras that lighted the main aisle. Gone were the banners that proclaimed the Christmas story. Gone. Christmas was gone.

What remained was the barren walls. What remained was the altar, the lectern and the pulpit clad in their normal clothes. What remained was the large cross that hangs on the stone wall in the front of the church. What remained was the baptismal font, unadorned. What remained was the un-candled pews and aisle. It was stark and bare.

As I considered what I walked into yesterday, it was a visible reminder of the rhythm of the life of the Christian faith. There are those moments in the life of faith that are full of splendor and magnificence, like Christmas and Easter, spiritual discoveries, and bonfires of joy. But most of the life of faith is plain, unadorned, and unremarkable. It is more like the weight training and conditioning that basketball teams fill their days with between games. It is more like the vacuuming and cleaning that is done to keep a house livable. It is more like the reading and studying that is done to pass a class. It is the prayers said before meals, the ride to the doctor given to an elderly neighbor, the hymns sung and the Bible heard week after week, the daily remembrance of your Baptism when you wash your face, and the blessings that you bring to the world through your vocation. The life of faith is more often stark and bare.

As a pastor, I strive to make sure that the jubilation of Christmas and Easter is powerfully palpable in our worship services, and it is my hope that the extravagance of grace that all who attend experience will ignite a roaring fire of God’s love for them, that that fire might be to the world a stubborn smoldering fire that won’t go out….that the red hot cinders of hope, peace, mercy and joy might be unextinguishable. Additionally, as a Pastor, I strive to make sure that every Sunday is like a new log placed on that fire so that when the splendor and magnificence is gone there still might be a place in this cold and chilling world where people might come together and warm their hands to love their neighbor, where people might fill their lungs with air that changes their coughing into singing, and where people might come and have their shivering transformed into thanks and praise.

As I look back on the great gala of Christmas, I find myself thankful for the burst of God’s grace that exploded around me. And as I look forward into the weeks ahead, I find myself thankful for the campfire around which I can always find divine warmth when life is stark and bare.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord

Hello,

This past Saturday, I went to see the Fighting Illini basketball team beat Penn State. Oskeewowow!

But I almost missed it.

My fellow college friend from my days at the University of Illinois, Mark Hoffman, lives in the Gettysburg area, and we zoom at halftime of basketball and football games to either prepare ourselves for a second half let-down, or a rousing victory. Earlier this fall I checked the Illinois baskeball schedule and saw that we (Illinois!) were playing Penn State on Jan. 3, an away game for us. We decided that we should break out our orange and blue and go to the game. So, I bought tickets and reserved a Hotel at State College, Pennsylvania.

Last week at the half-time of our football victory (Oskeewowow!) we finalized our plans to meet at State College at the hotel around 4 in the afternoon, eat, and then go to the game. Later that night at 11:00 or so, I got a text from Mark, “THE GAME IS IN PHILADEPLPIA!” He had heard some comment on a sports broadcast that mentioned in passing that the Illinois/Penn State baskeball game was going to be played at a legendary arena in Philadelphia!

So, I got my computer out and looked up the Illinois schedule and it said, “ILLINOIS AT PENN STATE”, and then I noticed in very small letters in the neighboring column, “To be played at the Palestra in Philadelphia”. So, when I woke up in the morning, I called my friend and discovered we were able to change our plans, and that I would instead drive to his house and go to Philly from there, and come back to his house late at night after the game. And that is what happened.

Good thing that he found out that the venue was not at Penn State, as we had expected. Otherwise, we would have found ourselves at Penn State, banging on the door of the arena wondering where everyone was, and we would have missed the thrill and the wonder of going to see the Illini play.

My near miss basketball experience got me to thinking about how often this sort of thing happens, and unlike me with the Illini, we find ourselves in the wrong place and missing what we had hoped to be part of.

When Sunday morning comes the schedule that the world prints in all capital letters that this is a time for peace, renewal, family relationship building, enjoyment, and relaxation…..and in big letters it says that the venue for these things are in a Lazy-boy chair drinking a couple of cups of coffee, under warm covers where you can enjoy a few extra winks and casually read a good book, or gather around a table with the family over a hearty brunch, or getting ready for having people over to watch the Steelers (what a slippery win it was last night for them!), or just flying by the seat of your pants with nothing planned….and it is true that a degree of what each venue promised might be found there…much like a degree of what we had hoped to find at the Penn State arena if we had gotten and discovered an intramural basketball game going on….the fact of the matter is that all those things that we hope to experience on Sunday morning are really being played out in a different place: at church.

Yes….at church! If you look closely at the schedule that the world puts in front of you every Sunday morning, you’ll see in the neighboring column announcing the day’s events, “To be played out in church”. Every Sunday in the legendary arena of the church you will be enveloped in a peace that passes all human understanding as you gather to be caught up in praise to God who incredibly unconditionally loves you. Every Sunday in the legendary arena of the church you will be blanketed by the love of those around you as the unparallelled page turner of grace is read amongst you. Every Sunday in the legendary arena of the church you will gather around an eternal family at the Lord’s table and be fed a heal that will transform your heart. Every Sunday at the legendary arena of the church you will be part of a victory celebration that would make a Steelers Super Bowl championship seem less thrilling than the pop of a snap gun. And every Sunday morning at the legendary arena of the church you can find yourself raised up as on eagle’s wings as God holds you in the palm of his hand.

Like my friend’s 11:00 p.m. text, although the world may direct you elsewhere, I am sending you this Bungee Cord to tell you that the game that you are wanting to experience will actually be played at church this Sunday! Alleluia!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger