The Bungee Cord

Hello,

The last time I was in Memorial Stadium to watch a football game at the University of Illinois was in 1976, fifty years ago. But I am going to revisit the stadium this weekend to watch the Fighting Illini play. I am wondering what it will be like. I’ve heard that many updates have been done. The concours area which I remember being crushed limestone has, I believe, been upgraded with concrete floors and nice concessions areas. A huge luxury/press box has been built above the home team stands. The brand-new scoreboard brags about being the largest screen of all of the college stadiums.

But more than seeing what is new, I look forward to seeing what was there when I went there. I look forward to seeing the students in the “Block I” section wearing shirts that when all of the students have taken their place there is a huge “I” in the stadium. I look forward to seeing those students’ flip cards during half-time to make pictures that align with the band as it marches around and does it’s show. I look forward to hearing the band trumpet out “Oskeewow Illinois!” when we score and see the cheer leaders do a push-up for every point each time a score happens. It isn’t quite heaven, but going there again feels pretty much like going to heaven to me.

I’ve been a rabid University of Illinois fan ever since I went there, even though I only spent my first two years of college there, transferring to Valparaiso to prepare me for seminary. The University of Illinois has always been dear to my heart, because it was there that my heart came alive with life. It was there that I found myself among people who treasured me as a friend. It was there that people saw in me a value that I had a hard time seeing before. It was there that I stretched out my wings and people lifted me up to fly, and they were also there to catch me when I tumbled to the ground. Despite the struggles that came along with those first years of dawning independence, I hold great memories and thanks for the years that I spent there. I am really looking forward to going there this week!

It is with the same sort of anticipation that I find myself “going to heaven”, the real heaven, when my days in this life are over. I look forward to experiencing with magnified amplitude the wonderful things that I have experienced in this life: the warmth of love that comes with deep friendship, the restfulness of peace that comes with the embrace of God, and the explosion of joy that is sung around the eternal wedding feast. And I look with excited anticipation to experience new things that I have never experienced before: the silence that comes when pain and suffering is no more, the hope that becomes tangible when death is unknown, the surprise of delight when faith becomes sight, and the wonder of living where no clock ticks the rhythm of time.

It has been 69 years since the waters of Baptism splashed over my, and I had my eyes opened to see a glimpse of heaven, and Sunday after Sunday since then I have tasted the foretaste of the feast to come at the communion rail. Each time when I partake in the Lord’s Supper, I experience a measure of the hug that awaits me in heaven. And each time I experience the peace that surpasses all human understanding when I pray, I look forward to being in the total presence of the one whose has listened to my prayers and be awash in that divine peace.

Although I have no immediate plans on venturing to heaven, I do, with even greater anticipation than my visit to the University of Illinois, look forward to going there!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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