Bungee Cord 5-14-12

Hello,

If the answer is Friday at 5:00 a.m., then what is the question?

The question has to be, “What is the only time that the dumpster company could send a truck to retrieve the construction dumpster that has been sitting in my yard for the last couple of months.”

At 5:00 a.m. I was sound asleep when I heard loud rumbling going on just outside my window and bright lights shining across my front lawn atop the secluded hill where we have built our house.  What, I wondered, was going on.  Had the military taken a wrong turn on some covert mission?  Had gold been discovered underneath my property and someone was trying to steal it away at night?

Still trying to shake the cobwebs loose in my brain, I carefully peaked out my window and quickly determined that it was only the dumpster company retrieving its dumpster….just the dumpster company retrieving its dumpster….WHAT!  After noticing that it was 5:00 in the morning, in the pitch darkness of the night, it occurred to me that my first two far-fetched conclusions were far more reasonable than what was actually happening.  The only reasonable reason that that huge, loud, rumbling truck was in my front yard dragging up a huge construction dumpster onto its frame was that it must….it must have been the only time that the dumpster company could have sent out a truck to pick up that dumpster that has been sitting in my yard for the last several months.

All sarcasm aside, the reason that that dumpster retrieving truck was in my front yard at 5:00 a.m. was probably due to what pickup schedule was most convenient for the company, or the person who dispatched the truck didn’t consider that most people do not start their days before 5:00, or if they did care, they didn’t stop to think that this dumpster was sitting right outside the bedroom window of the sleeping property owners.  Company convenience.  Lack of consideration.  Lack of care.

In contrast to the Dumpster Company, when God chose to send his Son into the world to gather up all the sin that was cluttering up and stinking up people’s lives, God’s actions were motivated quite differently.  Far from doing what was most convenient for God, God took a path that led to great personal sacrifice for God, the suffering and death of Jesus, his Son.  Far from blindly proceeding with lack of consideration, God took every need of all people into consideration, tackling every evil and roadblock that might stand in his way.  And far from moving with a lack of care, it was because of his complete care for all people (John 3:16) that drove him to act.

It was on a dark night that God arrived in the world in a Bethlehem manger.  It was on a dark Friday afternoon that God engaged sin and evil in a battle to the death.  And it was on a dark, pre-dawn morning, that God burst victoriously out of a human sealed tomb.  It was, as the Bible tells us, the right time, the ripe time, the best time, the only time for God to rumble into the world…and I, for one, am thankful that he did!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 5-6-12

Hello,

     We had some folks over for a Kentucky Derby party.  Preparing for the party I discovered that one of the horse’s names was “Rousing Sermon”.  By his name alone, I thought he would be the odds on favorite, but such was not the case.  The day before the race he was listed at 50-1 odds, and by the time of the race his odds had gained some favorability, a mere 35-1, still a longshot to win.         

     As I got to thinking about Rousing Sermon’s odds, it seemed to me that those might be applicable odds for a “rousing sermon” on any given Sunday.  There may be pastors who carry much higher odds for a rousing sermon, but for most of us pastors the number of Sundays  are few that our sermons bring people to the edge of their seats, stir them to uncommon action, their memories etching every word we speak, and after twenty minutes has passed everyone is wishing for twenty more.  My seminary preaching professor said that if a pastor preaches six of those a year, that is doing really well, uncommonly well…let’s see, 52-6….not far from Rousing Sermon’s chance of winning the Derby.

     It is not that we pastors don’t try and have a rousing sermon every Sunday.  But most of us are strapped with limited creativity, limited oratorical skills, limited prowess at turning a phrase, and most of all limited time.  Those might sound like excuses, but as a pastor I know they are the reality that I deal with.  And given those limitations,  it is proof that the Spirit is at work through my words in that I might even have one rousing sermon a year.

     All of this is to say that if you go to church in order to hear a rousing sermon, or if you don’t go because you don’t hear one very often, then I would say that your expectations do not match the betting odds.  So, let me offer other things that you might “bet” on when you come to church.  You can bet that the guilt and weight of  your sins (the things that have come from you that has brought pain to you, your neighbor, and God) that you carried to church will be gone from your shoulders when you leave.  You can bet that your weakened knees and tired heart from the daily battles of life will be strengthened with Christ’s power as he has communed with you at his table.  You can bet that the crushing exhaustion of being looked down upon will be shaken loose from you as the people who have shared Sunday morning with you have loved you in the knowledge that they are no better than you.  You can bet that the loneliness and isolation that may have darkened your life will be incinerated into ashes by the warmth of God’s embrace.  You can bet that the problems of the world that seemed victorious before you came to church will seem fragile and frail as you leave to attack them with the power of God in your.  And the distance that you may have felt between you and God will disappear as God has held you in the palm of his hand in that hour of worship.  You can bet on these things…bet your life on them….the odds of them happening when you come to church are better than 50-1, they are certain, certain because they are what God has promised to give you when you come to church.

     So, let me invite you to church this week…and every week.  You might just beat the odds and experience a rousing sermon, but the odds are more than just in your favor that having come to church when you leave church on Sunday morning you will not be the same as when you came, the world will not be the same as when you came, and the hope to bring grace into this pressure ridden world will not be the same as you came.

     By the way, Rousing Sermon finished 8^th…..not bad for the odds he faced.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 4-29-12

Hello,

     Someone said, “It is probably a good thing that we can’t see into the future, because if we knew what was ahead of us we probably wouldn’t want to step into it.”

     A week ago we had 10 inches of snow, and the top of Laurel Ridge had 23 inches of snow.  Schools closed, trees fell and closed roads, electricity was shut off…not supposed to happen in mid-April, at least not from snow.  We lost our electricity around 9:00 a.m., which meant no heat and no power to our water pump…no water.  Fortunately, we had a forewarning of the storms arrival, so we filled all of our bathtubs with water so we could flush our toilets.  We also found out that our house is pretty well insulated, because by the time the electricity returned at 3:30, even though it was below freezing outside, we only lost a degree of temperature inside.

     The world that we live in gives us glimpses of what might lie ahead of us, and there are things that we can do to prepare for those things…filling bath tubs, carrying insurance, saving some money.  But there are some things that just come out of nowhere….that like an April snowstorm aren’t supposed to happen…car accidents, betrayals, a child’s death, a parents breakup.  There’s no preparing for these sorts of things.  But they happen…and they could happen to you or me.  I am thankful that I don’t know the future, because I know that if my future included any of these sorts of things I would be terrified to step into the future.

    Yesterday in church we heard these words of Jesus from the Gospel of John, “I am the good shepherd…I lay down my life for my sheep.”  Amidst the uncertainty of the future and the dangers that might lie ahead, Jesus places this certain promise in our ears.  “As a shepherd who leads, I have already been there, and as a shepherd who cares, I will lead you through.”

     I, as I suspect you do, too, hope that there are few wolves stalking me in the future, but it is more than a hope….it is a certainty….that if a wolf is lying in wait for me in the future, Jesus, who has promised to watch over me as a shepherd, will not turn tail and run away.  No, he will take on any wolf with the power of God almighty, and against him and his divine power, no wolf stands a chance.

     I am thankful that I don’t have an exact picture of what lies ahead, and I am even more thankful that in future’s fuzziness, there is one thing that is clear – Jesus, the Good Shepherd will be there.”

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.


He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.


He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake.


Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.


Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.


Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 4-212

Hello,

     As many of you know, my wife and I moved from South Dakota to Western Pennsylvania in June with the plan of building a house here.  Well, even though there is still some work to be done on the house, we have been living in it for about a month.  As we were told before we began the process of building, house building is a stressful and sometimes exasperating experience….which at times it has been.  But now that we are in the house those negative feelings are waning in a tide of thankfulness for the blessing this house is.  When I have been frustrated and upset, I have tried to calm myself with the realization that it is a blessing to be able to build a house in a world where millions and millions of people do not even have a house.  Thank you, Lord, for this house.

     Trying to save some money, we told our builder that we would paint the inside of the garage instead of him having it done.  So, Saturday my wife and I gathered up our painting gear and took our place in the garage for a day’s worth of painting.  My wife’s brother, who graciously shared his home with us as we built our house, continued to show his kindness by showing up, ready to help us paint.  Our plan was to paint the ceiling first and them move all the stuff that was close to the wall into the middle of the garage and then paint the walls.  With that plan of attack, we spent the morning with our necks tilted back as we held the extenders in our hands and rolled the paint above us.  When it came time for a lunch break, my brother-in-law said to me, “How you doing?”  Tilting my head backwards, the position it had been for the last two hours, I said jokingly, “Well, I’ll be praising God all day tomorrow,” raising my arms to create a posture of divine praise.

    He responded, “You should do that all the time, anyway.”

    “Oh yeah,” I thought to myself, “I guess that I should praise God all the time anyway.”  Not because I would be bad not to do so, but because I would be blind not to do so.  It is true that the busy-ness of life and the struggles that we face can capture our vision causing us to droop our heads in weary despair.  But it is equally true that no matter how busy or tough our days may be, there are blessings aplenty from God filling our lives. 

     Now, I am not trying to say that there’s a silver lining to every cloud….no, some clouds are just plain thick and dark, void of any silver.  What I am saying, is this: there is no cloud so dark that it can keep God from reaching you with his love.  That is what my brother-in-law spoke of when he said, “We should be doing that (praising God) all the time, anyway.”  In the scheme of things, the clouds that have rolled over me as I have tried to get this house built are really mere feathery cirrus clouds that are made darker by the sunglasses of impatience and inconvenience that I wear.  Yet even these darkened cirrus clouds do not keep God from reaching me with his love in gracious family members, in time spent with my sons, with a wife who settles me down, and with forgiveness that is given to me every Sunday at his table.  But more importantly, when the cumulus thunderheads roll through…and they will for no one can avoid them…even then, God will reach us with his love and mercy.   How will he do that….I am not sure, but I am sure that he will keep his promise to do so.

     That is what makes these words that we hear every Sunday we come to the Lord’s table ring true, “It is indeed right and salutary that we should at all times in all places give thanks and praise to you, Almighty God….”  My neck has recovered from a morning’s worth of looking up at a garage ceiling, but my brother-in-law’s words still echo in my ears, “You should be (praising God) all the time, anyway,” causing my eyes to open, and my neck to tilt back, locking my head heavenward in spontaneous praise.

     Thank you, Lord!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 4-16-12

Hello,

     I thought I knew the rules of the road for bicyclist until I encountered a rider on my way home from supply preaching yesterday.  I had preached in Greenock, Pa, a town like so many here in western Penn that is built upon the rolling hills and valleys.  It took me just over an hour to get there via turnpike and four-lane roads, but since it was a beautiful spring day I decided to take the tortoise route home on a two-lane road that winds itself over the mountain.

     As I exited a larger town onto the winding road I came upon a bicyclist who was riding right in the middle of my lane.  This cyclist was obviously not a first timer.  He was dressed in bicycling gear and had the physique of Lance Armstrong.  As I came upon him, I wasn’t sure if he realized that I was behind him, so I gently tapped my horn to let him know that I was there.  I thought that he would respond to my gentle tap according to my understanding of the rules of the road for bicyclist and move to the side of the road so that I could pass him without extending myself too far across the double yellow line.

     But that didn’t happen.  Instead I was greeted by hand gestures that quickly told me that he was not about to move over, and he continued slowly riding up the shallow hill smack in the middle of the lane.  Thinking that I had simply been misunderstood and hoping he had one of those little rearview mirrors attached to his helmet, I smiled and motioned with my hand to indicate that all I wished him to do was to move to the right.  Once again, more unfriendly gestures.

     Several minutes later we approached an intersection and he indicated he was going to turn left.  He slowed down, and so did I.  As he turned he started yelling at me pronouncing God’s eternal judgment against me which I heard since my window was down.  As he completed his turn he had turned his face far enough to get a good glimpse of whom he was yelling at; a man dressed in a black suit sporting a clerical collar.  I wonder what he thought.

     I thought about that encounter the rest of the way home, vacillating between the lingering sting of his verbal barrage at me and feeling guilty for the negative Christian witness that he apparently received from me.  It was abundantly clear to me that this cyclist did not go away from me impacted with the unconditional, self-giving love of Jesus that I had just proclaimed minutes before in Greenock.  I tend to think that he categorized me instead as one of those hypocrites that many observe filling the pews of the church.  In that moment, I felt as though I had let Jesus down.

     All this is to say that Christians aren’t perfect.  We don’t always know what the best thing to do is, and even when we do, we don’t always do it.  Sometimes, as with my angered bicycler, we do things with the best of intentions that are received with quite the opposite judgment.  So, I hope that if you don’t go to church because someone in the church has wronged you – purposefully or otherwise – you might see beyond their imperfections to see the perfect love and mercy that Jesus has for you.  If you do go to church and are regularly aggravated by the less than Christian care coming from someone who is seated around you that you will see beyond their imperfection and experience the selfless compassion of the Lord.  I hope that if your experience of Christians seems less than Christ-like to you that you might give Christians another chance to get closer to the truth of Christ’s love for you.

     If the church claimed to be a bunch of perfect people (and unfortunately some people in the pews do seem to give the impression that they think themselves to be more perfect than some others) then it would be true that based upon the imperfect witness that Christians tend to give the church is full of hypocrites.  But in truth the church makes no such claim.  What we claim is that we are a motly group of imperfect people who are well aware of our need for forgiveness and hope that we are progressively made more Christ-like as we regularly spend time together with him.

      Someone said, “Christians aren’t perfect, they are forgiven.”  I hope my anonymous bicycler will forgive me just as he and I ….. and you….. have been forgiven by Christ.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 4-9-12

Hello,

     This Easter, I did something that I have never done before.

     I have been a Lutheran Christian all of my life….baptized Lutheran, worshipped every Sunday growing up Lutheran, confirmed Lutheran, married in a Lutheran church, ordained a Lutheran pastor….as you can see….I have been a Lutheran all my life.   Jerry Lutheran Christian.  Since I moved to Pennsylvania last June and took up residence in my brother-in-law’s mountain “cabin” I have been attending worship with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law at the Episcopal church to which they go when they are in the mountains (that is, when I haven’t been supply preaching in Lutheran churches).  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, the Priest caught me at the door as I was leaving and asked me if I would like to join him in leading worship on Easter Sunday, specifically presiding at Holy Communion.

     As a Lutheran Christian, I received this invitation as a distinct and exceptional honor.  Lutherans, and Episcopals, understand that “in, with, and under” the bread and wine Jesus makes himself physically present with his body and blood.  We take Jesus words at face value when he instituted the Lord’s Supper when he said, “This is my body….this is my blood.”  That is why we call it “communion”…we understand that we indeed commune with Jesus.  It is an unsurpassed gift from Jesus, and to be invited to present that gift to these brothers and sisters in faith whose middle name is Episcopal was an unsurpassed invitation.

     So, I met with the priest the week before to go over what I would be doing, and I arrived yesterday at St. Michael’s in the Valley feeling a mixture of honor and fear: honored to be asked to preside at Communion but fearful that I might stumble on unfamiliar customs and draw attention to myself instead of keeping all the attention on Jesus, the real host of this meal.  When I arrived, I was graciously welcomed by the congregation, and during the Lord’s Supper everything went fairly smoothly.   After the service many people thanked me for my presence with them as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus.  When the final person had left, I discovered that the feeling of honor remained but my fears had all been put to rest.

     I went back into the office area of the church to get out of my robes and pack up my things to leave.  I thanked the Priest for his invitation, and made my way out to the nearly empty parking lot to get into my car.  And that is when I was knocked off my feet. 

     As I neared my car, another car was driving out of the parking lot.  It was exiting the parking lot in my direction, and as it neared me, the driver rolled down his window and said to me, “Thanks for being with us, friend.”  I had no idea as to his name.  I didn’t remember his face from the service….but as he passed by me; he called me “friend”.

     When his words hit my ears, it suddenly occurred to me that isn’t that what Easter, Holy Communion, and the Christian faith is all about.  It is about transforming people from strangers or acquaintances or Lutherans or Episcopalians or even enemies….into friends…friendship derived from the forgiveness and hope that comes from Jesus and overpowers everything that might separate and divide us from each other and from God.

     Even though I am a thoroughly Lutheran Christian, I am grateful for Christians whose tradition is different from mine, for I believe….and I heard it this Easter in the church parking lot….that like a beautiful symphony of diverse instruments, when we each faithfully live in our unique traditions within the larger orchestra of faith, together, we make beautiful music….divine music….music that changes the world…..music that brings life….resurrection music.

     I hope that you heard that music if you went to church on Easter, but even more so, I hope that you will accept my invitation to go to church this Sunday (and every Sunday) to have that music fill your ears and your life and your world, and discover the power of that music to overwhelm everything that might separate and divide you from God and others, transforming you into a “friend”.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 4-2-12

Hello,

     I don’t suppose that it comes as shocking news to any of you that Easter is this upcoming Sunday.  Although we, in the United States, make a bigger deal out of Christmas, the truth is, in the world of the Christian faith, Easter is the biggest deal of all.  The occupied manger of Christmas indeed carries the wonder of our God’s love for us that God would deem to take his place among us, but the unoccupied Easter tomb takes the spotlight of God’s love for us in that it voids any other claim on us than the claim made on us by the one who vacated that three day grave.  As the Bible says in Romans 8, “Nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”  Nothing!  That is what Easter is all about, and that is what makes it the greatest day each year.

     So, let me invite…encourage….nudge…maybe even tug you to go to church this Sunday.  I don’t care, and neither does God, if you haven’t been to church for quite a while.  I don’t care, and neither does God, if you have a hard time believing the truth of Jesus’ rising from the dead.  I don’t care, and neither does God, if you have made a mess of your life or fallen into a deep ditch as you stumbled in the dark.  I don’t care, and neither does God, if you have everything in the world a person could want because you have climbed your way to the top of the heap.  This Sunday, Easter, is the dynamite stick that sent an explosion of grace, mercy and forgiveness into the universe, and that is why I, and I believe God, delights in inviting you to church.  I hope you will come this Sunday and see if that explosion doesn’t somehow rock your world, too.

     And to those of you Bungee Cord readers who have responded to God’s weekly Sunday invitation to keep the Easter parting going, let me offer a couple of words to you.

      First, give up your pew.  It is no wonder to me that the explosion of Easter doesn’t take hold in the lives of those who are not regularly in worship when the time that they do come to church they find themselves in some overflow area or crowded into a seat in the aisle.  Keep the “best seats in the house” for those who aren’t there as often as you.  That is what being a good host and good witness is all about. 

     Second, be thankful that people have responded to God’s invitation to come to his house on Easter (or any Sunday, for that matter).  Welcome them with the genuine delight that Jesus feels in his heart, don’t belittle them and embarrass them with jokes or comments about their previous absence from church on Sunday morning.  And most of all don’t complain that they have taken your pew.  Don’t stare them down as if they were Goldilocks and you were one of the tree bears.  Don’t whisper between  yourselves about their lack of commitment compared to yours (there may not be as big of a difference as it appears!).   Don’t call them “C and E” Christians.   They are “Children of God”,   “Brothers  and Sisters in Christ”….and we are blessed to have them around the table with us.

     So, whether you find yourself in worship every Sunday, or whether you only come to church every once in a while, or whether you have never been in church – or haven’t been in church for a long, long time…….  let me invite… encourage…. nudge… maybe even tug you to go to church this Sunday, Easter Sunday.  There is a concussion of grace, mercy and forgiveness awaiting you there.  Come and experience the shockwave of the resolve and power of God to love you….love you forever.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger