Bungee Cord 7-16-12

Hello,

     A couple of weeks ago one of my facebook “friends” posted a list that someone came up with: “10 Reasons To Go To Church”.  I don’t remember the first nine, but the top reason was this, “Jesus is there, and Jesus is cool.”

     Is Jesus cool?

     I suppose that the definition of cool is a matter of debate, but the “cool” people that I have known, especially in my high school years were the ones who had the most stylish clothes, who got the latest haircuts, who were a bit rebellious (smoked, drank), had a nice car, hung out with the popular crowd, had a great physique, played sports, were stoic, and a bit aloof.  Fonzi-like.  The cool kids always seemed to have a lot of friends, and why not, because it seemed that to call a cool kid your friend made you cool, too.

     Of course, “coolness” is not only confined to the younger years of life.  Ask any one of any generation, and they will be able to point out their cool peers.  Although some characteristics of being cool vary with age, it seems to me that there is a remarkable consistency of what makes a person cool no matter what the age, and most of them don’t have a lot of depth to them….pretty shallow when you take a sensible look at them.

     So, is Jesus cool?

     Did Jesus care about having stylish clothes?  Did Jesus care about having prestigious friends?  Did Jesus eye others with an air of callous care?  Did Jesus attract the popular crowd?  Did Jesus preoccupy himself with the things that lie at the surface of life?

     No.

     It seems clear to me, that by any definition of cool, Jesus was not cool and is not cool.  Jesus ate with outcasts and sinners, the worst outcast and the worst sinners.  Jesus bumped heads with the popular crowd, temple leaders and Pharisees.  Jesus showed that he could have cared less about clothing style, sending his disciples out into the world with the sparsest of wardrobes.  Money meant little to him, telling people to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.   His best friends had few social credentials.

     No.  Jesus is not cool….and if you ask me, that is the top reason to go to church.  Why go to church?  1)  Jesus is there, and Jesus is not cool. 

     Social standing…clothing choice….personal appearance and hygiene…degree of success….degree of education…respect of the community…bank account balance…dancing ability…model of car……none of these “cool” things matter to Jesus.  The only thing that matters to him is you, no matter how “cool”  or “uncoil” you might be.  So much do you matter to him, that he gave his life so that he might have you as his friend forever.       

     So, when you come to church this Sunday, and I hope you will, don’t be surprised if you see quite a conglomeration of people, spanning the cool-uncool continuum.  And that is the way that Jesus wants his church to be, because that way you’ll know that you have a place among those gathered around Jesus, who is not cool.

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

     

The Bungee Cord  7-9-12

Hello,

   Today I found out why I am a pastor…..and not a painter.

    I’ve been looking for a day to stain our deck amid  the days and weeks of rain and scorching heat.  With a couple days of no rain, and mild temperatures, I decided that this was the day.  So, after leading the worship for vacation Bible school, I cam home cracked open the gallon of stain and prepared to tackle the deck.  I slapped the stain on the deck and the interior of the railing and then set my sights on the exterior railing for which I needed a ladder to reach.  I went to the garage, got my 8 foot step ladder, and set it next to the house where the deck  connects to the house.  I nudged the ladder and jiggled it to make sure it was climb-worthy, then I picked up the gallon of stain, which was about a third full,  and began my ascent.   I reached the 7 foot level, braced myself on the ladder, stuck my paint brush in my stain, and reached for the railing, the target of my brush.

     Apparently, my reach changed the pressure on the legs of my ladder, and before I knew it, the front right leg of my ladder sank into the ground, tipping the ladder in an angle that only could send it earthward.  “Uh oh,” I yelled to the trees and fields, because there wasn’t anyone around, and down I went.  In a split second I found myself plunging to the ground, which I hit rear-end first.  For some reason, I remember thinking that I needed to keep the can of paint above me so it wouldn’t spill….forget that…, for when my rear end hit the ground my elbow which was connected to my hand holding the paint soon followed, and the paint, following the laws of physics, fountained upwards….all over me.  Not too worry, I don’t think I got hurt, because thankfully I hit some soft ground….which was the culprit of my fall in the first place.  The only thing I hurt was my pride and my pocketbook, now needing to purchase another gallon of stain to make up for the stain that was soaking into the ground.

     Jesus said that a wise man builds his house on the rock (him) so that when the storms come the foundation holds.  Let me modify his parable and say, that I learned today, that a wise man sets his ladder on firm ground (all four legs) so that when the pressure hits, the ladder doesn’t topple.

     The world is good at reminding us of setting our ladders on firm ground…at least three of the legs.  It is important to make good financial decisions.  It is important to develop friends and deep relationships.  It is important to sharpen our skills, whether in a job, at school, or athletically….. but it is also important to make sure that you set your heart on something solid, too….set it on something solid to hold you together when life comes unraveled, set it on something with forgiveness when you can hardly stand to look at yourself in the mirror, set it on something bright when the confusing fog of the world rolls in, and set it on something strong that has the power to overwhelm the darkness of death.  To set your heart on something soft is perilous…believe me….I found out today….

     After my spill, and trip to the paint store for another gallon of stain, I started placing rocks under the feet of my ladder….and guess what….it worked!   Certainly, there are important things to set the ladder of your life on that the world gives you lots of direction to do so….so let me…by virtue of my self  inflicted learning moment… invite you to find a solid rock for that fourth….the foot that is directly connected to your heart….where the deepest and most important things lie.

     Let me invite you to come to church this Sunday and set the leg of your ladder on the one who names himself as the “solid rock”….stomp on it hard….with all the weight that you are carrying on your shoulders, with all the tonnage of disappointment that you wheel around every day, with all the sadness that your failures have brought you, and with all the joy that adorns your life….see if your ladder tilts, or stays steady…..and if it stays steady (and I believe that it will), keep on coming to church and go ahead and climb your ladder and have fun “staining the world” with God’s grace and love.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace (ggap),

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 7-2-12

Hello,

     How hot is hell?  Apparently it is hotter than it has been around here. 

     There is a church that I pass every day on my way home from 1^st Lutheran that forewarns me of the hellish heat at which the devil keeps the thermostat set.  “YOU THINK IT IS HOT HERE!”, says the sign which is strategically set alongside a four lane highway. 

     It has been hot here, really hot, as hot as h….. no …I guess not.  Hell, the sign says is hotter.  I’ve not run into anyone who is enjoying the hot spell we are having.   Thankfully, most people around here have air conditioning in which to retreat, but those who are without are left to blow hot air over them to camouflage the heat.  It doesn’t work very well.  Hot is hot….and who likes hot?

     The first time I drove by that church sign, it caught me as a bit humorous.  However, with each passing trip my humor has dissipated into dismay.  Dismay because as a Christian it bothers me that the message from that sign that so many people will get about the faith that I hold is a message of fear.  Scaring people into heaven.  Is that what the Christian faith is really all about.  I don’t think so.

     The God that I have come to know in Jesus Christ, the one who embodies God, the one who gives us sight to see the one we cannot see, the one who helps us know the one who is beyond human knowledge…is not a God who gets friends by scaring them away from someone else.  Instead the God that I have come to know in Jesus Christ is a God who gets his friends by proving to be the one who is most worthy to be called a friend….

·      one who looks upon me (and you) and says to anyone and anything that would want to bully us around, “This is my friend, and you’ll have to get through me to get to him.” 

·      one who enjoys my company so much that he doesn’t tire of having me around, as a matter of fact he wants me to be with him forever. 

·      one whose interest in me is so deep that he delights in hearing from me about the most trivial things in life and the most complex. 

·      one who wont turn his back on me when I have just ruined my life, but he will jump into the deepest hole that I could dig for myself and lift me out. 

·      one who would die ….no has died for me.

     It may be hot in hell, but that is not why I am a Christian.  I am a Christian because of who Jesus is: a friend like none other.  And if Jesus is, as the Bible says, “what we see in a mirror dimly”, I can hardly wait to find out the magnificence of his friendship when we see face to face.

     If I was going to post a sign along a busy four lane highway, this is the sign I would post, “LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO JESUS: FRIEND FOR LIFE, FRIEND THROUGH DEATH”.  It may not be very catchy or clever…..but it is the God that I have come to know, and the God I would like people to know, too.

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord  6-25-12

Hello,

     Our quiet Sunday afternoon visit with my brother and sister-in-law at their place was interrupted by a helicopter circling above us, not a good omen in these days of helicopter ambulances.  Apparently it located its landing target because it stopped its circling and took to hovering and descending.  We lost sight of it, but not sound of it, as it lowered itself onto a field past the trees that surrounded us.

     The helicopter bore the look of a hospital helicopter, except there were no hospital markings on it.  Add to that, there were no sirens or flashing lights of land bound ambulances to be heard or seen.  “Must be picking up someone important,’ said my brother in law as he mentioned that the same helicopter had been circling around just the other day.

     Someone important…mmm…who could have it been?  A movie star: Tom Cruise?  A politician: the First Lady?  A singer: Justin Bieber?  A tycoon: Donald Trump?  An athlete: Ben Rothlisberger?  The Pope?  Someone important…. Who could have it been?

     True enough, not everyone is important enough to be dropped off and picked up by helicopter.  Only those who are so important that crowds swarm whenever they are around making helicopter the only means of getting around are important enough for helicopter pick-ups.  Only those who are so important that they cannot spare the time it takes to travel by car are important enough to be helicopterred around.  Only those who are so important that their security is always under attack are important enough to be lifted in and out of places via helicopter.

     I’ve never been transported by a helicopter.  I guess that establishes my degree of importance.  I am not important enough.

     But I wonder what it says about my stature of importance that God Almighty circled above this world where I am a visitor, seeking a place to land.  And I wonder what it says that God Almighty would land in my life’s field on a hill called Golgatha, also known as Calvary.  And I wonder what it says that God Almighty would open the door of life and death on Easter Sunday morning and step out into my world.  And I wonder what it says that God Almighty would take hold of my hand in the waters of Baptism and say, “I have come to bring you home.”  I wonder what it says that God Almighty would make his home with me during this earthly visit I am making.  I wonder what it says that God Almighty has promised not to leave without me when my  earthly visit is over.  I wonder what it says that I can hear the power of his Holy Spirit churning, whirling, and spinning when I am surrounded by songs and praises in his church.

     I guess it says that I am important….extremely important….uber-helicopter important…..AND SO ARE YOU!

(If you get a chance Google Michael Card’s song, “I Will Be Your Home.)

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord    6-18-12

Hello,

     I’ve worn glasses since I hit 40, a casualty of aging eyes.  When I first started wearing them, I could still read without them, but they made things a lot clearer.  Now, my arms aren’t long enough for me to be able to focus on any print short of headlines.  I don’t need them for long distances, but without them, things near to me are but fuzzy blurs.  Without them, I cannot read….which is what I have to do on Sunday mornings when I preach and lead worship.

     I was out walking my dog the other day and taking pictures of our house to post on my facebook page, when I noticed that my glasses were not on my face.  Since I was mainly doing long distance viewing, I really didn’t need them, and that is why I couldn’t remember when I had them on last.  When Duncan, my dog, and I got back home, I began searching for them in places where I thought I might have laid them…nope.  Then I searched places where I thought I might not have laid them….nope.  With the house scoured, I went to the garage and my car…nope.  The only place left to search was the fields in which I had been walking…..GOOD LUCK!

     I decided that I should try and backtrack my path, but with some of the grass knee high, my hopes were not very high.  Actually, I was hoping that they were still in my house somewhere.  So, I started out into the field walking very slowly and scoping the ground as if I was panning for gold.  Down one path and along another…nope.  But just before I hit the deep grass I saw this glimmer from the ground…eureka!  (Which comes from the Greek for “I found it”.)  There they were…my glasses … or my “glass eyes”  which I jokingly call them.   How they fell there, I don’t know?  But there they were.

     I can’t say that I danced for joy when I found them, but I did breath a big sigh of relief; relief that I would be able to see to lead worship, and relief that I wasn’t going to have to shell out the money for new glasses.

      Jesus tells two parables about how important you and I (actually all people) are to God.  So important is each person to God, that if God were a shepherd and one sheep strayed away, he would search till he found it…or if God were an elderly woman who lost a small coin, God would search for it until it was found….and in both cases, when the sheep or coin was found, not only would God dance a jig for joy, but all of heaven would join in with him.  And the amazing reason for God’s elation:  God cannot go on without you or me.

     It is one thing to find one’s glasses so that one can read.  It is far another thing to find something so important that one cannot even go on without it….and that is what Jesus says you and I (actually everyone) is to God.  It is an amazing reality to consider.  It is almost beyond human credibility that the one who encompasses all things and all time should so deeply care for you or me that God would not be able to go on without us.  Unbelievable?  Yet that is what Jesus tells us, and that is what we celebrate every Sunday morning and build our lives upon for Monday through Saturday.

     The world may think you or me to be dispensible.  Bosses are quick to let us know that their businesses can survive without us, and spouses know that the day will come when they will have to press on without the other.  But not so with God.  You and I are not dispensible.  God cannot go on without us.  If you or I stray – get lost – God will search high and low, in every knick and corner, in every cesspool and cemetery until God finds us.  And when he finds us…and he will says Jesus….there will be no holding back the joy for God….for as unbelievable as it may seem to be, God cannot go on without us.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  6-11-12

Hello,

     Some new neighbors moved in recently, and I can tell you, I don’t like them.  They leave their yard a constant mess, they run around in my yard messing up my garden and flower beds.  They bring all sorts of other riff raff along with them.  These neighbors are nothing but a bunch of pests: they are a family of ground hogs.

     Actually, they are not neighbors, they are invaders, because they have taken up home in my front field.  They have dug ten holes around a bunch of apple trees, and not small holes at that.  I’ve caught them wandering into the part of our yard that we are trying to make into a lawn, and I fear that it won’t be too much longer until they spot the vegetable garden and help themselves to our crop.  Granted, they are cute.  And sure, they may capture the nation’s attention in the middle of winter.  But they are destructive, messy, and a nuisance.  They are pests, and I don’t like them.

     I guess that I should know a pest when I see one, because, God knows, I am a pest, too… a pest to God.  I dig holes of selfishness in God’s fields of grace, holes that other people stumble upon and get hurt.  I wander into gardens and nibble away the sprouts of faith that are just beginning to grow in other people’s lives.  I carry disease and dirt (sin and guilt) with me, and I leave a wake of suffering and pain behind me.  I make my home on God’s creation, and I claim it out as mine.  If I look in a mirror, there’s not much difference between me and a ground hog…at least when it comes to God.

     But the amazing thing is that what I do with pesky ground hogs, God does not do with me.  I am out to get rid of my new neighbors, the ground hogs….get rid of them for good (if you know what I mean….).  But not so with God and me.  God is not out to get rid of me (or you), he is out to get me and keep me, keep me for good.  The Bible tells us that when Jesus died on the cross, Jesus captured you and me in a trap of forgiveness, and once captured he holds on to us with a divine grip, and brings us home… to his home…to give us a home… to become our home.

     I don’t know if my groundhog neighbors will ever become less pesty….I think it is in their nature, and I have no power of that.  But I do know that even though it is my nature to be a pest, God does have the power to do something about that.  Day after day God’s creative power is recreating me anew.  I may be a pest, but God won’t leave me that way.  He wont rest until God’s hope, God’s mercy, and God’s peace rest in me….and in the rest of the world.

     Groundhogs beware…I am out to get you and get rid of you for good.  People, fear not….God is out to get you and keep you…keep you for good.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 6-5-12

Hello,

     If you come to visit me in my office at First Lutheran of Greensburg, you may find yourself wanting to call HGTV and see if one of their designers could come and decorate this space in a manner that at least bears a resemblance to stylish.  Flair for style has never been one of my strengths.  As a matter of fact, when I was first married and my wife and I set out to decorate and position the furniture in the living room of the small house in which we were living, she took a look at my handiwork and said, “Do you really want it to look like that?”

     Anyway, as I was rummaging through the boxes of stuff that had come from my previous office (which I might add, no one made any negative critique….at least not to my face) I came upon the box that was filled with the pictures that I had hung on the walls in Crooks, S.D.  Even though I have my diplomas from my educational pursuits, I don’t display them, instead I have hung on my wall a crafty little stone thing bearing the faces of baseball players from my high school years, I have hung a print of the chapel at Valparaiso University, and I have hung a collage of the buildings from Luther Northwestern Seminary.  So, I hung them on my wall again.  I also hung the prayer of St. Francis, a painting of a loon under which is printed “Be still and know that I am God”, an Illinois clock, a backwards clock, and a cross.  That sounds like that should be enough, but even when all these things were hung, it still looked to me that it needed something more.

     On the bottom of the box, I found something that had not been hung in my previous office, for lack of room, I guess.  It was four  8x10 pictures that my dad had taken of me during a game that I was pitching when I was in 8^th grade.  The first is a picture of me standing in the stretch taking the signs from the catcher.  (For those of you who are not familiar with baseball terms…..well….drop me a note and I’ll explain it.)  The second is a picture of me reaching back in my delivery, my back leg bent, the ball nearly touching the ground behind me, my front leg kicked high in the air, my left arm waving my glove in front of me, and my lips pursed.  The third is my body lurching forward, my elbow bent back at what looks like an unnatural angle, the ball hidden behind my arm, and my face grimacing.  The fourth is the picture of me releasing the ball; my two fingers launching the fastball, my arm at a 45 degree angle from my body, my front foot planted into the ground carrying all of my weight and momentum, and my face beholding a new grimace.  I wondered, “Should I hang these pictures in my office?”  Are they too old?  Are they unprofessional?  What would HGTV say?

     I decided to go ahead and hang them, regardless of HGTV’s opinion.  So, I hung them in succession around the cross on the wall to my right.  I did that for two reasons.  First, I thought it good that people might get to know me a bit when they walked into my office.  Secondly, and more importantly, it seemed to me that these pictures depict what I see what the Christian life is like.  First….one looks into the eyes of God for direction…prayer.  Second…one reaches back for strength to do what is called to be done.  Third…with the power of the Spirit behind, one lurches forward into the world.  And finally, with courage and hope….one lets go and lets one’s faith fly into the world.

     Like a baseball pitcher, the Christian life is one that is meant to be cast into the world…with all the strength that God has given you, with the power of the Spirit behind you, with the momentum of God’s grace within you, and with the hope of God’s promise when you let it go.  Also, like a baseball pitcher, you don’t know for sure what will happen after you let the ball, your faith, fly.  Will it do what you planned….streak by the batter in baseball, sail past the barriers and touch people’s hearts with Christ’s love in faith.   Or will it be an errant throw?  Or will it be crushed out of the park in a home run for the opponent?

     If it is a strike….thanks be to God.  If it is a ball…take aim and throw again.  And if it is a crushing hit….well… the next time that batter is up, you’ll have to try something different.

     It takes practice to be a good pitcher.  It takes practice to be a Christian whose faith has the strength, the courage, and the finesse to make a difference in the world.  A baseball player’s practice takes place on the field….a Christian’s practice takes place on Sunday morning in church.  Sure there are other places that a baseball player or Christian can practice, but no place is as efficient as with the rest of the team….with the rest of the body of Christ.

     So, if you’re in the area…stop in and you can see pictures of me when I could still throw a fastball….but no matter where you are, find your way to a Christian practice field on Sunday morning so that on Monday morning you can let your faith fly into the world and then see what happens!!!!

Have a great day,

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger