Bungee Cord  6-15-15

Hello,

     “You don’t look like a manual transmission guy,” said a recent high school grad who works on cars and sat next to me at a recent wedding reception.

     We were talking, he and I, as we awaited our turn to go to the buffet, and when I found out his interest in cars, I told him that I drive a new Mini Cooper. (For you fellow Mini Cooper fans, mine is one of the new 4 door Mini’s….an “S” of course…a 2.0 turbo charged…manual transmission.)  I told him that it packs a bit of a punch, especially when you put it in “Sport Mode” (when you do so, a go-kart appears on the big circular screen in the middle of the dash).

     “I bet it would really have a lot of zip if it was a manual,” he said to me.

     “Of course it’s a manual.  It’s the only way to drive a Mini!”, said I.

     “Oh, you don’t look like a manual transmission guy.”

     What does a “manual transmission guy” look like, I wonder?

     Was it my balding head that caused my exclusion from a “manual transmission guy”?  Or maybe my increased waistline?  Or maybe the black suit and clerical collar that I was wearing?  I suppose to an 18 year old car guy, there are many things about when looking at me that would lead him to say, “Oh, you don’t look like a manual transmission guy.”

     But if I had said to him instead, let’s go out and I’ll show you my car, and as we walked around it, and he sat down in the form fitting driver’s seat, put his hands on the leather bound steering wheel, and then reached over to the gear shift, noticing the shift pattern on the knob….I bet that he would have said, “Oh, you’re a manual transmission guy!”

     To look at me, I bet that some people might not only say, “Oh, you don’t look like a manual transmission guy,”  they might also say, “Oh, you don’t look like a Christian kind of guy.”  When my words are sharp.  When my actions are hurtful.  When my greed is exposed.  When my doubts come to the surface.  There is plenty about me that to look at me might someone to say, “Oh, you don’t look like a Christian kind of guy.”

     That is why I try to do with those who legitimately wonder if I am a Christian kind of guy as I should have done with my young friend who wondered if I was a “manual transmission guy” whom I should have first shown him my car….I try and first show them Jesus.  Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love.  Jesus the Word of transformational forgiveness and mercy.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, and searches to find every one of his fold.  Jesus, the one whose resurrection power is so great that nothing can never sever God from those who bear his name.  Jesus, the one who is the stamp and seal of 1 John 3:1, “See what love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God.  And that is what we are.”

     And when they see Jesus…instead of me…see his love that form fits every sort of person….when they put their hands on the steering wheel that can grab corners and turns like none other…and when they take hold of the gear shift, the cross…..they just might say of me, “Oh, you are a Christian kind of guy.”….and they might just say of themselves….”Oh, maybe I am, too.”

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 5-8-15

Hello,

     I spent the weekend in the Quad Cities, actually just two of them, Davenport and Bettendorf (Iowa).  I was there to celebrate the wedding of my niece, and a wonderful celebration it was.  The weather was great.  Visiting with relatives was a treat, and everything about the wedding was simply grand.

     Since I was the one to escort my mother into the worship service, I took a seat outside of the sanctuary waiting my time.  As I sat there I watched the folks walk by me, a varied crowd, I tried to guess the station in life of those who passed by.  I guessed that the formally attired folks were business people.  Those dressed in cowboy boots and plaid shirts were rural stock.  There were some who by their step and style seemed collegiate to me.  But from all of the guests, there was one who particularly stood out in my guessing.  I saw him dip as he came through the doors, and as he walked past me, I found myself having to strain my neck like a baby robin prepared to receive food from its mother.  I might add that my mouth was likewise gaping fully….not because I was hungry, but because I was in awe.

     This young man was awesome!  Huge – not in breadth, but in stature.  (I found out later that he is 7 ft. 2 in.)  He was sturdy in build.  The size of his hands matched his height, as did the size of his head.  Although I know that not every overly tall person plays basketball, in this case I didn’t think I would be too far off to guess so for this guy. 

     Based upon his agility on the dance floor at the reception, I decided that my guess must be right.  As you might guess, he was rather easy to spot on the floor, rising above the rest of the crowd which all were far shorter than his shoulders.  Apparently he liked to dance, for every time I gazed toward the dance floor there he would be, dancing away.  Shuffling his feet and singing along with the music.  He knew how to do the Electric Slide, and all the motions to songs like “Jump”.  All 7 ft. 2 in. of him.  I suppose that there were others on the dance floor who were there as often he, and knew the dances as well as he….but when you’re 7 ft. 2 in…..you kind of stand out.

     Well, when it comes to standing out on the dance floor, there has been one who has stood out more than the 7 ft. 2 in. “Fred Astaire” of this wedding’s weekend...one who has been called “The Lord of the Dance”.  And the reason that he stood out wasn’t that he was 7 ft. 2 in., or that he danced the dances of the world better than any one else.  The reason that he stood out was that he danced like no one else.  Every one else danced with judgment and rules, with grudges and fear, with heavy hearts and narrow minds….but no “The Lord of the Dance”.  He danced with forgiveness and mercy, with hope and peace, with grace and new life.  So different was his dancing that the rest of the dancers kicked him off the dance floor.

     I don’t know the name of that 7 ft. 2 in dancing guy that stood out this weekend, but I do know the name of the one who is called “The Lord of the Dance.”  His name is Jesus.

     As a follower of Jesus, I can tell you that I’ve been laughed at when other people watch me dance….foolishly forgiving, caring for the foolish, hoping amidst the storm, and storming into the world with peace.  Regularly I see the stares of the world, and their jeers, “Where did that guy learn how to dance.”  I, and all those who follow Jesus’ lead kind of stand out, but when Jesus has taken hold of your hand and asked you out on the dance floor to dance with him, of this I am certain: you will know a peace unlike any dance you’ve dance before, you will be swept off your feet in a hope that no other dance has ever lifted you before, and you will be stomp your feet and clap your hand with such a joy that you have never felt before.

     So, when you feel your heart tugged to go to church this Sunday, the tugging that you will feel is no mild invitation….it’s the Lord who desires to dance with you….to transform your life, to break open your heart, and to give you new footwork as you step out into the world.  Yes, you’ll stand out, but after you get the knack of Jesus’ dance you glad that you did!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 6-1-15

Hello,

    My dog, Duncan, has been dealt the worst master ever….at least in his eyes.  He’s a Gordon Setter, a bird dog.  An instinctual hunter…..living in the home of a master who has never….nor will he ever…hunt.  Nevertheless, he has not let his hunting instincts die.  He hunts critters around our house: rabbits, squirrels, and the occasional turkey or pheasant that we encounter on our walks.  Unfortunately, he has also set his appetite on our chickens (of which he has nabbed two) and our outdoor cats, both of whom are still alive.

     Duncan regularly takes his post just outside the woodshed where the cats make their home.  We’ve had them since last summer, and even though we have tried to teach Duncan that the cats are his friends, he deems otherwise.  Every once in a while he will spot one of them as they are out for their hunt, and when he does he goes catatonic (ha ha)  until he discerns they are within striking distance and he bolts after them.  If they are close to the woodshed, to date they have always arrived there safely.  And if they are too far away, they run to my pick-up and take refuge in the frame of the truck.

     A couple of days ago when I arrived home from work, I found Duncan madly circling my truck.  Dashing around it, coming to a sudden stop, stick his nose underneath it, his tail at point in proper hunting technique.  I tried to call him away, telling him that he should leave the cats alone.  He observed his selective listening habit, too caught up in his current hunt.  Around and around the truck he went, until he’d had enough and decided to slink under it.  Crawling on all fours like a trained marine he made his way toward the animal, when suddenly he stopped his approach and began wildly barking. 

     “It’s just the cat,” I said to him walking to the truck to see if I could coax him out, when all of the sudden there was a “plop” as his prey dropped from the truck and ran out the other side.  With uncanny speed, Duncan reversed himself from under the truck and took off in mad pursuit, inches behind the cat…..no….not the cat…a groundhog!  Chugging its stubbly legs it took off into the underbrush of the woods, and so did Duncan.  Down the hill they went and also out of my sight.  I started calling for Duncan, not knowing if he had snagged the groundhog, or if the groundhog might have snagged him.

     Eventually he heeded my call and he appeared from the woods, nothing in his mouth and bearing no blood from the ground hog’s claws.  It must have made it to one of its holes just in the knick of time.  Even though the ground hog had escaped his chase, Duncan’s hunting blood still remained boiling and he sniffed and stirred around in frenetic fury.  His excitement was contagious, and it caught me.  Although I didn’t begin to sniff and stir, I could feel my senses come alive and thrill enliven my soul.

     I didn’t expect such excitement as I came to the end of our lane when I came home from work.  Usually things are pretty tame and pretty routine….and there’s something good about that.  But every once in a while, usually when I expect it least, upon my arrival I am delightfully surprised, my heart is jolted by excitement, and youthful energy percolates through my veins.  Those are times that I am glad I didn’t miss.

     I think the same thing can be said about Sunday morning worship.  Most often it’s pretty regular and routine, and there’s something really good about that because on those days we experience the swaddling grace of God.  But every once in a while at worship….maybe it’s a song that we sing, maybe it’s a person who’s there who has faithfully wrestled with life’s trials, maybe it was something that is said in the sermon, maybe the words at the table “given for you” hit you in a way that they never hit you before because of the burdens you are carrying…who knows what it might be.  But every once in a while you find yourself delightfully surprised, your heart jolted with excitement, and youthful energy pulsing through your veins….and you say to yourself, “I am glad that I didn’t miss this!”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, GGAP,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 5-26-15

Hello,

I was doing some research for a recent educational series on “big questions”, and the big question of the day was, “Creation.  Was God involved in it?”  In my research I learned many things, things that I never knew.  I learned that although the most popular theory amongst scientists is the “big bang” theory, there are some who now believe that the universe has always existed.  Also, there are many who believe that the universe, our universe, is only one of many universes (there’s something oxymoronic going on here), and other universes may operate under different laws of physics.

It’s all a bit mind swirling for me.  It all makes me feel microscopically smaller and smaller.  It makes me wonder if anything that I do has any significance.  It makes me wonder why the One who stands behind and throughout all of creation would care at all about me.  It makes some wonder all the more if there really is One who stands behind and throughout creation.

But for me, creation is not the cornerstone of my faith, my life, or my thinking.  The cornerstone of everything for me is in a Bethlehem born, Nazareth raised, Galilean  homed, Jerusalem crucified, and garden tombed raised man whose name was Jesus.   It is through this historical person and events that I look backwards and forwards.

·      Rather than wondering why the One who stands behind and throughout this immensely vast creation would care about me, I find myself lost in thanks that that One does. 

·      Rather than wonder if any thing that I do has any significance at all, I find myself motivated to do good awaiting in amazement to discover the impact that my good has. 

·      And rather than wonder if there is One who stand behind and throughout all creation, I find myself woo’ed to believe and trust in that one who is at work re-creating me.

Sunday was Pentecost, the day that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ first disciples, sending them out into the world to tell every person, from every nation, and of every tongue “the mighty acts of God”.  Although we don’t know exactly which acts of which they were speaking, we can be quite confident that they were speaking of the mighty love of God such that he would send his Son into our world and die to stake his eternal claim on us, and the mighty love of God that brought life back into Jesus on that first Easter Sunday morning, and such he walked out of that sealed tomb to never die again, and likewise we.

Certainly, the making of creation was a “mighty” act, but the disciples weren’t talking about that.  They were talking about Jesus, through whom the creation of the universe finds its meaning and purpose.  They weren’t offering “logical” proofs for the existence of God.  They were talking about Jesus who enabled them to see the God that they could not see.  They weren’t talking about world religions and Bibles coming apart at the seams.  They were talking about Jesus who embodied the love of God and who was, himself, the Word of God.

When the first Christians were thrown out of the synagogues who gathered for worship on Saturday, they made a decision that has held through history.  They decided to no longer worship on the 7^th day of the week, a day that was tied to one of the Biblical stories of creation.  They decided to worship on the first day of the week, a day that was tied to that Bethlehem born, Nazareth raised, Galilean  homed, Jerusalem crucified, and garden tombed raised man whose name was Jesus.  The day through which all things past was brought into focus, and gave focus to all things yet to come.

So, come to church on Sunday, (every Sunday is meant to be a “min” Easter) and join in the celebration of the mighty acts of God, the death and resurrection of Jesus…..and who knows, maybe this will be the Sunday when, by the power of the Holy Spirit you are given the language to speak to someone who has not heard of the grace and mercy of God that will make their life brand new.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 5-18-15

Hello,

     Yesterday, I had some of our high school graduates from our church up to my house for a “Senior Bash”.  Graduating class of 2015.  We goofed around (I was the winner at ping pong!) and had a chance to talk about thigh school and their plans for the years ahead.  I consider it a blessing that young people share their lives with me, and I hope that in some way God works through me to make a dent of his grace in their lives so that they will live lives shaped by Christ’s unconditional love for them, and they will be people who change the world with that same love.

     Forty years ago, I was at the same point in life as those who yesterday came to my house.  Graduating class of 1975 from Hinsdale Central High School was I.  I remember the cocktail of excitement and fear that I drank that day.  Behind the familiar.  Ahead the unknown.  My sights were set on attending the University of Illinois pursuant (the only legal word that I know) to my plans to become a corporate lawyer.  It was during my freshman year of college that I changed my vocational plans and decided that I would be a pastor.

     Why?  It occurred to me that my motivations to be a corporate lawyer were not mine, and although being a corporate lawyer can certainly be formed by solid motivations, I found my motivations to be grounded elsewhere.  Amongst some of the best friends that I have ever had, I discerned that my deepest hopes, strength, and peace were all grounded in God’s unconditional and unyielding love for me.  (Later, in Seminary, I would find that hope articulated in 1 John 3:1, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.” – my focus verse).  So, I came to the fork in the road, and as Yoggi Berra says,  I took it, hoping that I could help others live with the blessings of hope, strength and peace that had come to me through Jesus Christ.

     Soon I will have been a pastor for 32 years.  It is hard to believe that so many years have past.  With so many years behind me, sometimes I wonder, “Did I take the road’s right fork?”  How does one answer that question?  Sometimes I find myself falling into how the world answers this question, and I am drawn to numbers and statistics.  But in my heart, I find myself answering this question by saying that if I have helped one person live their lives with the undergirding of God’s grace….one person is enough to answer the question “yes”.  If one person has been able to look in the mirror and say, “ Everyone might think that I am worthless because of what I have done, but I know that I am not because of what Jesus has done for me.” ….. If one person has so felt the forgiveness of Jesus in their life that they won’t pick up the first stone to be thrown at someone else….  If one person has been lost and alone, and has been grasped in their darkness by a good shepherd who has left everything to find them… If one person can live their life for others because they know that death does not have the last word even if it is only for a few more days….if only one person has experienced the hope, the strength, and the peace that comes in Jesus Christ….then that is enough to tell me that I have not been on the wrong path for the past 32 years.

     We Lutherans believe that being a pastor is not a loftier vocation than any other, for all of us who possess the grace of God in our lives have the vocation of sharing that grace with all people.  Butchers, bakers and candlestick makers…no matter what …. each person’s primary vocation is to bless the world with the grace of God which they have received.  I once heard of a man who dried cars at the end of a car wash who placed a paper rose on the driver’s seat of every car he dried with an accompanying card that said, “Bless you.”

     If you are wondering if you have taken the right fork in the road of your life, let me invite you to consider this question, “Has one person experienced the peace, hope and strength that comes from Christ as they have encountered you?”  I bet at least one person has!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord  5-12-15

Hello,

     Someone recently said to me, “I know the Bible says that God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.”  Well, the Bible doesn’t say that, at least I can’t find where it says that.  What the Bible says is this, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor. 10:13)

     I know that many people find comfort in this verse, but although I trust that it is true, it isn’t the most comforting word to me when I am feeling like I have been powerfully pummeled and I see another right jab coming my way.  It lacks a ring of comfort to me because I am not too sure that I enjoy the thought of being God’s sparring partner who God beats down to the point of breaking, but not beyond so that we can go at it again tomorrow.

     Truthfully, I am not certain what the Biblical writer was intending with this verse, but a God who sends his Son to die for me does not seem to be the kind of God who “tests” me by inflicting tragedies upon me, punching me to the point of me saying, “Uncle!”

     I don’t believe that God spends his time seeing how many “punches” it takes to bring me to my knees.  It is clear to me, however, that that is exactly what the world delights to do.  Day in and day out I hear the world awake me with the words, “Okay. Put up your dukes!”  Pressures at work and school that hit you square in the jaw.  Uppercuts that attack your relationships.  Lies that hit you in the gut and take the breath right out of you.  From the corner there are those advising you to keep your hands up!  Take it like a man!  Get up and fight!  Don’t be a sissy!  And when you’ve been thrashed enough, to the point that you can’t get up, that is when the crowd all around you starts yelling, “Looser!”

     So, to me, when I find myself beaten and bruised, gasping for breath on the ground, I am glad to hear this verse from the Bible, “¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1)

     When the strength to stand has been beaten out of me, when my eyes have become so swollen that I can’t even see where to swing, when I am so pummeled that I can’t even lift my hands…and there are days when I find myself that way…I am glad….no not glad….elated….that God will fill me with his strength…that God has rescued me from the clutches of the evil one….and that through the power of his forgiveness God will send the puncher running with his tale between his legs. 

     It is not my strength that I need to count on to stand and face another day.  The Bible tells me that I can face every day with courage, with hope, and with determination because when I stand toe to toe with the puncher, I do so with the power of God in my being.  Sure, some of the days will be heavy weight fights, the world does not give up easily, if not at all.  But, when I face those days, rather than quivering in paralyzing fear, I can find myself looking at the puncher square into his eyes and say, “Go ahead.  Hit me with your best shot.”, and then a smile comes to my face knowing the power of the divine punch to which the puncher will be on the receiving end.

     Someday, the puncher might just learn not to throw the first punch.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (GGAP)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 5-4-15

Hello,

The lane to our house is about ½ mile long.  It comes off of a well-travelled road, serpentines its way around and above an apple orchard and then levels out before making its final ascent to our house.  At the top of its meandering there is an old dogwood tree standing in front of the tree line.  It’s at least 15 feet tall, and just as wide.  This year, like every year, it has been full of blossom buds.

Winter has finally left us, and the warm temperatures have begun to do their work.  Yesterday, as I was driving by the dogwood tree, I could see the buds puffed up so full that I could tell they were about to burst.  I went to bed last night ready to be amazed at the transformation of beauty that I knew would greet me at the end of the next day.  I had some idea of the wonder ahead because I remember the sight of the aftermath of the explosion of the buds the last several years, but because we live in the “mountains” everything is a little behind the timing of the trees and plants in the valleys, which are already fully abloom.

Sometimes people ask me what awaits us after we die.  Although I can’t say that I can speak from personal experience, I am able to say something….something akin to what I see in my dogwood tree.  Much like my dogwood tree laden with hundreds…maybe thousands of buds ready to burst open, when I take a look at the Bible I see Jesus saying, “the kingdom of God is at hand” in his incarnation, and I get a clue as to what it will be like after I die.  Like a flower bud at the verge of revealing the wonder and beauty that is building inside, so the wonder and beauty of God’s timeless and spaceless reign was abud in Jesus as he walked this earth.  And on Easter morning, when the sealed tomb burst open, the bud began its bloom – a bloom of mercy and grace, a bloom of love and power, a bloom of hope and joy, a bloom of peace that surpasses all human understanding.  As the bloom of God’s reign began to open up on that first Easter day, and continues to open like a flower at a pace that human eyes cannot always detect….continues day by day in the community of faith….I can begin to imagine what God’s reign will be like when it is fully abloom.

Today all the buds on my dogwood tree are buds no more.  Standing atop the lane to my house is what looks like a just exploded firework shimmering in the sky.  At the tip of every branch a five petalled flower flutters in phenomenal beauty and grace. 

God’s kingdom is at hand, buds pregnant with bloom.  So when the day comes that I close my eyes in final sleep, I see in my dogwood tree a promise that another day will come….a day when buds will be no more, but only blooms.  And when that day comes then I am sure that I will be, as they hymn writer says, “lost in wonder, love and praise.”

Have a great day,

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger