The Bungee Cord   3-23-20

Hello,

     I thought that in this time of social distancing, it would be a good thing to re-tell you of why I call this writing “The Bungee Cord”.

     Some 25 years ago as I looked out into the congregation that I was serving, I noticed a section of the population that was not well represented: 18-25 year old’s.  Believing that every child of God is of vital importance to God, I decided that I would try and reach those who were not coming to church.  Thus the birth of “The Bungee Cord”.  At the time, Bungee jumping was a big deal, and as I tried to think of an image that spoke to my hopes of embracing people with God’s love who were not coming to church, it seemed to me that a bungee cord did the trick.

     “The Bungee Cord” was meant to function as a bungee cord of God’s grace.  After all, I believe that the truth is that no matter how near or far one finds themselves to God, God’s love is un-snappable, holding each of his children tight, reaching out to them as far away as they might roam/fall/be pulled and always lovingly gathering them under God’s wings, like as Jesus said, a mother hen does her chicks.

     Well, now that we are all in the position of not sitting in the church pews on Sunday mornings (at least for a while), I hope that the “Bungee Cord” will be a way for us to be gathered together in the loving Grace of God.  Every time I write the “Bungee Cord” I do so with the intention of conveying God’s grace through it.  For me, God’s grace, not judgment of guilt or harassing to obey, is the power that God uses to change lives, bring hope, enliven peace, and create joy.  Although to some, the ongoing chatter of God’s grace may become a dulling drone, I believe that because the world engages us in an ever-ongoing verbal assault of value and worth based upon what we have to offer and what we have done…..I believe that the voice of God’s Grace needs to break into that noise.  

     Here’s the truth.  You are of such value to God that God sent Jesus to die and rise for you. In Jesus’ death, God, like a massive black hole of love, gathered unto himself everything that might separate you from God…everything that might try and stake a claim on you….and when Jesus died, so did all that God had gathered up in him.  Dead.  No voice. No claim.

     And when Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, God he took ahold of us with new life and breathing new life into us, said “Awake oh sleeper, and live.”  And you are of such value to God, that God not only has invested God’s self in every moment of your life and every cell of your being, but God has made an eternal investment in you as God has a room for you in God’s eternal mansion….WITH YOUR NAME ON IT!  And God has promised that when the final trumpet of this life blows, Jesus will take ahold of us with resurrection power and bring us home…home for good.

    Why does God so value you and me who are mere specks in the universe?  Grace. Amazing grace.  Unfathomable grace.  Incredible grace.  Overwhelming grace.  Incomprehensible grace.   Grace that some people find too hard to believe.  But God’s grace isn’t grace only when we believe it, it is grace that holds onto us, whether we believe it or not…grace that is there when we need it. When we are falling out of control, when we have roamed into paralyzing danger, and when we have been pulled and tugged by life-sapping powers…….and isn’t that where we find ourselves now in this world-wide onslaught of Covid-19?

     We need God’s unyielding grip of Grace…..and I hope that this Bungee Cord has helped you feel it!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 3-16-20

Hello,

     It has been several years since I have gone to Cedar Point, “the roller coaster” of the world.  I don’t know if it still holds true, but Cedar Point prided itself on having the most diverse array of roller coasters….the highest, the fastest, the steepest drop.  So, if you are a roller coaster fan, Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio is the place for you to go.  I am not a roller coaster fan!

     I don’t enjoy the heights.  I don’t enjoy the drops.  I don’t enjoy the flipping upside down.  But most of all I don’t enjoy the slow…torturous…click droning….initial climb to the first big hill.  The anticipation morphs into anxiety.  The arduous pace races my heart.  The wind that blows the higher one ascends only cools the sweat on the back of my neck. Because I, as the Pastor, have been belittled by the kids for my fears, I have found myself aboard a roller coaster, clicking my way to the top of the hill, and about half way up, I find myself saying, “Why am I doing this!”

     I grab the bar on my lap with a vice grip.  My fingers go from white knuckles to purple ones.  My forearms cramp up.  And since I am not a screamer, I find myself repeating a mantra of fear, “Oh no!  Oh no! Oh no!”  The ride to the top is torture.

     As I consider our current place in the coronavirus situation, it seems to me that we , in the United States, are locked in on a world-wide roller coaster clicking our way to the top of the hill.  We hear the clicking of the number of infections and deaths.  We hear the clicking of the warnings from medical folks.  We hear the clicking projections and limited resources. Click.  Click.  Click.

     After I have been foolish enough to get on a Cedar Point roller coaster, when I get off I always say, “I don’t need to do that again!”, but I also find myself realizing that it wasn’t my grip that got me through that ride. It was the grip of that bar holding me in, and the grip of the centripetal force pushing me deep into my seat. I know this because I watch others ride the whole ride with their hands in the air, almost defying the roller coaster to throw them out.

     Maybe that is a good image to put in front of our eyes as we click our way to the top of the coronavirus ride.  In the end, it is not our grip that is going to get us through, but the grip of the power that holds us in.  That doesn’t mean that we should throw all caution to the wind and, as it were, ride this roller coaster standing up and see how daring we can be. No…it seems to me that it is wise to keep seated….follow the lead of those who know best how to manage this situation. Also, I do not believe that as we ride this roller coaster we wont get bumped around.  Christians, who as the Bible tells us, are in this world, find ourselves being bumped around by the world.  Some of us will get sick.  A few of us may even die.

     But here’s the truth….the certain truth…God will hold us tight through the ride.  As we ride this roller coaster, God who sent his Son to bring every evil to death….and even death to death…will keep us gripped in his nail pierced hands.  Some may say this is a pious platitude….and maybe to some it sounds like one….but as one who has gotten off a Cedar Point roller coaster and realized the external grip that kept me through that ride, I can say that I have gotten off of many a life roller coaster and have realized the external grip that has gotten me through.  And as I have gotten off of those life roller coasters, I have said to myself, “I don’t need to do that again!”, but also find myself singing the words from a song based upon God’s proclamation at Jesus’ Baptism, “You are mine. You are mine.  You are mine.”

     Click.  Click. Click.  Here we go!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 3-9-20

Hello,

     Yesterday as I was driving out my drive way, I spotted a critter sashaying up the hill.  As I neared it I got a better look at the black and white, long tailed visitor to our yard.  A skunk! I know that there are skunks around us, their perfuming of the air gives them away, but you don’t often see them in the late afternoon as they are nocturnal prowlers.  Generally, a skunk seen during the daylight hours is having some health issues.

     So, when I got nearer to it, I had no desire to get out of my car to see what was going on with this skunk.  I did not want to agitate it and then be the target of its aromatic defense system.  When I arrived back home around 10:00, there was no sign or smell of the skunk, and likewise in the morning when I got up.  I am hoping that it wandered off of my property to make a lengthy visit to one of my neighbors. 

     Of all the critters that roam around our house, skunks are the least welcome.  I don’t want to be the recipient of their spray.  But even more so, I don’t want them to turn their pungent affections toward my dog if he should happen upon one.  I have heard that it is hard to rid one’s self of a skunk’s smell, but even harder to rid one’s dog of it.  Tomato juice baths….several of them, I hear is what it takes.   So stubborn is the “eau de la skunk” that I read of a person who bought a brand new Corvette Stingray, and on the way home hit a skunk, and the skunk spray so infiltrated the car that the owner had to junk his prized car. Skunks are unwelcome around my house because of the stench that flows from them.

     There are some who question the relevancy of the Christian faith in today’s world.  What is so important about a guy who died on a Jerusalem cross, centuries ago in order to forgive the sins of the world?  It may have been relevant to those scientifically ignorant, sociologically backwards, and cosmologically simple-minded people, but can the same thing be said about its relevancy to us, scientifically astute, sociologically progressed, and quantum physics aware people?

     My answer to the ongoing relevancy of the Christian faith in our world finds its foundation in one thing: my nose.  You see….sins stink.  Sometimes folks get into debates over whether the entirely myopic things that we do  (sins) are really all that bad, or even bad at all….and the truth is that often those things are not massive in their evil, or maybe even questionably evil to differently minded people.  But have you ever noticed that when people are doing such debating, they are holding their nose?  Their eyes might lead them to question the relevancy of concern about sins, but the noses leave no doubt.  As the Bible says, the wages of sin is death, there is a death stench to sin that matches the stench of a skunk.

     And therein, in my mind, lies the relevancy of the Christian faith in our world, today.  The stench of sin.  The motivation that turns everything toward one’s self (that is what sin is) kills off our relationship with others, and even more importantly, our relationship with God.  And that death stinks!  Period….it doesn’t matter how much sin, or how bad the sin….it still stinks!

     When the Bible talks about being washed in the cross-born blood of Jesus, it is speaking of a super-charged tomato juice bath that doesn’t just cut through the oily glom of sin, but also cuts to our hearts and destroys the producer of that smudge so that henceforth that putrid oil can be produced no more.  Sin stinks. Jesus’ blood has the power to take away sin.  The stench is gone….people can live with one another, people can live with God.  That is the relevancy of the Christian faith.

     If you find yourself wondering about the relevancy of the Christian faith, unpinch your fingers from your nose, and take a deep breath….and I think that you will instantly come to see just why the blood of Jesus is as relevant today as it was on the day that Jesus died on the cross.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  2-24-20

Hello,

     I read on the internet that the Texas Rangers stadium, in preparation for the season, flushed every one of their toilets at the very same time….all 2600 of them.  It must have been quite a gushing event.  The reason that they did so was to make certain that their plumbing system could handle such an cascade of sewage.  After all, it would be a bit embarrassing if the game had to be interrupted because there was a flow of unwanted debris flowing down the stands like a mountain stream from a less than capable waste system.

     I laughed when I read the story, but maybe it is not such a laughing matter at all.  Do you even take a look at your life and wonder if there is a waste system that can handle the toilet bowl of your life?  That can get rid of the filth…not get clogged up….and make you clean.  I know that the people around us can do a lot to flush the crud out of our lives.  They can tell us we are forgiven.  They can tell us that the hurt we have caused is water over the dam.  They can treat us with kindness and care.  

    But try as they might, people’s words and actions often don’t have to power to flush us clean.  The drainpipes of our lives have a way of leaving residue behind that can clog things up.   The force of other people’s forgiveness just doesn’t have the umph to clear things out.  When Jesus was asked by his disciples how many times must one forgive another for doing the same thing, Jesus’ answer was 7 times 7 (or 70), which was his way of saying you must forgive such a person every time.  When his disciples heard that, they said, “We need more flushing power to do that!”  

     The whole point of Jesus’ death on the cross was to do what you and I cannot do, and that is flush the filth of our lives with such force that not even one speck of crud is left in our lives.  On the cross, Jesus clogged up his life with all the crud the world could muster, and with the final flush, “It is finished!”,  all that putrid stuff went down the cross into the bottomless pit of death.  The Bible says that the death that Jesus died, he died once and for all.  Nothing, not even a small particle of gunk, escaped Jesus’ gathering it into himself, and nothing, not even a small particle of gunk, escaped from its flush into death.

     So, when you take a look at your life and wonder if there is any hope that the grunge in you might be extricated from your life…if you wonder whether the piling up of excrement will cause an unmovable clog….if you wonder if something you have done is so massive it cannot be displaced…..if you wonder if the grit and the grim will just always be there with its rancid reminder……Listen to Jesus cry from the cross, “It is finished!”, and you will hear what the maintenance people at the Texas Rangers Baseball stadium heard; a gushing noise so powerful to handle even the worst of toilet capacities. 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 2-17-20

Hello,

People have told me that they do not believe that you have to come to church to be a Christian, and you know what…..I agree with them. I strongly believe that it is not my doings or lack of doing that determines my place in Jesus’ heart. It is Jesus who has gathered me in his outstretched cross-nailed arms, and has stepped out of the Easter tomb to take my hand in newness of life that makes me a Christian. After all, “Christian” means “little Christ”, and so it is as the Bible says “not me who lives, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2)

So why go to church? Why spend a brief moment of time each week to gather with others who have likewise been claimed by Christ?

People have all sorts of reasons for not doing so, and I believe that some of them are good reasons. Some say that they don’t come to church because they don’t need people judging them and telling them to get their act together. Their act is quite together, they say. Others say that they don’t come to church because they don’t need people to tell them how to live their lives, especially when the people who are instructing them have lives as messed up as theirs. Some say that they don’t come to church because they don’t believe what the church teaches, either they don’t believe it at all or they don’t see the need to be specific in their belief.

If any of these reasons are keeping you or someone you know from coming to church, then I would say that their reasons are good. I say that because as I have come to know Jesus, I don’t believe that Jesus ever intended that people should come together to have their spiritual height measured, as if going to an amusement park and standing by one of those signs to see if you are all enough to ride. Think about Zaccheaus’ spiritual stature, and Jesus went to his house! I don’t believe that Jesus ever intended that people should come together to be treated like cookie dough and have a single shaped cookie cutter be pressed down. Think about the encounters that Jesus had with people who the world had cast out. I don’t believe that Jesus ever intended that people should come together only after they believed enough. Jesus talked about the power of faith the size of a mustard seed could work transformation in people.

So, if the church that you have gone to or have heard about is one that beats a drum of judgment, that imprints every life with one mold, or that is for people who “really” believe (of course, I don’t know when “really” really kicks in)…..than I think your decision to not go to church is perfectly valid. Because those things are not, in my mind, what Jesus intended to have happen when people got together in his name.

I am pretty sure….no confident….that Jesus intended that when people gathered around him they experienced divine forgiveness and mercy. Forgiveness and mercy so mighty that powerful peace would overwhelm them as they lived their lives. Confident that Jesus intended that when people gathered around him they would experience the embrace of God’s love that would shape their lives. Confident that Jesus intended that when people gathered around him that they would experience a lung-full of fresh air, giving them hope and strength for each day of life. 

So, if you happen upon a church that does its best to be what Jesus intended it to be and you don’t want to experience the peace of forgiveness, you don’t want to experience the love of God just the way you are, and you don’t want to breath in some fresh air…..well, if you don’t want any of these things….then I would say to you, don’t come to church.

But if you do want the things that Jesus intended to be the reason for people to get together in his name….. let me invite you to come.

Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 2-10-20

Hello,

I am doing a Bible Study with my congregation called, “The Backbone of the Bible, 33 stories that hold everything together”. We began with the stories in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and we have weekly worked our way through the Bible. A month or so ago, we arrived in the New Testament, and yesterday our study was on the story of Jesus turning water into wine.

As the story goes, Jesus was at a wedding where the wine had run out. Bummer! And so, at the encouragement of his mother, Jesus rectifies the problem by using 6 jars whose volume each was 20-30 gallons. He had the servants fill the jars, and then when the servants drew out the contents of the jars, and they took it to the guy running the wedding to taste. When the guy tasted it he said, “‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 

You see, the way it worked was that when weddings, which could last a week, took place wine was an essential ingredient as a catalyst to celebrate the joy of the occasion. Everyone, apparently, followed the same pattern of drinking the best wine first when the folks’ taste buds were not dulled, and then once dulled the Boones Farm stuff would come out. It was the fact that the wine that had come from those jars that Jesus had had filled with water was the best wine yet to be served that caught the guy running the wedding off guard.

So, what is the point of this story? Why did the writer of the Gospel of John place it at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry?

Well, it seems to me that he did so to introduce the story of this man, Jesus. And maybe the point of this introduction was this: the “wine” that Jesus gives is far better than anything else, and it is offered in abundance. Undoubtedly, the guy running the wedding had served what he thought was the best wine first, but he discovered that the best that humans could make was nothing compared to that which Jesus could make.

I think that is a very important thing to remember when it comes to Jesus. It isn’t that that which comes from human hands is vinegar. It can be pretty good. Family. Job. Health. Enjoyment. Kindness. Forgiveness. But it just can’t match the love, hope, peace, mercy, and forgiveness that Jesus creates. Love that is unconditional and unending. Hope that comes with the vision from the future. Peace that surpasses all human understanding. Mercy that never tires, and forgiveness that is absolute and complete.

I am not a wine snob. I can’t tell the difference between the taste of a $15.00 bottle of wine and a $50.00 bottle of wine, so I buy the $15.00 wine. But I can tell the difference in taste between a $5.00 bottle of wine and a $15.00 bottle, and that is why I buy the $15.00 wine. If you’ve only had $5.00 a bottle wine (spiritually speaking), let me invite you to taste what Jesus has to offer (spiritually speaking). You, like the guy running the wedding, just might be caught off guard too, and you’ll find yourself thankful for the abundant and free supply of the “wine” Jesus gives to you.

Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord 2-2-20

Hello, 

     Have you ever found yourself in this spot?  Something has happened.  Maybe it happened because of your own doing.  Or maybe it was one of those seemingly random tragedies in life that capriciously has struck you.  And there you are.  Your hopes and your dreams  are lying around you in shambles.  The things that mean the most to you are in complete disarray – your health, your family, your financial stability.  And as you are standing there with the cold winds of fear swirling all around you, someone with all the best intentions in the world, puts their arms around you and they say, “You are going to be ok.”

      Or maybe this instead.  You have worked hard…maybe in school, maybe in your job.  There are people who you can call friends, and you spend a lot of good times together.  You have just had your annual physical and the doctor told you that you are in great health.  You bills are all paid off.  You live in a great house, in a great community, and there’s a brand new car in your garage.  And as you are standing there feeling really good about where you are in life, someone with all the best intentions in the world, puts their arms around you and they say, “You are going to be ok!”

     If you have been in either of these situations, or something akin to them, you know that there is power that comes from the past.  Sometimes that power is as destructive as a car crusher emerging from the past.  The things that we have done…the situations that we have been in…the food that we have eaten…the words that we have said….all those things can have a way of rising up out of our past with the power to crush our lives.

     And likewise, the power of the past can be as fortifying as drilling pylons deep into the ground, giving us a great foundation for our lives.  The things that we have done…the situations that we have been in….the food that we have eaten…the words that we have said….can have a way of having set a solid footing for our lives, a footing with the power to build a wonderful life.

     And when you find yourself engaged with the power of the past – whether for destruction or foundation – and someone comes up to you and says, “You are going to be ok,”  do you ever find yourself wondering, “How do they know that?”  How do they know that the power of the past isn’t going to crush you, too?  How do they know that the power of the past is strong enough for what lies ahead?

     Well, that is where the words from Jesus that were written by Matthew, that we call the Beatitudes, come into play.  Today, Jesus tells us, we who find ourselves in either struggle or ease as we wrestle with the power of the past, he tells that as powerful as the past may be, the past’s power is no match for the power of the future.  He says to us, “If you are mourning, meek or hungering and thirsting for righteousness….or if you are merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers….where ever the power of the past has led you,” Jesus, who stands in the future tells us, because he is already there, what the future holds for us, “you will be comforted, inherit the earth, filled, receive mercy, see God, be called children of God.”  Today, Jesus speaks to us out of the future, a future where Jesus is standing, and with the power of standing in the future, he says to us, “You are going to be ok.”

     You see, your friends and the people that care about you and wrap their arms around you and say, “You are going to be ok,”, they are standing right where you are standing…in the present, contending with the power of the past, and truthfully, because that is where they are standing, they don’t know if you are going to be ok.  They may be positive thinkers.  They may be confident in the foundations that we build.  But from where they stand, they don’t know if you are going to be ok.

     But Jesus knows.  Jesus knows that you are going to be ok because when he ascended into heaven, he broke the bounds of time and space.  As a matter of fact, when Martin Luther was asked, “Where did Jesus go when he ascended into heaven?”, Martin Luther said, “Jesus went into the future.”  Jesus speaks from the future, and with the power that comes from being in the future, Jesus wraps his arms around you today – no matter how deep a hole you find yourself in, or how high a tower you stand upon – no matter how fragile you are from being pummeled by life, or how strong you are from pinning life down – no matter how tired you are from trying to unbury yourself from the landfill of your failures, or how relaxed you are setting upon the mountain of your successes…….Jesus comes to you today, comes to you from the future, throws his arms around you ….and with the power of the future, a power so strong that it brings makarious….that is the Greek word for what is translated “blessed” in the Beatitudes….but maybe a better translation is “complete inner peace” – and he says to you, “You are going to be ok.” 

     Jesus knows of what he speaks!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger