The Bungee Cord. 7-23-24

Hello,

I have been gone a couple of weeks, taking a trip to my son’s place to lend my “expertise” as he is building a backyard office. He designed the structure and is constructing it on his own. Every day we made several trips to Lowe’s, because we needed something that either he had forgotten to buy or something that we ran short on. I was more of the grunt man, but after five days, we got the structure up and weather tight. Shingling in the 95degree Denver heat was a bit of a challenge for this sixty-seven-year-old man whose hands are soft from lack of that kind of work. Now, the rest is up to him.

I got home yesterday around 9:00 at night after my three-day drive. I opened the door of my house, walked into the darkness, and set my bags down. Suddenly there was a barking from the family room, a clattering of dog-nails coming up the stairs, and from around the corner appeared my dog, McMahon. Still in his “watchdog” mode, he peeked around the corner with a snarl in his voice, but when he saw it was me, the snarl turned into a look of delight. His tail wagged with accelerated speed, his eyes brightened up, he came dodging at me, and when he reached me, he jumped up and began licking me as if I was a melting ice cream cone. The excitement in seeing me was explosive, and it was a welcome that made the 23-hour drive worth it!

Although this welcome may have been a bit more exuberant than usual, the welcome that he gives me after I have been gone a couple of hours is not much less slobbery.

“Where ya’ been?” “I see the roof hasn’t fallen in yet.” “You must have done something really bad this week for you to come here.” Such words of welcome I have heard given to people who arrive at church after having been gone a long time. I know that they are most often said in jest, but even humor can bite deeply.

When I read scripture, however, they are not the words that God speaks to those who have been away. “Kill the fatted calf!” “Get the finest robe!” “It’s time for a party!” Those are God’s words, words that the father slobbered when his absent son came walking up the road.

If it has been a while since you have prayed. If it has been a while since you have been in worship. If it has been a while since you have opened up a Bible….know this: the greeting that you get from God when you offer your prayer, the greeting that you will get from God when you walk into a church, the greeting that you will get from God when you open the Bible will be McMahon-like. God will not be able to contain his excitement. God will slobber you with love and mercy. God will stop everything in the universe and say, “Let’s have a party!”

I know that that is what will happen, because I see it happening to me all the time. My prayers are always met with uncompromised welcome. Every time I go to church, there is a place for me at God’s table of infinite grace. Every time I read the Bible, I see divine embrace, squeezing fear and despair out of me. Every one of my encounters, no matter how frequent or infrequent they are, are slobbery.

So, if you are weary from a long-traveled road, get ready, because when you open the door of God’s presence, God is waiting there for you to welcome you with the slobber you with his love.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 7-16-24

Hello,

The saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together,” and from what I see there’s a lot of truth to that saying. It is much easier to live with people who think like you do, who see the world the way you do, whose personality is like yours, who root for the same teams, who enjoy the same music, who like their food cooked the same way….on and on. It is easier, most often, to flock together with same feathered birds.

Unfortunately, there’s lots of different “birds” in the world….different colored birds, different sounding birds, different sized birds, different temperament birds, birds whose diet is different, birds who soar and fly at different altitudes, birds who are more solitary than others…on and on. There’s lots of different kinds of “birds” in the world who share the world and its airspace.

When you take a look at our world and all the “birds” that live in it, the truth is that we don’t live in a world that resembles a uniform flock who fly around in perfect synchronicity, like a flock of grackles. Our world is far more like an aviary, where birds of a different feather are flocked together….where birds of a different feather need to learn how to live together.

Martin Luther had a strange name for Jesus and each of his followers, “rara avis”, that is Latin for “strange bird”. Rather than trying to gather a flock of same feathered birds, Jesus put together a flock of very, very different feathered followers: rich, poor, highly patriotic, traitors to the country, strict law abiders, repeat offenders, staunchly conservative, radically liberal….a true multi-feathered flock living in a world-sized aviary.

Some years ago, when I was at a church-growth seminar (a movement that I think is overly worried about the wrong thing: church growth), I remember hearing the speaker say that churches that grow the fastest are those whose members are most alike. And although same mindedness may not always be a bad thing, it does seem to me that such churches do not train their birds very well to live in an aviary.

I find myself being a fervent proclaimer of God’s grace, something that Lutherans are noted for. So, I am glad that God has chosen Lutheran birds to be in his aviary so I can be included. However, I am just as glad that God has chosen Episcopal, Baptists, Catholics, Mennonites, Presbyterians, Quakers, Methodists, United Church of Christs, non-denominationalists of many colors….and on and on ….in his aviary, in order to include so many others. When I think about it, I am very thankful for the variety of sound and colors I see as I drink my coffee on my porch in the morning. I suspect the same might be said of God.

In 2009, the denomination with which I am affiliated, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, took on the struggle of coming to understand how our traditions relate to concerns of human sexuality. The ultimate decision that the denomination made was to say that we do not have an understanding of unanimous agreement on very many aspects of human sexuality, especially in regard homosexuality, and rather than impose such an understanding, we will try to love each other and live together focusing on our unanimous agreement of God’s grace in Jesus Christ rather than our differing views on human sexuality. When this decision was made, there were numerous churches who were unable to live in such tension, and they left. At the time, I was the pastor of two small churches in rural South Dakota who were struggling with the denomination’s decision, and I voiced my opinion which was, “In a world that is so divided, we have the chance to show how people who hold significant differences can actually lovingly and peacefully live together.” So, my judgment was against leaving the denomination.

It hasn’t been easy for those Evangelical Lutheran Churches in America to live out this decision to live in tension but given the anger and violence that is stirring in our country, it seems like this is one of the most important things that Christians can do in our world. Let me invite you to experience God’s unconditional grace in Jesus Christ among folks who are striving to live by it, and having experienced such love and grace, you and I might help our world tot be much more of a wonderful aviary rather than competing flocks of grackles and crows.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord. 7-8-24

Hello,

I have never bought fireworks before in my life. I grew up in a firework-less house, partly because some high school kids who lived right behind me blew off a bunch of their fingers as they were shooting off rockets that were propelled by a bundle of match heads. The stains of the streams of blood running down the street were enough to convince me that my parent’s prohibition of fireworks made a little sense.

But this past week, I stepped across that lifelong line and bought some fireworks, just six sparklers. My son and his family were coming to visit, and my wife wanted to have some sparklers to light for the fourth of July.

When I arrived at the Phantom Fireworks store in Greensburg on the third of July, I could not find a parking spot. I had to drive around several times before one opened up. I walked through the front sliding doors (it used to be a Toys R Us store) and got backed up behind some people who were emptying things out of their pockets. What they were emptying, I don’t know. I dodged around them and gazed into the huge store, but before I could enter the shopping area, I was greeted with, “Sir, would you please come over here?” I followed her invitation, and when I reached her counter she said, “May I see your ID?” Puzzled, I asked, “What are you needing me to do?” After all, I was only going to get six sparklers. She said, “You need to be registered.” So, I pulled out my wallet that has clear plastic in front of my driver’s license, and then she said, “Could you please remove it?” I took it out and she scanned the bar codes on the back side. She handed it back to me, and I was just about to venture into the shopping area when she said, “Sir, please wait a minute, I need you to sign a form saying you won’t hold us accountable if you incorrectly use the fireworks.” She gave me the form, and I signed it.

Form in hand, I went to the sparklers display area, and from the selection I took a package that contained six sparklers, and then I made my way to the check-out. There were eight check-out stations, and every one of them had at least two people with a grocery cart full of fireworks in line. I stepped into the first line I saw, and I found myself behind two people with full carts. The one in front was done and was moving ahead. The woman in front of me had two elementary age children in tow, and a newborn in a stroller. She emptied the contents of her cart onto the conveyer belt, and when everything had been checked in her total purchase was $464.00! I was amazed.

After she had repacked her cart and moved forward, I put my package of six sparklers on the conveyer belt, handed the cashier the form that I had been given to sign, and the cashier said to me, “That will be $4.99.”

I was amazed at all I had to go through to buy six sparklers for our fourth of July celebration, and I was amazed at what everyone else had to also do, and the expense they were willing to make for their celebration.

There is a celebration that is far more worthy than the birth of our country that goes on every Sunday morning. It is a celebration that you won’t have to show your ID, won’t have to sign a consent form, and you won’t even have to pay for. Actually, it is a celebration that you couldn’t pay for, no matter how much money you have. It is a celebration that all the grocery carts in the world full of fireworks could not match. It is a celebration of universal consequence for the whole universe. It is a celebration of a victory that dwarfs any national victory. It is the celebration of God’s explosion of grace out of an Easter tomb that knocked every barrier down that might separate anyone from God, that disintegrated every thing that might try and claim anyone and pull them away from God, and that turned death inside out forever.

I invite you to this unmatched celebration this Sunday and every Sunday. I am pretty sure that you’ll find a parking place. I quite certain that you will be greeted with love and welcome, and I am positive of this: it won’t cost you a thing….Jesus’ love is free!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 7-1-24

Hello,

Do you know what an ophiophilist is? I am not one!

My wife and I were moving some wood that we had cut and split, preparing for the colder weather. The stack of wood had been there over a year, and so we were moving it into our woodshed to be accessible in the winter. About half-way down the stack, we picked up a couple of logs, and something moved…or should I say, slithered. It was a young snake, a garter snake, maybe a foot long. Although it did cause my wife and me to jump a little, due to its size our response was more of a twitch accompanied with a giggle, and we kept on working. However, after moving a couple more logs, there was another slither, and this time the snake was about three feet long. We deduced it was an adult girder snake, and after the snake moved further into the pile, we resumed our work. But that was not the end of it. We moved a couple more logs and “Hello”, another snake. This time it was not a garter snake but was patterned (see the picture that we took of the snake). Not being a herpetologist, a studier of snakes, we weren’t sure what kind of snake we had uncovered. We had heard that copperheads are in our area, so we looked “copperhead snake” on our phone, and sure enough, there was a strong resemblance. Thinking that it might be a copperhead, and not wanting to get it angry, we decided our wood moving was done. I am not an ophiophilist, a snake lover.

But I do know someone who is an ophiophilist: God. I know this about God because, I have found myself snake-like slithering in dark and decaying times of my life, and God has found me. He has found me when I have acted out with biting venom towards those with whom I am angered. He has found me when I have squeezed the life right out of those who are kicked in the teeth over and over again as I have done nothing to change the systemic sins of our world. He has found me when my mouth is a rattle that defensively shakes when my deeds have caused pain and hurt to those whom I love, and those whom I will never know. I, a snake, find myself being found over and over by God as God is at work in God’s world, and here’s the amazing thing: God does not flinch. Instead, God reaches down into the decay and rot that I have caused and takes ahold of me with transformational grace and mercy. That is exactly what God did in Jesus. God reached down into this world in order to gather into his grip all the slithery, sinful snakes and make them a new creation….children of God. You see, God is an ophiophilist, a snake lover….a lover of sinners.

People are often shocked when they see someone exhibit snake-like actions, saying,

“How could a person ever do such a thing?”, and they reflexively pull away from that person. They stop talking to them. They block them from their phone and internet. They walk to the other side of the street when they seem them coming. But in Jesus we have seen that God is not shocked when he finds us slithering, after all we are sinners/snakes, and more important than that we have seen that God does not reflexively distance himself from us, but instead embraces us, forgives us, and loves the snake right out of us.

God is an ophiophilist, a lover of snakes/sinners, an ophiophilist whose love for us is so great that he doesn’t leave us as snakes who spread venom and poison throughout the world, but transforms us snakes/sinners into children of God who wiggle through life spreading God’s grace and mercy.

I am not an ophiophilist….but thankfully, God is!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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