Bungee Cord 1-28-13

Hello,

     Several years ago I was on a retreat with a bunch of 7^th,8^th, and 9^th graders.  We were in the dining hall, and I found myself seated at table with seven seventh grade boys.  Some would consider this a very dangerous place to be.  It was lunch, and although I don’t remember exactly what was served, I am sure that it had to be something akin to sloppy joes, chips, and sliced peaches….isn’t that what is always served for lunch at camp.

     As we awaited the hall to fill up and lunch to begin, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of poking and jabbing amongst my table mates.  When all had arrived and grace had been sung and said, the “runner” (a dangerous name for kids carrying food) was selected by some random factor…the one with the longest hair?  Once selected, the runner walked to the serving station and procured our food and set it on our table, and that is where the pleasantries came to an end.  Like coyotes circled around a dead animal, my tablemates began lunging at the food, grabbing for sloppy joes and potato chips, fearful, it seemed that this food might take off and run away if not for their pouncing on it.  Once the flurry had subsided and most of the sloppy joes and potato chips were on plates and not on the floor, I said to my lunchmates, “Is this how you eat at home?”

     To my surprise every one of them, all seven seventh grade boys, said the same thing, “No.  We never sit down at a table and eat together at home.”

     “Really?” I replied back, startled.  At that time I still had my three boys at home, and we regularly, but not always, tried to eat at least one meal a day together as a family.  Probing further, I discovered that the universal practice of these seven seventh graders was to almost always eat by themselves….grab something out of the frig….heat it up….take a seat in front of the TV….and eat.  And even when they did eat with others in the family, it was usually sitting on the couch or easy chairs, focused on the TV.

     Although this may not be true for you, I have since discovered that this is pretty standard fare for meal time in our culture.  Tables are not used.  Families don’t gather, and the TV provides conversation.

     When I consider why many Christians do not find themselves drawn to Sunday morning worship, it seems to me that my seven seventh graders provided me an insight.  In a culture where mealtime is often solitary, often paired with individual entertainment, and the sole objective is simply to fill one’s stomach….it is no wonder that Sunday morning worship where we gather together at a pre-set time, where we share fellowship and a table with others, and where certain “manners” are observed seems an odd and almost repulsive idea to many.

     Gathering together for worship may be a relic from an age when people gathered together to eat, but maybe this is a relic worth holding on to.  For when people gather together for worship they develop friendships that are grounded in God’s self-giving love.  When people kneel side by side at the table, they experience the impartial, unconditional love that Christ gives to each of them.  When people join their prayers for loved ones and strangers they link their thoughts and hearts.  When people join their voices to those around them in song, they hear the sounds of harmony that is possible in spite of their difference.  When people sit side by side in worship together, they get to know each other better, and thereby are able to care better for each other in times of need.   When people converse and praise together, single notes are woven into rich and interesting chords of sound.

     It may be easier to eat alone in our fast paced world, and it may be easier to practice one’s Christian faith alone in this same harried world, but consider the monochromatic life and faith that such isolation creates and on the other hand the dynamism of being together brings to both life and faith.

     At First Lutheran of Greensburg where I worship and dine, the church bells ring at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m..  Those bells echo from a day that is passed, a day when dinner bells called children in from play to gather around a table and have their lives broadened as they joined for a purpose greater than just filling their stomachs with food.  If you hear our bells or not, know that the invite is sent  ringing out to you, no matter where you are.  There is a church whose doors are open to you telling you that it is supper time….time to gather around the table of the Lord with a far greater purpose than just filling our stomachs with food.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 1-21-13

Hello,

     “If I could have a beer with Jesus….”

     I was driving back from Pittsburgh in the loaner car that was given to me while  my car was having major repairs done when I heard this song come from the radio that was playing on one of the preset stations.  “If I could have a beer with Jesus….”

     I am not a regular country western, or even a frequent country western listener.   But as it so happened, some previous driver of this loaner car must have been and decided that I should be, thus gracing my ears with a tune that I had never heard before.  I snickered as I heard it.  The image of a sandal shod, robe clad, ancient Israeli sitting down at a honky tonk bar tickled me. 

     Although the image may have been a bit too dog-dying, jilted-lover country western for me, it did get me to thinking.  Wouldn’t we all want to “have a beer with Jesus”, and ask him some of the deepest things on our minds?  Maybe ask some of the same things that Thomas Rhett Akins, the singer of this song, was wanting to ask: “How’d you turn the other cheek to save a sorry soul like me?  Do you hear the prayers I send?  What happens when life ends?  Is mommy and daddy alright?”  Or maybe we would ask, “Where are you when unthinkable tragedies strike?  Are you real?  Will I make it through the darkness of my life?”

     Well, we in the Lutheran Christian tradition believe that something of the likes of what Thomas Rhett Akins sings actually happens….happens over and over again.   We believe that Jesus does invite us to have a drink with (and actually of) him every Sunday morning.  He joins us as we lean on a communion rail, invited to come with all of our questions, our failures, and fears and he gives an answer, his answer: “Take and eat.  This is my body.  Take and drink.  This is my blood.” 

     To some it may seem an odd answer, and maybe even an answer that dodges the questions that we bring, but when you consider it, what clearer and more satisfying answer could Jesus give us: an answer that embodies his deep love for us, a love that does not fall upon us from afar, but unites itself with us from within.  After all answers are only as trustworthy and secure as the trustworthiness and security of the one giving the answers.  Will any question, doubt or fear cause Jesus to turn his back on us…..take and eat, take and drink…..the answer: no.  Will any question, doubt, or fear separate us from God….take and eat, take and drink…the answer: no.

     Let me…no hear Jesus invite you to his table to sit down and have a drink with him.  And when you come, go ahead and ask him any question that you might bring, and experience the direct answer that Jesus will give to you.

     Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 1-14-13

Hello,

     Tuesday night the red and blue lights of a police car lit up the street in front of our church.  A criminal had been nabbed.  The criminal: me.  I was coming to church for a meeting, when just a couple of blocks away from the church someone cut me off having pulled out in front of me from a parking lot.  Not only did the person almost hit me, whoever was driving the car didn’t seem to know where the gas pedal was once they were in front of me.  Driving half the speed limit, the car plodded ahead of me…..aggravating me. 

     Not that it would have helped, I tried peering through the back window of the snail paced car to see just who could have been such an inept driver.  Since it was dark, I had a hard time seeing through the window, but as we approached in intersection the streetlight illuminated the interior just enough to catch a glimpse of the rear of the driver’s head.  I focused my eyes on the shadowy head, hoping to make some sort of identification, but even with the streetlight, I couldn’t make out much.   So half way through the intersection, my anger stewing, I turned my eyes back to the street, just in time to see that the traffic light above me was scarlet red.  I took a quick look to my left and right in order to see if there was any cars coming my way, and I caught in my glance a car just about to enter the intersection on my right….a car with an apparatus on its roof…a bar of lights.

     I didn’t even have time to hope that the light bar would stay darkened, when the red and blue lights lit up and began to spin, and the car…the police car…jumped on my tail.  I turned off the main road and stopped my car, stopping it right next to the church.  The police car pulled up right behind me, its flashing lights announcing a crook had been nabbed.

     I sat in my car, mad at myself for “breaking the law” and embarrassed by the attention that I was sure I was attracting.  The police officer stepped out of her car and made her way to the driver’s window of my car.  She didn’t have to tell me why she had stopped me.  I knew, and I pleaded guilty of my crime even before she spoke.  Politely, she took my license and went back to her car.  Hoping for undeserved grace, in a few moments she returned to my car, handed back to me my license, and saying, “You’ll get your ticket in the mail.”

     I started up my car, turned into the alley just ahead of me, parked my car and entered the church…entered the church as one who had broken the law.  Not something of which to be proud, but clearly true.  Fortunately, my crime did not hurt anyone, but none the less, I had committed a crime, throwing me into the pool of all criminals….and so the thought occurred to me, being the law breaker that I was, maybe I should not have entered the church.

      But therein lies the rub….the misinformation that has somehow made itself into the world.  Somehow the word has been circulated that only “good” people should go to church.  People who do not squabble.  People who do not gossip.  People who do not lie.  People who are not prejudiced.  People who do not find themselves in the sheriff’s log in the newspaper.  But that is not true.  The church was never supposed to be a place for perfect people, rather Jesus created the church to be a place for imperfect people.  A place where God’s forgiveness frees people from the prison of their sins, and where God’s love is at work transforming them into new people. 

     I got my fine in the mail today. $112.00.  I will pay my fine, as I should, and eagerly I will go to church this week…where I belong….not because I am perfect, but because I am the very kind of person Jesus wants in the church….a sinner who stands in need of his transformational forgiveness. 

     So, let me on Jesus’ behalf, invite you to church this week.  There is nothing you could have done, felt, or said that should keep you away….because the church isn’t made for perfect people.  It was made for sinners, breakers of the law, like you and me.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 1-7-13

Hello,

     Sunday was the celebration of the Day of Epiphany in our church and in churches around the world.  The day of Epiphany, 12 days after Christmas, marks the traditional day of the arrival of the Wisemen in Bethlehem.  I am not sure why centuries ago Christians decided to count twelve days as the passage of time for the Wisemen’s visit, but so it has been for years and years and years.  It is where the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (…on the first day of Christmas my  true love gave to me) has its roots.

     Over the centuries there has been a fascination with these Wisemen.  In truth, the Bible really does not say much about them.  They only appear in Matthew’s telling of the Christmas story, and Matthew calls them “Magi”.  This name seems to indicate that they were connected in some way with non-Jewish spiritual life.  Most likely they were like medicine men in African tribes who through their “ability” to read the skies they could give guidance to people’s lives. 

     Other than that, we really don’t know much about them.  Where exactly did they come from?  Somewhere from the east, but exactly where, we don’t know.  How many of them were there?  Other than the Bible telling us that there was more than one of them, we don’t know.  How they travelled to Bethlehem?  We don’t know.  How they were able to discern the star’s direction?  We don’t know.  They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but how much of each and what Mary and Joseph did with those gifts, we don’t know.

     A lot of tradition has been built up around these Wisemen, most of it having no Biblical foundation.  In truth, the only thing that we know about them is that they were drawn by God to Jesus’ side, and they were welcome at Jesus side.  Although the focus of Epiphany is meant to be on the revelation of Jesus to be not just the king of the Jews, but much greater: the Lord of the nations…..I find great hope in taking a good look at these Wisemen and seeing what the Bible actually tells us about them:  they were drawn by God to Jesus’ side and they were welcome there (repeated…for emphasis).

     Just like all the tradition that we have slapped on the Wisemen, a lot of stuff has been slapped on people about who they should be before they come to Jesus side.  Are you welcome if you find some or a lot of the Christian faith hard to believe?….so it was with the Wisemen, and they were welcome…SO ARE YOU!  Are you welcome if your lifestyle doesn’t match the lifestyle that you have been told is expected of Christians?....the Magi’s lifestyle was far from what was expected of the Jews and they were welcome….SO ARE YOU!  Are you welcome if your customs and dress are unusual?.... so it was with the Wisemen compared to the rest of the people in Bethlehem, and they were welcome….SO ARE YOU!  Are you welcome if you have many things tugging on you and focusing your life on other interests?....so it was with the wisemen, but God didn’t count them out.  God drew them to Jesus side and they were welcome…..SO ARE YOU!

     So, the truth is that you and I don’t really know much about the Wisemen….the truth is that you and I don’t really know much about each other….but this we know about the wisemen….and this we know about you and me…..God is at work drawing all people into the love and mercy of Jesus, and all whom God has drawn in is welcome!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 12-31-12

Hello,

     We’ve had some snow up on the ridge.  How much?  I don’t know, but with the vigorous winds that swish through here, we have drifts that rise to our knees.  Since this is the first winter that we have lived on our hill-top, we are being taught our lessons of dealing with the snow by the harsh teacher of experience.

     The drive from the main road to our place is a little less than a half a mile….all up hill!  The drive begins with a gentle sloped straight-a-way and then with a sharp left turn the incline increases as it parallels the hillside.  The next section of the lane is short, but it is steep, connecting the lower parallel road to the higher one.  In a low flying plane, the lane looks a bit like a squared off backwards question mark.

     We have a tractor with a blade on it.  It is my wife’s favorite toy.  So, when you come by our house and see her on our tractor, know that it is not a sign of my laziness, but rather her childhood delights being lived out.  She’s been busy plowing with the tractor trying to keep up with the snow, and for the most part we’ve been able to traverse our lane.  Unfortunately, we were away for a couple of hours, and the show got ahead of her/us. 

     So, as I was driving up our lane and made the turn onto the short but steepest section, the tires of our Honda CRV started spinning and we wound up sliding into the ditch alongside the road.  In order not to make the situation worse, we gave up on our upward climb, and my wife climbed out of the car saying, “I’ll go get the tractor.”  About 10 minutes later, out from the trees where our house is located came the slowly plodding tractor with my wife at the wheel.  Her plan was to try and clear the snow down to the stone bed, hoping that the front wheels of our car would grab and we would be freed from the drift into which we had slid.  “It’s going to take a while,” she said, “if you want to go inside, I’ll come and get you when it is ready.” So, up the hill I walked and sat down in front of the fireplace that was crackling with burning wood.

     About 2 hours later, she knocked on the door and said she had gotten it ready.  I put my coat and boots back on and headed down to our snow-trapped car.  When we got there, I told her to gun the car so the back wheels would spin, and with the wheels spinning, I would push the back end of the car back on the road on which she had done her clearing.  For some reason, the wheels would not spin, and when they did spin and the car would move, they would immediately just stop.  We worked at it for a half hour, getting nowhere.  Our neighbors happened by on the snow mobiles and with the strength of two more people, we got it to move, but still not enough to get out of the ditch and up the hill. 

     My frustration and patience were melting so I decided that I should give it a try behind the wheel.  My efforts were no more productive.  After a couple of attempts, my wife said to me, “Your back wheels keep on locking up.”

     So, I glanced at the parking break…..and guess what….it was set.  Apparently I had set it when I left to go inside as the car rested on the incline.  I released the parking break by depressing it again, and with the ease of a bulldozer the car ascended the slope.  That is all it took: releasing the parking break.  All that work…all that frustration…..all that anger….all  because of a set parking break.  “Ugh,” I thought to myself.

     Wouldn’t it be nice if all of the struggles we face would have at such an easy fix, but you and I know that isn’t the way it works.  Many of the struggles that we face in life are so multi-facetted that the solutions are not quick and easy, but long and hard.  Other struggles are so deep and profound that it doesn’t seem like there is an answer.  Others come with resolutions that are worse than the problem itself, and some seem to come with no solution.

     That is the way life is.  You know it.  I know it, and the people who come to church on Sunday mornings know it.  When you find yourself sledding up a steep hill in life and going nowhere, know that there is a bunch of people who are glad to join you in your struggle: to lift you up when your strength is spent, to encourage you with their care when the struggle is long, to hold you when everything seems to be falling apart.  Sometimes Christians are guilty of pronouncing easy answers to life’s struggles, but most of the Christians for whom I have been their pastor have wallowed in life’s complexity themselves, and they know all too well that simple and easy answers are rarely found.  They know that their faith isn’t built on the hopes that God would solve all their problems.  Their faith is built on the cross and resurrection that shows God’s power to overcome all of our struggles.

     So, when you are stuck in a ditch and easy answers are hard to find, come join God’s people on Sunday morning, and you will find people who will embrace you with the grasp of God, the one who has shown his resolve to overwhelm all of our struggles with his grace and mercy.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord  12-24-12

Hello,

(continued from last week….last week’s Bungee Cord can be found on my blog 1Johnthreeone.blogspot.com)

….The Driver didn’t budge, “I am NOT going in there!” said the driver as he stood right under the sign that warned, “No Swimming.  No Fishing.  No Boating”  “You girls should have been watching where you were going.  I am NOT going in that pond.”

     Betsy also stood in the shadow of the sign, and she could hear her parent’s words echoing, “Absolutely – and under no circumstances……”  But this was here sister struggling in that pond – her sister whose heart beat with hers – her sister whose life was woven into hers – her sister whom she loved.  Reflex took hold of Betsy, and she plunged into Peabody’s Pond – that pond full of acid that would eat holes in her skin, full of chemicals that would breed cancer, and full of glass that would slice her like shark’s teeth.  She plunged into that pond to save her sister.  She could not have done otherwise.  It was a reflex; a reflex of the heart.

     “No swimming.  No fishing.  No boating.”  Surely a sign like that is posted on the banks of this life in which you and I live; a life where we, bruised and beaten try to keep ourselves afloat.

·      It’s a world full of the acid of hate and envy that eats holes in people’s lives.

·      It’s a world full of greed and selfishness that breeds cancer and pain.

·      It’s a world where violence and oppression lie like broken glass ready to slash deep.

What would lead anyone to plunge into this pool of misery to save us?

     Only a reflex, a reflex of the heart.

     That is what Christmas is all about – the reflex of a heart – the reflex of God’s heart. “Do not be afraid,” the angel said, “for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  On this day, Jesus, the Son of God, plunged into our lives – knowing full well the painful consequences he would suffer – all the painful consequences of hatred, the greed and the violence that would nail him to the cross – nevertheless, he plunged into our lives out of reflex – the reflex of his heart, the heart of God!

Have a blessed Christmas and a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord
12-18-12

Hello,

     Here’s the first half of a little Christmas story that I wrote some years ago:

   “No Swimming.  No Fishing.  No Boating.”  So said the sign that stood on the banks of what everyone called Peabody’s Pond.  They called it that because people said that years ago Old Man Peabody lived right next the pond in a dilapidated shack, and when he lived there the pond was so different.  It was a favorite swimming hole for the town kids.  And when they weren’t swimming in it, they would be fishing in it, catching fish big enough to feed the whole town, or so the story goes.  Old Man Peabody lived by the pond and he delighted in having the children come out and enjoy the pond.  But the pond changed after Old Man Peabody died.  No one really knows who became the owner of the pond, but who ever it was began to use the pond as a dump.  Refrigerators and old car tires lay on the pond’s bed.  Broken glass was strewn all along its shore, and the color of the water was a yellowish black, dotted with oil slicks.  And that is why the sigh stood there next to Peabody’s Pond, “No swimming. No Fishing.  No Boating.”

     Actually, there really wasn’t any need to post a sign, at least not for the kids who lived around there, because every parent drilled the message into their children’s mind.  Absolutely – and under no circumstances – were they to go swimming, fishing or boating in Peabody’s Pond.  There was acid in the pond that would burn holes in their skin. There was glass all over the place that would cut them like shark’s teeth.  There chemicals that would fill their bodies full of cancer.  Every parent told their children, “Absolutely – and under no circumstance – were they to go swimming, fishing, or boating in Peabody’s Pond.”

     Betsy and Rosemary were sisters who lived right down the road from Peabody’s Pond.  Living out in the country and only being a year apart in age, they were not only sisters.  They were the closest of friends.  They did everything together.   They played dress up and checkers.  They ran around the house playing hide and seek.  They rode their bides all around the countryside,…… and they had been given the lecture, more than once, “No swimming.  No fishing.  No boating.  In Peabody’s Pond.”

     One day as they were riding their bikes along the country roads they came up to a bend a bend where the trees and the brush hid what might have been coming from the other side.  Maybe they were watching a hawk soaring in the sky, or maybe they saw a butterfly settling on a flower by the roadside – but whatever the case, they weren’t being careful and they forgot to slow down going into the bend.  This time when they turned into the bend they were greeted by a blare of a horn and the screeching of tires as a car tried to stop from hitting them.  But it couldn’t.  Betsy swerved just in time to be missed, but Rosemary did not.  The front bumper of the car tagged her bicycle and sent her flying off the road….flying of the road right into Peabody’s Pond.

     The car stopped.  The driver got out and ran to the edge of the pond, as did Betsy.  From the edge of the pond they could see Rosemary struggling in the water, trying to keep her head above the surface.  “Help!” she cried, “I’m hurt.  I can’t swim.  My foot is caught on something.”

     The driver did not budge.  “I’m not going in there,” said the driver as he stood right under the sign that warned, “No Swimming.  No Fishing.  No Boating.”

     “You girls should have been watching where you were going.  I am NOT going in that pond.”

…….to be continued next week.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger