Hello,

     A couple of weeks ago as I was scrolling my way through facebook, a clip that someone had posted caught my eye.  It was taken at a professional baseball game, and as I began to watch it I wasn’t sure what was taking place.  It was a clip of a young man being escorted onto the field by an middle aged man, which in and of itself was not so remarkable.  But the thing that caught my eye was that the young man was sweeping the ground in front of him with one of those lone white canes that blind folks use to navigate.

     When the two of them reached the mound, the young man handed his cane to the older man, and the older man handed the young man a baseball.  A catcher took his spot behind home plate, crouched down in position, and hit his glove a couple of times.  The young man, who apparently couldn’t see a thing, wound up as if he was Fergusson Jenkins, himself, (now there’s a name that is a blast from the past for any of you 1969 Cub fans!) and…….

     Well, I was ready for the young man’s throw to sail way over the catcher’s head, or bound 6 feet on the ground in front of the catcher.  After all plenty of sighted first pitch throwers have done just that.

…..and he took a bit of an awkward step toward the plate, hurled the ball plateward, and threw a perfect strike!  The catcher didn’t even have to move his glove!  Amazing!

     Those of you who have known me long, know that in my younger years, I was a pitcher.  So, I know just how hard it is to throw a ball as hard as you can and have it pass over a slab of rubber 17 inches wide, above the batter’s knees and below the batter’s shoulders.  To do so, one had to concentrate.  Lock one’s eyes in on the catcher’s glove….looking away would lead to disaster.

     And yet, this young man, in front of a baseball stadium full of people that makes professional pitchers nervous, threw a perfect strike without being able to see the catcher’s mitt at all! 

     How did he do it?  My guess is that he used his ears.  His ears locked in on those couple of pops that they heard when the catcher hit his glove.  His ears located the spot to which he was to aim….and his ears served him well.  Strike!

     In this world where evil and violence can be so blinding, I am sometimes asked, “How can you believe that there is a God…especially a God who is said to be loving?”

     I find myself with only one answer, “I use my ears.”  The thumping of the nails, pounded through two hands and two feet.  The cry of victory from that cross, “It is finished.”  The roll of a boulder opening an Easter tomb.  The voice coming from that tomb, “He is not here.  He has risen.”  The splash of water cascading with the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  Bread and wine given to me at the altar, permeated with the promise, “This is my body…this is my blood…for you.”

     Like that young man on the pitcher’s mound, I who find myself often blinded by the evil and violence in the world, hear the popping of a mitt and my ears are locked in on it.  And with the concentration and focus of my days on the mound, I find myself hurling my life in the direction of that noise. 

     Do I always throw a perfect, sightless strike?  No.  But every time I toss my life in the direction of that noise, I hear another noise….the noise of my life hitting that mitt and the voice of one saying, “I got ‘cha.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

By the way….if you want to hear my sermon from yesterday entitled, “Why can’t Christians just all be the same?”, you can go to felchurch.org, tap the “worship” button,  then tap the “Sermons” tag, and you’ll be able to listen to it.  It’s 17:10 minutes long….got a little long winded!

Bungee Cord 4-17-16

Hello,

I thought that I would try and send out an audio Bungee Cord this week, the content of which is my sermon from today. I share this with you, not because I believe it is the best sermon that I have ever preached...nor because it is the best sermon ever preached. I share it with you because it speaks to the heart of the Christian faith that I profess and preach. It is based upon John 10:22-30. The sermon is 13:46 long (about average for me). I hope that you'll have the time to take a listen....but if not, here's the first and last lines of the sermon:

Are you stronger than God......13:36....the answer is, No.

Have a great week.

God's grace and peace

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 4-11-16

Hello,

A couple of months ago as the season of Lent began, I told you about our congregational Lenten project which we dubbed, “Lenten Loo’s”.

In a world of 7.1 billion people, 2.5 billion of them have inadequate sanitation which poses major health problems and brings death to the young and the old.  So, we , at First Lutheran, challenged ourselves to respond to God’s grace to us to see how many “Lenten Loo’s” (deep drop latrines) we could fund.

Week by week, the children of the congregation helped build a “Lenten Loo” in the front of our sanctuary.  We “dug” a hole.  We laid a foundation.  Constructed the walls (yes…kids drilled in some of the screws to erect it).  Decorated the outside with crosses drawn by the kids (as a mark of whose love was the driving force for the “Loo’s”) rather than a moon or sun which used to designate male or female “Loo’s”.  Gave it a seat.  Put a curtain, orange and blue, of course, as a doorway.  And set it a roof on it.

I was a little concerned that the construction of a “Loo” in our sanctuary might be seen as a bit distasteful for a worship space.  But not so!  As it rose in our midst, it was a visible reminder of two things.   First, a reminder of our Lenten discipline of looking beyond ourselves as Jesus did on his path to the cross.  Second, a reminder that when we help people with basic, although not necessarily “dignified” things, we are bringing the grace of God to them.

Now that Easter has arrived and Lent has passed, we collected all of our “Lenten Loo” offerings which people had placed in empty toilet paper rolls.  The total was evidence of the resurrection power of God that opens people’s hearts in thanks and brings life to the world.  $8566.50!

At $150.00 per Loo, that means that 57 Loo’s will be built through our gifts throughout the world.  Alleluia!

Normally, the sounds of the power of the resurrection is heard in blaring trumpets, organs with all the stops pulled, voices raised in powerful song…..but this year, the power of the resurrection will be heard through pounding hammers and whirling saws as 57  “Lenten Loo’s”  are built all around the world…..giving life to thousands!

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernbeger

Bungee Cord 4-4-16

Hello,

     “Take me out to the ball game.  Take me out to the crowd…..”

     Long before I donned a clergy robe on Sunday morning, I was putting on my baseball uniform for games on Sunday afternoon.  Little League was a big ordeal in the town that I grew up.  So big of an ordeal that there were try outs, drafts, two leagues (American (even home address) and National League (odd home address)).  Having lived at “705 S. Grant” street, I was placed in the National League, and I was drafted into the Pirate organization….juniors, seniors, and majors.  Pitcher and Short Stop were my positions, positions I played until I hung up my spikes after high school.

     Yesterday, Sunday, the Pirates, of Pittsburgh, Pa., opened their season with a game against the Cardinals.  It was around 40 degrees and windy at game time.  I remember taking my spot on the field on opening day when I played for the Hinsdale Little League Pirates, and the Red Devils of Hinsdale Central High School.  Often cold.  Often windy.  Often rainy.  I remember well the stinging of the wooden bat as it vibrated in my hands when I struck the ball.  I remember well trying to get a good grip with cold fingers on a wet and slippery ball in order to throw a curve ball.  I remember well kicking off the clods of dirt from my spikes both on the pitching mound and in the batter’s box.  Opening day of the baseball season was rarely an optimal day for baseball, but nevertheless we always looked forward to it so as to get the season underway.

     For Christians, yesterday was also Opening Day.  Actually, every Sunday is Opening Day, because every Sunday Christians gather to celebrate the greatest Opening Day of all, Easter Sunday, the day that the grave in which Jesus’ dead body was laid was Opened and Jesus walked out alive, resurrected.  On that Opening Day, Jesus won a crushing victory over everything that might separate God from his creation…..a victory over everything in life, and a victory over the everything in death.  A shut-out….shutting out every claim of evil on our lives.  A No Hitter …… leaving all of our failures and sins swinging at air, no longer able to strike us.  On Easter Sunday, Opening Day, Jesus led off the season of eternity with such a crushing victory, that the season’s end was determined on its first day!

     Christians, when they gather on every Sunday morning, participate in Jesus’ opening day victory.  When they come together on Sunday, they take hold of that victory as the week is opening up.  When they come together on Sunday, they feel the momentum of Jesus’ Opening Day victory as they see the opponent lining up their best players against them….momentum that no opponent, no matter how strong, can slow down.  When they come together every Sunday morning they gather not under a pennant marking a one time victory, but under a cross marking a timeless victory.

     So, know this, there’s a place for you on the bench every Sunday when Jesus gather’s his team for every week’s Opening Day….so come, come and feel the thrill of Christ’s Opening Day Victory!  Play ball!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

The Bungee Cord  3-28-16

Hello,

     I woke up this morning with the wind rattling my windows, quite a change from the calm, placid Easter Sunday that we had yesterday.  Personally, I always hope for a bright, warm, and calm day for Easter.  When such Easter days happen, I find myself captured in the pure joy of the day; joy in Jesus’ resurrection victory over sin and death.  With the sun beaming bright, the Alleluias of Easter day are captured in a heavenly spotlight that makes them ring with clarion clarity.

     So, when I woke up this morning I was a bit disappointed in seeing the low hanging dark clouds in the sky being swept along by the strong gusting wind.  It kind of took the Easter wind out of my sails.

     But then I got to thinking.  Far from the peaceful, serene and sunny event that Easter has become for most of us, the Bible tells us that the first Easter was a swirling and churning occasion.  An earthquake….a huge boulder was rolled away….guards shook with fear and became like dead men…confusion and chaos with ears being filled with stories that were nearly impossible to believe.  Far from a gentle and soft wind caressing their lives, that first Easter was an explosion that rattled and shook everything.

     And come to think about it, thank God it did.  Thank God that the first Easter was much more akin to a voraciously hungry roaring lion, than a gentle kitten that purrs and wants to be petted.  I say that because I know how tightly my sins cling to me.  I know that the shame and guilt in my heart over the pain that I have caused acts like super glue.  I know that fear has a way of taking hold of my thoughts and plans.  I know that hopelessness can become a cataract that blurs everything I see.  In order for me to live in the victory of Easter, Easter better hit me with a hurricane of God’s grace.

     Today, on the first day after Easter, I find myself having changed my mind about the change of weather that has greeted me.  I find the rattling of my windows, the shaking of my house, and the swiftly moving clouds above me as a welcome reminder of the power of Easter, the power of Easter that sweeps into my life, and yours, that no evil can withstand.  Today, I am thankful that God’s grace is not a stagnant bubble of air that leaves the dust and the dirt of my life to cling on me, but instead it is a gusting gale ripping every parasitic, life sapping thing away from me.

     Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I still look forward to the sun drenched, peaceful days that are also part of life, but thanks to the climactic power of Easter, those days will not be stagnant and oppressive.  Instead they will be full of life…full of hope…full of peace…full of joy….and full of God’s grace!

Have a great (and breezy) day!

God’s grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 3-21-16

Hello,

     I don’t like “C and E” Christians.

     What is a “C and E” Christian?  They are the ones who only show up to worship on Christmas and Easter.  They are the ones who take the seats of the regular worshippers.  They are the ones who expect the same pastoral care, the same treatment for weddings and funerals, the same place in the church’s prayers as all of those who come to church every Sunday and bring their weekly offering envelopes.  They are the ones who, if you ask them, say they are Christians but everyone knows that their words don’t match their Sunday morning priorities.

     I don’t like “C and E” Christians…in fact….I love “C and E” Christians.

     I love “C and E” Christians.  I love them because God loves them, just as God loves me.  I love them because when I look in the mirror the fickleness of my faith sticks out like an ugly scar.  I love them because the place that my faith takes in my life is sometimes hard to find as I confront the temptations of life.  I love them because in spite of the fact that they know that they are the object of some people’s down-looking nose gaze, their faith still brings them to the table of the Lord.  I love them, because at the heart of things, I am one of them….just in other ways.

    So, I am thankful that they take their place in worship on Christmas and Easter.  I am thankful that the Lord has a place for them at his table.  I am thankful that by their presence the saving grace of God has a Spirit empowered chance to heal the hurts that they carry, unlock the guilt that imprisons them, and knock down the walls that separate them from their neighbor.  I am thankful that they have forgiven me for my Pharisaic self-righteousness and for my sinful eyes that stray to take a closer look at their pocket-books than their hearts.

     Sure, I have hopes that I will experience the blessing of their presence at worship more than twice a year…..not because their presence helps us meet our expenses, nor because I can stand in the thin and frail victory of filling a sanctuary when so many are shutting their doors….no, I have hopes that I will see them regularly with me in worship because they are family.  They are my brothers and sisters, beloved by our Heavenly Father, and when they take their seat at the Lord’s table, I am certain that that warms God’s heart, because I know that it warms mine.

    I do not for one second believe that God keeps a Sunday morning attendance chart by which God allocates his love for me (or anyone else), but I hold onto the hope that God’s love for me is so great that he will always welcome me (and everyone else) with uncompromised grace when I step into his house and kneel at his table.  I don’t go to church every Sunday to try and gain God’s favor, I go to church every Sunday so that I might be shaped and molded by the divine love of the one who has claimed me (and everyone else) as his favorite and the apple of his eye.

     I will be in church on Sunday, Easter, and I hope that you will be, too.  I will be there in hopes that God’s grace will change my life and give me life….grace to give me daily hope, heartfelt peace, sight beyond my nose, strength beyond my own, and the urge in my step to answer his invitation to come to his house and table every Sunday.

Have a great Holy Week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 3-14-16

Hello,

       Yesterday as I was driving my 25 miles over the ridge to First Lutheran Church of Greensburg, Pa…..I was listening to “Sunday Baroque”, as I always do.  The program was entirely works by Bach, because Sunday was Bach’s birthday.  (Bach, by the way, I found out means “brook”….a tid bit that was part of his birthday celebration).  Bach spent his life writing music, playing music, and directing orchestras and choirs.  A great deal of his music was Christian in content as he was the musical professional at several Lutheran churches.

     I was enjoying the prancing of fingers along keyboards and zipping of bowstrings across violins, when the announcer introduced a new piece.  The piece was a selection from a cantata that he wrote named, “Out of the depths I call to thee” (a verse from the Bible).  Along with naming the selection, the announcer than told us listeners who was singing and playing it: a Japanese Bach Society under the direction of a man named Suzuki.  This should be interesting, I thought to myself, as I began to listen to a orchestra of Japanese people, paired with a choir of Japanese people, conducted by a Japanese man presenting a piece that was written for a German orchestra, to be sung by a German Choir (in German), and conducted by a German man.

     Now, I am not well versed in classical music, so I cannot evaluate the quality of the music I was listening to, but it sure seemed to me to be very well done, and I giggled a bit as I thought of hearing German flowing from the mouths of Japanese folks.

     Some people say that music has the ability to bring people together, as evidenced by the uniting of two very divergent cultures as I listened to “Sunday Baroque”.  It is true, of course, that music can also be a way of dividing people, sharply dividing them …. Punk, country/western, rap, classical….  But at its best, music can span many divides as it provides a means for folks to experience the passions, the culture, and the history of people quite unlike them.

     The other interesting thing that I noted as I listened was the text that was being sung….”Out of the depths I call to thee”.  As I heard it (sung in German), it occurred to me that not only do the notes of music bring people together, so does the text.  Those singers may not have known what those German words meant as they sung them, but I am certain that suffering and pain that they spoke of most likely had come across their lips in their native language, too.

     Religion (although I would rather use the word “faith”) has often been used in a way to divide people, as music has sometimes been used.  However, when religion (faith) plants its roots in the divine response to the pain and suffering that no one escapes, it, too can unite people across deep chasms.  “Out of the depths I call to thee.”  What parent whose child is entrapped with drug addiction hasn’t experienced the angst of the words of Bach’s cantata?  What person enshrouded in endless loneliness hasn’t voiced them, too?

     Rather than get tangled up in right and wrong….heaven and hell…I, as a Christian, would rather speak the divine response to the cry from the depths that I have heard from the Cross of Christ….a response that the Bible says has been spoken to the world….”I do not run from your pain and suffering, I join you in it, and will not let it take you from me.”

     What will come of those words that echo through my mouth and life as they land upon the ears and lives of those who hear them?  I don’t know.   But this I do know; the depth of hope that they bring to my heart compels me to echo them to everyone who experiences the angst that is found in the words, “Out of the depths I call to thee.”  A commonly felt hope just might bring us together.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger