The Bungee Cord 12-4-17

Hello,

     As many of you may know, we don’t really know the exact date of Jesus’ birth.  In truth, it appears that until the 4^th century many Christians celebrated it on January 6^th, a date that some Christians of the Eastern Orthodox tradition still hold to.  When you read the Bible, there is no recording of the date of Jesus’ birth, which may seem unusual to you and me, but even today in developing nations many people do not know their birth date or even their age, because dates do not carry the same importance in the lives of those cultures.

     There are a couple of theories as to why Christians have marked December 25^th as the birthday of our Lord.  But how ever December 25^th was selected, to me, it is a great day to celebrate Jesus’ birth, because for those of us, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, the day of Jesus birth takes place on what was thought to be the darkest day of the year.  And so today, as we begin this season of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas, our steps take us down a road of ever increasing darkness, to a day that could not be any darker.

     Ever been on one of those roads? 

·      A road of addiction? 

·      A road of failing health? 

·      A road of memory loss? 

·      A road of a family falling apart?

·      A road of financial loss?  

·      A road of sin and pain? 

We’ve all been on these roads, either personally or walking hand in hand with someone we love.  I don’t know about you, but I find these roads frightening.  The darkness at the end of these roads is so powerful that is seems to have the pull of a black hole drawing me in with fear and unconquerable power.

     When I have been on these dark, dark paths I have had people with good intentions say things to me. 

·      They say, “Just hang in there.”  Sure…as I feel the power of the black hole sapping all of my strength. 

·      Or they say, “It isn’t that bad…others have it worse.”  Sure…as the fear and sorrow have a strangle hold on me. 

·      Or they say, “Well, if you wouldn’t have done this or that you wouldn’t be in the position that you are in.”  Sure….as I am being flogged with vengeful intent by the judgments of others. 

·      Or they say, “Sorry. We can’t do anything more.  Good luck.”  And I watch myself falling further and further away from those who have thrown their hands up in the air. 

These are the sort of things that people have said to me, and I bet also to you, when you and I are on these roads toward the darkest of days.

     But that is not what God says to us when we are on ever darkening paths.  What God says is this, “In those days, after all that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light , and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  Then…..THEN…they will see the Son of Man coming in  clouds with great power and glory.  The he will send out the angers, and gather his elect from the four winds from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”  (Mark 13:24)  That is what God says.  God says that when you get to the place that cannot be any darker…God will be there.  God will be there, and God will gather you into his embrace.  No matter where in heaven or earth you might be…north, south, east or west…no matter how deep the hole you find yourself in….whether you tripped and fell, whether you were pushed or shoved, or whether you jumped into that hole on your own…God will find you, and gather you into his embrace.

Today is the first day of advent, the day that the liturgical color changes to blue for the next four weeks.  Blue.  Why blue.  Because blue is the color of hope…the hope that we feel in our hearts when we awaken on a sunny day and the sky is pure blue.  These four weeks ahead of us is the only time of the year that the color blue greets us, surrounds us, and takes us back out into the world…and why?  Well when you and I are on paths over ever increasing darkness, with despair chilling our bones, and the world can only speak words of no hope…we are spoken to by the one whose power and might separated the light from the dark as the book of Genesis tells us, the one whose power no darkness can overcome as the book of John tells us, the one for whom even the darkness is light as the Psalms tell us….that one speaks to us and gives us his word….a word that he enfleshes….and he says, “When you find yourself in the deepest darkness, I will be there, and I will gather you in my embrace.”  And I don’t know about you, but I know for me….that gives me hope. 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

Bungee Cord 11-27-17

Hello,

     A couple of years ago, I went back to my hometown, Hinsdale, Illinois, for my 40^th high school reunion, and among the many things that I discovered was this; high school reunions tend not to draw those who have “failed” in life.  Although I am certain that every one of the people who attended that reunion had scrapped their knees more than once over the course of those 40 years, I don’t remember running into anyone for whom those 40 years were an overwhelming struggle, a struggle that had gotten the best of them.

     The reason that I write of that reunion experience of a couple of years ago is because of what I heard on Sunday as I sat in a pew of the church (I am currently on break from work, but next week I am sticking my toe back in the water of parish ministry.).  The Biblical passage on which the sermon was based was the one where Jesus makes an accounting of those who visited the sick, clothed the naked, visited the imprisoned saying that those who did or did not do these things did or did not do them unto the Lord.  Sheep who did….goats who did not.

     The gist of the message that I heard was that those who were in the pews were obviously among those whom Jesus was naming as sheep, people who did the things which Jesus was accounting, and they needed to go out and tell those who were not in the pews that they, too, were worthy of being called sheep.  There is certainly a strong ring of truth to this message.  The small things that people do are of divine importance.

     But here’s the thing that caught my ears.  Why do we assume that the people who gather in church on Sunday morning see themselves as “sheep”?  When did Sunday morning worship become the place of High School reunions where only “sheep”…..people who have their lives in good order…gather.  Those whom Jesus gathered together certainly would not have fit that mold.  As a matter of fact, those who thought they had their lives together did not like Jesus because he was rubbing shoulders with those whose lives were deemed despicable.

     This is not the first time that I have heard this “sheep” assumption coming from a pulpit.  Some years ago, I heard a pastor laughing to his congregation that of course none of them might be folks whose failures have placed them on the front page of the paper.  I have heard good intending parents tell their children that they should go to church to find a “good boy or girl” to date.  Even the assumption that church folks should never fight is an assumption that the church is only a place for those whose actions would dub them sheep.

     Fact of the matter, at least as far as I can tell, is that by virtue of their deeds, every person who sits in the church pews on Sunday morning deserves the name goat….including me who stands in the pulpit.  But that is exactly why I go to church every week, and also why the doors are thrown open for everyone else to come…to bring the sheep out in me, and put the goat in me to rest. If you take a look at the parable in the Bible (Matthew 25:31ff) notice that both the sheep and the goats were willing to do what Jesus was accounting.  For the sheep, their deeds came natural.  For the goats, their deeds….well, they acted like goats and to act like a sheep took unnatural intention.

     So, that is what Sunday morning church is all about….bringing out the sheep and putting to rest the goat.  I take seriously God’s transformational power that has made a new creation out of the work of Jesus Christ, the power to make sheep out of goats.  That is what happened on the cross.  And I take seriously God’s transformational power to transform my mind to think as the new creation that God has made me to be, a sheep, not a goat.  That happens every Sunday morning in church.

     So, if you wake up this Sunday morning and take a look at the life you have lived this week and see the markings of a goat….well, it is for you that the doors of the church are opened. I don’t know when people started to think that Sunday morning church was meant to be a gathering of those who were unquestionably sheepish (if that were true, then the pews would be empty, and the pulpit, too).  It is clear to me, however, that Sunday morning worship is meant for those who are sheep in goat’s clothing, for whom God is at work to bring the sheep out…and put the goat to rest.

     Maybe churches should put a sign out on their lawns, “Goats Welcome”.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

     

The Bungee Cord 11-20-17

Hello,

     Maybe some of you saw what caught my eye last week.  According to the news, someone bought a painting for 450 million dollars ($450,000,000.00!).  Apparently, the purchaser, whose name has not been made public, is an individual…..with a lot of money!  Not having that kind of money in my pocket, such a purchase has a ring of incredibility.  Who would spend that much money on a painting?  How could an oil covered canvas, even as rare as it may be, be worth that much money.  Since we don’t know the purchaser, we can only suspect that this painting was bought as an investment, thus the purchaser believing that it will actually grow in value as time passes!

     Maybe if I was a connoisseur of fine art, I would not be surprised at this sale, but I have to believe that even those who treasure art are were a bit amazed at the price this painting brought.  To me, it seems foolish, if not unbelievable.

     Maybe that is why the Christian message so often falls upon unreceptive ears.  It does seem foolish, if not unbelievable, that God would so treasure conscious driven carbon (that is, humans) so deeply that, as the Bible tells us, that it led God to pay the price of his very Son.  And more unbelievable, and maybe even foolish than that, is that the Bible tells us that God paid this incredible price not as an investment for which he hoped an increased return, but entirely out of love with no strings attached.

     No wonder that some sceptics of Christianity say that Christianity is merely a human concocted scheme to make humans feel important.  From a logical perspective, it doesn’t make much sense. 

     I will be the first to say that such a purchase price for me is hard to imagine…the flaws in my character, the pain that I cause, the mess that I make, the narrowness of my mind… that God would “send his only begotten Son” in order to have me does ring, even in my own mind, of foolish unbelievably. 

     And yet, when that $450,000,000.00 check makes its way to the seller’s desk with the purchaser’s name inscribed on it, there is no doubting that such a purchase, as foolish and incredible as it might be, was actually true.  And likewise when the one whose cross bore the inscription, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” paid the ultimate price, and whose boulder sealed grave was opened and emptied, not by grave robbers, but by God who eternally robbed the power of the grave by raising Jesus from the dead….well, when that happened….therein lies the foundation of the Christian conviction that what seems so unbelievable and foolish is actually true!

     “Is that your signature?” we might say to the one who handed over the $450,000,000.00 check.  To which that one would say, “Yes.” 

     “Is that your signature?” we are likewise apt to say to the one who “gave his only begotten Son”.  And that one’s answer is, “Yes.”

     The cross and the grave are God’s answer to the sceptics of faith who say Christianity is a human scheme to make humans feel important.  The cross and the grave are God’s signature of God’s love driven heart that humans are that important to God.  Such importance may seem foolish and unbelievable to the human mind.  But just like I, who do not hold in my pocket the stash of money to even think about paying $450,000,000.00 for oil on canvas cannot understand the drive for such a purchase, neither do I hold in my heart the stash of love that I would even think about “sending his only begotten Son” for conscious driven carbon to understand God’s drive for me.

     But the cross and the grave has been inscribed in time and space, and when I look at them, I find myself asking, “God, is this your signature?”  And God’s answer……”Yes!”

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger