The Bungee Cord  10-19-20

Hello,

 

Yesterday afternoon, the Rector from a nearby Episcopal church and I gathered with a varied group in the town park.  I say “varied” because the group was not only comprised of people, it was also comprised of pets (all dogs and one brave cat).  The reason for the gathering was to continue a long held tradition of “The Blessing of the Animals” around the day that we remember St. Francis, an animal lover and blesser.

 

Some of the people and their pets were from our two respective churches, but others had come because they saw the announcement in the local newspapers.  One such person brought her aged Bulldog, who in talking with her I found out that he was dealing with an inoperable tumor and his days were limited.  Another family, mom and dad and a elementary son,  brought their German Shepherd mix dog who had just undergone significant surgery. An older couple brought a smaller dog of unknown breeds who they had recently rescued from a shelter.  Others brought their dogs who had been wonderful companions and friends.  And one person brought her cat, secured by a leash, who had become part of her life this spring.

 

After a general service of blessing, each animal was escorted to the Rector or myself, and when they arrived the animal was individually blessed.  Always asking the name of the animal, and making sure it would welcome a stranger to pet it, I would put my hand on the animals head and say, “Lord God, watch over “Charlie” with your grace and mercy, and watch over those who care for him.”

 

As you can imagine by my description of our crowd, some of the blessings were met with tears.  And smiles.  

 

As I participated in this blessing event, I couldn’t help but see that even in the midst of all of the chaos and turmoil, isolation and dismay God slides blessings into our lives. Blessings that come from the companionship of animals who often exhibit unconditional love better than humans.  

 

In these Covid days where the big and grand blessings have had to take cover for a while, I have found the manifold smaller blessings from God to come out from under the leaves. Pets.  A call from a friend.  A walk in the woods.  A song. Sunsets.  Gentle winds and falling leaves.

 

This morning I woke up before my wife and went down to our lower level where our dog, MacMahon sleeps (we tried having him sleep upstairs with us, which proved to be no sleep for us). As usual, he is patiently waiting for one of us to take down the gate that guards the stairs.  His patience is not long lived, though.  Springing to exuberance, he bounds up the stairs, heads to the front door, and makes circles as if chasing his tail until I can reach the door. I can barely get the door cracked open when he lurches out the door and in one leap flies down the 5 stairs, and heads off full steam to the front of our hill top (where he is met by the underground fence).  Then he abruptly turns around and sprints around our detached garage, and before you know it he is back at the front door, more than ready to eat his breakfast and take on the day.

 

If there was a reminder of the verse from Scripture, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”, more vivid than exhibited by my dog, MacMahon, I have seen few.  Thanks be to God during these days of Covid drudgery for the blessing of MacMahon’s witness to me today!

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger  

 Hello,

 

So, I don’t know about you, but I am ready for a little humor…with an emphasis on “little”. Today, I thought I would sprinkle some riddles into your life.  The answers are on the bottom, so cover them up and only reveal one at a time….no cheating, remember, God is watching!

 

1.    What do you call a cow that doesn’t give milk?

 

2.    How do you know that there’s been an elephant in the refrigerator?

 

3.    Why did Tigger go to the bathroom?

 

4.    What’s green and hops from bed to bed?

 

5.    Where do cows go to dance?

 

6.    Why don’t zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?

 

7.    What happened when the rubber duckie fell into the bathtub?

 

8.    How do you clean a dirty tuba?

 

9.    What snacks do you serve at a robot party?

 

10.  What is the best way to escape the inside of a whale?

 

I suspect that you have had enough….either from your ribs being laughing sore, or your tired of saying, “Boy, was that dumb.”  But either way, I hope that you had a giggle or two with these riddles.

 

Sometimes life seems like a riddle, and not a funny one.  These days seem to be one of those times where we riddle questions like, “Why is this happening?”, “How can we know what to do?”, “When will things get back to normal?”, “Where will all of this take us?”

 

Yesterday in worship we heard a word from Scripture that unriddles life and turns life into an adventure that is guided by the one who created the universe, died on a cross and killed death by walking out of an Easter tomb, who has called you his own and will let nothing separate you from him…not even your wandering off, and who has prepared a place for you in his eternal home so that where he is you will also be.  Listen to this Word:

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding”…when the riddles ring in you head, “Why?”, “What?”, “How?”, “When?”, and “Who?”  God speaks his unriddling word, “I, the Lord, am here.”  And like a lost child in a department store who is finally found by her mom, you will find joy exploding from your heart in the embrace of God.  Rejoicing!

 

Although my riddles might bring a small sparkle to you day, God’s word has the power to change your day.

 

Have a great week, 

God’s grace and peace, (GGAP)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 

Answers: (no cheating!)

 

1.    A milk dud.

2.    By the footprints in the jello.

3.    To find his friend, Pooh.

4.    A prosti-toad.  (ooh….maybe a little too racy)

5.    The meatball.

6.    They prefer to eat their fingers separately.

7.    It quacked up.

8.    With a tube ‘a toothpaste.

9.    Assorted nuts.

10.  Run around until you get pooped out.

 The Bungee Cord    10-5-20

Hello,

 

Fall has arrived in Western Pennsylvania, and in my mind this is the most beautiful time of the year to live here.  The ridges are ablaze in color and the air is crisp.  But with the arrival of fall, something also leaves.  The songbirds.

 

In the summer the trees that surround our house host all sorts of birds making all sorts of songs.  In the morning they comprise a choir that brings a delightful start to the day.  As the day goes on they keep on tweeting (the original use of the word!), and when dusk arrives their songs bid the day farewell.

 

But they are gone, now. Quiet has settled in.  I miss their songs.

 

In these Covid days other quiet has also settled in.  The chatter of friends around a dinner table.  The shuffling of shoes in a busy store.  The cheers from stadiums.  Even songs filling the church.

 

When people come to our house, one of the things that they say is, “My, it is quiet out here.”  Out in the country, shielded from most road noise, distant from commerce and industry.  It is a good quiet, a peaceful quiet, a healing quiet.  A quiet for which I am thankful.

 

But the quiet that has settled in with the advent of fall and the dampering of Covid is, for me, an unwanted quiet.  It is a lonesome quiet.  A heavy quiet.

 

I long for noise, good noise.  The songbirds, friends and family, bouncing balls, and bellowed hymns.  I could try and make a bunch of noise to diminish the quiet, but no matter how much noise I make, the current quiet always seems louder.

 

So, in the wearisome quiet of these days, I hear a word from Scripture break into my mind, (Psalm 46:10) “¹⁰ ‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’ 

 

This verse might be a soft whisper in my mind, but it is a whisper that comes from God Almighty.  In the quiet of these days, God greets us with powerful words of hope.  “Rest in this quiet.  You don’t have to overcome the quiet.  I am God, and the quiet has never been a challenge to me.  Out of the quietness of nothing, I spoke my word and brought forth creation  Out of the quiet of the Good Friday tomb, I spoke my Word (the living Word, Jesus) and brought forth life that has no end.  Out of the quiet of silent waters, I spoke my word and sealed you in my care. And when the day comes that the quiet of death embraces you , I will speak my word and embrace you as I welcome you into the place that I have prepared for you.  Be still and know that I am God.”

 

And so I pray God to give me the grace to do just that.  Be still and know that God is God.  And as I rest in that grace, I have confidence and hope that soon the birds will return with their songs, and the day will come when other good noise fills my ears.  

 

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord  9-29-20

Hello,

 

άγιο πνεύμα.  

 

This is the Greek for “Holy Spirit”.  As you may know, the original text of the New Testament is Greek, because the dominant international language was Greek, established as such by Alexander the Great and the leaders that followed him.  When he conquered a land he brought with him his culture, Hellenic or Greek. The Romans came along afterwards and the international language changed to Latin.

 

Lutheran pastors, part of our seminary training is to be able to handle Greek, because if one can wrestle with the original nuances of the Bible, one will, hopefully, give a better understanding of what the Gospel writers were trying to convey.  Many years ago….in college….I took four semesters of Biblical Greek.  Over the years much of what I learned has slipped through my memory, but the remnants of my learning still provide a microscope to the message of scripture.

 

The reason that I am writing about my Greek studies, and specifically the Greek word for the Holy Spirit (hagio pneuma), is it relates to what transpired at my house this past weekend.  Earlier in the summer I ordered a 12’x18’ shed, that would come as a kit, to house the growing number of equipment that we use to keep our property tame.  The brush-hog.  The rototiller that attaches to our tractor.  The cart we use to tote logs around.  Numerous other things that have been either consuming room in our garage or sitting outside under tarps.

 

The kit arrived a couple of weeks ago, 5000 lbs., and this past weekend two of my sons came to help me and my wife put It together.  None of us had ever attempted such a project,   The company, however, assured me that with all the pieces numbered and cut, we could do it.  So we courageously attacked the project, only to find out that it was to be held together by nails….thousands of them…to be pounded into hard 6”x6”s, and 4”x4”s.  It was only a matter of hammering in the first 20 nails that we realized this was going to be a daunting and exhausting task. Fortunately, one of my sons brought a pneumatic hammer with him.  It is a device that you hold in your palm, with a place to insert the nail head, and with little effort at all, it pneumatically and speedily pounds the nail in. Hosanna!

 

True enough, three brawny (?) guys like me and my sons could have pounded in all of those nails by hand. However, if we had to hammer each of those nails in, I think we would still be nailing, our arms would be burning, our shoulders would be aching, the boards would have been dented with innumerable hammer strikes that missed the nail, and we probably would have found we didn’t get enough nails in the kit for all of our mis-hit, bent over nails. The pneumatic hammer made life a lot easier.

 

It likewise occurs to me that the “hagio pneuma”  (the Holy Spirit) also makes life a lot easier.  It is true that people can hammer their way through life with their own power and strength….although when you come up against a concrete wall, human strength and human hammers don’t provide much help.  But when I consider the task of trying to hammer my way through life, the depth of exhaustion, pain, and frustration is a sure and tormenting reality. But here’s the thing, God has given us….each of us…a pneumatic hammer, a hammer powered by the Holy Spirit.  As we try to assemble our lives….all the thick and heavy boards that we need to nail together, nail into concrete walls, and sometimes even into thick steel girders…God comes to our building site and says, “Here, use this, the “hagio pneuma” (the Holy Spirit).  And when we do, we discover that the task is much easier, even when the building is incredibly hard.

 

Today, as you tackle the building project in front of you, look and see the amazingly powerful pneumatic hammer that God brings with him to your task.  And to those who say that using power equipment is wimpy, I say, from this weekend’s experience, using pneumatic equipment is wise!

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord  -  9/21/20

Hello,

 

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
   praise him in his mighty firmament! 
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
   praise him according to his surpassing greatness! 

Praise him with trumpet sound;
   praise him with lute and harp! 
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
   praise him with strings and pipe! 
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
   praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

Yesterday was a crisp September day, but not too crisp to keep us from having out worship service outside.  Hardy folks, these people.  Bundled up.  Sat in the sun.  And gathered together in thanks and praise to God for showering us with endless love and care.

 

But we weren’t the only ones praising God on this cool, sunny morning.  As I stood on the sidewalk waving to folks, I had some company. Squirrels, about a dozen of them. There’s a big oak tree that stands in front of the church, and as I was waving I could hear the acorns and shells falling to the ground in a chattering shower of praise.  Tap.  Tap. Tap.  A acorn-ic anthem of praise from some of God’s creatures.  Praising God for the food that God had given them. Praising God for the agility to reach those acorns.  Praising God for a harvest to carry them through the winter.

 

“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!”

 

The soft praise of those squirrels fell loudly on my ears as I am trudging through these Covid months. The daily onslaught of the virus has a way of dampening life’s delight and making every day feel burdensome and heavy. The isolation that has been part of dealing with this virus has put roadblocks in the way of getting together with friends. The future carries an ominous echo reverberating caution and fear.

 

But thanks to the squirrels whose acorn-ic praise opened my ears and eyes to the truth that even in the midst of these days, God has provided me, as God has provided the squirrels, my daily bread, and in the chilling wind of the virus’ fetch of destruction, God has blanketed me with a divine promise that not even Covid has the power to separate me from God’s love.

 

The goodness and graciousness of God is indeed, far more powerful and prevalent than the struggles the world can throw our way.   It is there for us to see…hanging right in front of us, like acorns….hanging on the cross, hanging from kitchen cabinets, hanging from elbow bumps with friends, hanging from phone calls from people checking in on us, hanging from an e-mail from a friend who misses us, hanging from sunsets painting the evening sky…….  It is true.  The goodness and graciousness of God is far more powerful and prevalent than the struggles the world can throw our way.  It is just sometimes hard to see it under the world’s siege.

 

So…as the Psalmist says, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!”  Including squirrels.  Including you and me.

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord  9-14-20

Hello,

 

I am a big fan of sports. I enjoy watching the games on TV, going to games, playing games, and rooting for my team (The Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois….perennially on the bottom of the pile).  So, I am glad for the re-entry of sports into life, although I hope its re-entry doesn’t cause more problems in this Covid fight.

 

Last night I turned on an NFL game, Cowboys vs. Rams.  As I was watching, they were showing pictures of this new stadium that the Rams now plan in. It is an amazing structure. Swooping roofs, covered patios, waterfalls and ponds, state of the art everything.  The announcers said that it cost $5Billion dollars to build!  I guess a million here, a million there, and then it starts adding up to real money (lol).

 

Thing was: it was empty. Not a soul in the stands.  The luxury suites looked vacant.  No cheerleaders or mascot (that is because they had to stay outside on the steps).  Only the football team and personnel.  Otherwise, it was empty.

 

I am sure that the day will come when it will be filled to the brim with people.  There will be people walking all around the stadium.  Venders calling out their wares.  Cheerleaders and mascots.  Fans rubbing shoulders as they sit in the narrow placed seats, jumping up and down, and yelling with all of their might.  But yesterday, it was empty.

 

With some exceptions, over the course of these last 6 months, churches have been empty, too.  This church, St. James Lutheran, has been empty since the pandemic began.  We have not gathered inside this building as a measure of care for our neighbor. Fortunately, in the warmth of the summer  and with cooperation of the rain we have been able to gather outside, outside the empty building.

 

Truth is, however, that most churches have been becoming more empty over the last 50 years.  Gone are the days when people would arrive a half hour early to get a seat.  Gone are the days when choirs filled their lofts.  Gone are the days when the roof and the walls shake from the commotion going on inside.  Although some churches have been packed and loud, for the majority of Christian churches in this country, they have become emptier, and some of them empty.

 

Call me a fool, but I have great hope that the current emptiness of many things, will make much clearer the level of importance of the various things that have gathered us.  I am all for the joy, excitement and cathartic expulsion of emotions that stirs in people when they are in a football stadium. However, I am far more anticipating the joy that fills the heart of a high school kid who is struggling through life, when a piece of bread and a sip of wine are given to them, “Given and shed for you!”  I am far more anticipating the hope that fuels a person’s soul when the burdens of life are bearing down and a person gives that one a hug and says with Christian conviction, “We love you.  We are with you.”  I am more anticipating the thrill that comes from an organ with all the stops pulled and people singing from the bottom of their lungs, as I am just plodding my way through my daily life.  I am more anticipating the peace that blankets someone who has just really made of mess of life, and someone sits down next to that one in the pew and says with Christ-felt care, “How are you doing?”  I am more anticipating the sense of relief running up and down a person’s spine who is trying to be someone in the world, and hears from God himself the utmost of worth, “You are my child.”  I am more anticipating the awe and wonder when the grief of death is met head on with the power of the resurrection of Jesus, “Now all the vault of heaven resounds!”

 

I look forward to the day when that pricy stadium gets put to use, but I am looking with greater anticipation as the love of God which led God to pay a price far greater than the building of that stadium is a-stir amongst the people who gather in the magnified presence of God in each and every church.

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger