The Bungee Cord. 12-28-20

Hello,

 

     100% chance of rain!

 

     That was the forecast for Christmas Eve evening for Ligonier, Pa.  Normally, such a forecast would only cast a shroud of disappointment on those who dream for a white Christmas, but this year this forecast cast a blanket of anxiety on me…..because, St. James Lutheran Church was going to have an outdoor Christmas Eve service around the manger scene on our side lawn.  Snow, we could handle.  Cold, we could bundle up for.  Wind, we could manage.  But rain, especially pouring rain….that was going to cause problems….problems for our sound equipment not getting wet, and problems for people not getting drenched and chilled to the bone.  Rain…100% chance of rain!  Ugh!

 

     But, I had spent the first part of the week calling the whole congregation to tell them we were going to have the outdoor Christmas service No Matter What!  You see, as we have been dealing with our unwanted guest, Covid 19, we have had to cancel in person indoor worship since Thanksgiving, and we don’t know when we will be able to gather again in the months to come.  So, because outdoor gatherings of 50 or less are still allowable in our area, we decided to boldly have an outdoor service in the middle of the winter.  No Matter What!

 

     After all that is kind of what Christmas is all about.  When God sent his Son into our lives, he didn’t wait for the perfect day…when the world was all at peace, when birth mortality rates were low, when HVAC systems could ward off the weather, and when all people would welcome his Son with joy.  No, when Jesus was born things were far from perfect for his birth, as a matter of fact the conditions were all the opposite from what I listed.  Jesus came to the world as it was….NO MATTER WHAT!

 

     So, the day before Christmas Eve, I brought the picnic tent that was stored in our garage to church and set it up, in hopes that it would protect my sound system (amp, soundboard, mic’s, speakers).   I secured it  with a bungee cord to the tree, and  I was prepared to tarp one of the sides to protect everything from the blowing wind.

 

     It turned out that the weather forecast was right.  From the moment the sun rose it rained…and rained…and rained.  The only good news was that it was 47 degrees, warm for Pennsylvania on Christmas.  The service was at 5:00, so at 3:30 I hopped in my pickup and drove my 10 miles to church in the rain, but when I got there, I noticed that my windshield wipers were not working as hard as they were when I left my house.  It was raining, but not pouring!

 

     So, I started setting up my equipment under the tent that had not been blown away.  The rain had turned to sprinkles so I could carry everything from the building to the lawn without wrapping them up in garbage bags which I had brought.  Part of the plan was to have a fire going in front of the manger scene.  One of our members had brought her fire pit, and as I saw her getting ready to light it, I said to her.  “I will be impressed if you can get that fire going.”

 

     “No problem,” she said back confidently, and sure enough, she was right.  In a few moments it was burning away.

 

     As we neared 5:00 people started coming.  Trickling in under their umbrellas, and before we knew it there was a crowd of about 50 people gathered around the manger scene.  We handed out bulletins that included the Bible message and carols which stayed pretty dry under people’s umbrellas, and because we started at 5:00 there was light enough to read them.  But as our service went along, the sunlight went away and darkness began to set in.

 

     Fortunately, we gave everyone something else, too.  A battery lit candle that produced enough light for everyone to fend off the dark.  It was wonderful.  All of us around the manger scene, hearing the Christmas story and singing (socially distant and with our masks on), and watching the candle light shimmer in the dark. The church is on one of the main roads in town, and as cars passed us, they all slowed down to “see this thing that had taken place”.  We ended, as we do every Christmas ever, singing Silent Night, and on the last verse we lifted our candles to the sky as a sign of the Light of the World’s triumph over the darkness of suffering, sin and death.

 

     The service, this year, didn’t end there.  When the people received their candles, they were told that these candles were for them to keep.  To take home.  To take home with them this shrouded year as a reminder that Jesus, the Light, shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  Also, as a reminder that we have a God who comes into our lives, just like he did in Bethlehem….NO MATTER WHAT!

 

     And that is something to be thankful for….even merry about!  Merry Christmas.

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry

 Bungee Cord. 12-21-20

Hello,

Merry Christmas. This week's Bungee Cord is visual...here's the link.  https://www.facebook.com/jerry.nuernberger.3

God's grace and peace,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord. 12-14-20

Hello,

 

This upcoming Sunday is the last Sunday of Advent, the waiting is just about over.  I don’t know about you, but for me this year of waiting has had a whole different feel to it.  The shroud of Covid restrictions and the gloom of sickness and death has almost numbed be to await the upcoming joy of Christmas.  But maybe that is the central point of the coming of Jesus.  Jesus doesn’t just come when everyone is joyful and having a great time.  Jesus comes no matter what!  When times are joyful, his coming magnifies the joy.  When times are dismal, his coming brings a light of hope that no worldly light can give.

 

In my years of being a pastor, I have encountered people who do not want to have the funeral of a loved one in the church, because they don’t want sadness to enter their mind when they come to church.    Although I hear what they are saying, for me, I need to know that Christ meets me no matter how I am feeling.  As a matter of fact, it has been true that on some of the saddest days of my life I have found peace and hope as I have gathered with others in the House of the Lord. 

 

We, unfortunately, are not meeting in person during this advent as we try to care about our neighbor.  But we have been providing a video experience, and although it is not nearly as dynamic as sitting together is song and praise, I hope that it has proven to you that nothing, not even Covid, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Likewise, it is my hope for the Bungee Cord.

 

So, as you are sitting on the edge of your seats anticipating the final segment of my Advent story, let me invite you first to privately, or with your family, continue your Advent waiting in the devotional.

 

Advent 4

 

 

Psalm 139

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
¹¹ If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’, 
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 

 

We give you thanks, Almighty God, that you fill the darkness with glad tidings.  As we await the brightness of your Son….when sun and moon need no longer shine, when darkness and death will no longer be known,  when manger and stable are transformed into an eternal feasting table….enlighten us with a glimpse of your glory so that our lives might be lights to prepare your way.  Amen

 

Light One Candle

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Cubic Zirconia (The story, in its entirety, can be found on my Facebook page)

 

They were crushed.  All that practice.  All that work.  For nothing.  “Maybe we should just give up,” they said one to another. 

“No! No!”, said Old Lady Rogers to them.  “I love listening to you guys.  You make my day!  I feel alive….like a teenager…..when I hear you singing.  Listen, I’ve got tickets for the Neil Diamond concert, too.  And I think there should be a warm up band for him.  I’ve got an idea.  I will rent out the old barn and I’ll invite all of my friends who are coming to the concert with me, and you can be the warm up band for us.” 

“That’s really nice of you,” Ms. Rogers, they all said to her, “But we don’t need your pity.” 

“You think I pity you?  No way!  I just want to be warmed up for my concert, and I think you can do it.” 

“Well, ok.  You’ve done so much for us, so we owe you something.” 

So, Old Lady Rogers rented out the Old Barn and the guys brought all of their equipment over to it on the afternoon of the Neil Diamond concert.  As they were setting up, they were all saying to each other about how psyched they were to go to the real concert, and they just wanted to get this over with. 

They went back stage at the Old Barn and awaited the “crowd” to arrive.  At 4:30 they heard a familiar voice echoing in the Barn.  Old Lady Rogers.  “Welcome!  Welcome everyone!  Do I have a treat for you.  Let me present to you the best Neil Diamond cover band in the nation, Cubic Zirconia!”  The crowd erupted….really erupted!  And as the guys nervously shuffled out on stage, they saw that the Barn was packed!  Shoulder to shoulder people in their 50’s and 60’s with gray hair….but not only that…. in the clutter of people was also a whole bunch of their classmates….brought their by their parents who had heard them ridicule the singers. 

They started off their set with their favorite, “Forever in Blue Jeans”.  Sang “Song Sung Blue”, “Craklin’ Rosie”, “Brother Love’s Travlin’ Salvation Show”.  They figured they would finish with “Sweet Caroline”, because everyone would probably sing along.  But before they could start, Old Lady Rogers ran on stage, in her Michael Jordans, and grabbed a mic, and said, “Aren’t these guys great!”  The crowd erupted….really erupted.  They’ve got one more song to sing, and I want you to sing along with them.  But there’s someone else I want to sing along with them….. 

And from backstage out walked Neil Diamond.  He did his Neil Diamond strut, walked up to each of the guys, hugged them and went to the Mic.  “Hey everybody, O heard there was a warm up for my concert, and I wasn’t about to miss it.  I need to be warmed up, too.  And by the way….I heard that a bunch of people who know nothing about my music told these guys that they don’t sound like me at all.  Well, this isn’t the only time I am going to be with these guys…..someone needs to carry on my sound….I am going to work with these guys, and I won’t stop until they sound just like me ….Cubic Zirconia.….Neil Diamond!

 

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord 12-7-20

Hello, 

 

Well, it is the third week of Advent.  As I have for the past two Bungee Cords, today I bring you along on my Advent journey, inviting you to light three candles, read the Psalm, and say the prayer.  The increase in candles brings with it an increase in light, a sign that when the light comes into the darkness, the darkness does not overcome it, but rather the light overcomes the darkness!

 

ADVENT 3

 

Psalm 139

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
¹¹ If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’, 
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 

 

 

We give you thanks, Almighty God, that you fill the darkness with your presence.  As we await the day when your presence is wholy unveiled….when every gate of sin has been thrown open, when every moat of guilt and shame has dried up, when every stone of life’s burdens has been cast down….enlighten us with a glimpse of your power and love so that our days might be brightened with courage and peace.  Amen

 

Light one Candle

 

Cubic Zirconia…continued, part 3

  (all three parts can be found in one place on my Facebook page)

 

 

 

A couple of months later they saw a poster in the music store that read, “Battle of the Bands , High School Gym, Audition Tapes Welcome”.  So before the next practice they all went over to Old Lady Rogers’ house to see if she would work the computer to record them.  Surprisingly enough, she said, “Sure, I’ve been working on “Garage Band” for years with my singing.”

 

So, as weird as it might seem, Old Lady Rogers joined them for their practice the next afternoon, and they laid down a few tracks. “Not bad,” said Old Lady Rogers as she sent the songs off over the internet to the radio station sponsoring the battle.

 

A couple of days later, she got an email from the radio station that said, “Loved your tape.  You’re in.  You’ll be the third act.  Bring your equipment and set up early.  Good luck.”  She threw on her Michael Jordans (she usually just wore them around the house) and ran over to the garage that was vibrating with music.  She pulled up the door and said, “You’re in!”

 

This time, no silence, but cheers that could be heard all around the neighborhood, because they yelled into the mics.  Really motivated now, they set their minds and wills to get ready for the battle.  Practice.  Practice.  Practice.  That is how you get to Carnegie Hall, and that is how you win the battle contest.

 

The day of the Battle of the Bands arrived and Cubic Zirconia was psyched!  They had practiced and practiced and practiced, and they were ready.  The first two groups were pretty good, but they were sure that they were better.  Then they heard, “Let’s hear it for the next group, Cubic Zirconia!”  A less than rousing response came from the crowd, and the guys all walked on stage, dressed in their finest Neil Diamond wear.  It was hard to decide which song they were going to do, but they all felt that “Forever in Blue Jeans” was their best.  The music cued, they started singing, they sang with Neil Diamond motions and zeal, and when they finished the crowd erupted….well not really….a smattering of clapping, and they saw a lot of their peers laughing.  When they walked off the stage, they heard one of the judges say to another, “They didn’t sound like Neil Diamond at all.”

 

(to be continued next week…..)

Have a great week,

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 

 The Bungee Cord 11-23-20

Hi,

 

It is Advent, the four weeks before Christmas when our lives are progressively filled with the hope of Christ’s advent in our lives…in a manger, in our daily lives, and at the end of time.  It is a tradition in many Christian homes and churches to light a candle each week to mark our way to Christmas, a visible remembrance of the brightening light that comes into the world. (John 1).

 

So, I thought I would bring you along with me on this journey in two ways.  First, each week I am going to include the litany that we will be doing in our church.  Let me invite you to get four candles and put them someplace where you will see them. In our home we put them on the table that we usually eat on.  Then in each week of Advent as you read the Bungee Cord, you can light a candle until all four are lit.

 

The second thing that I am going to do is to write an Advent story.  Although the story may not have the usual Advent/Christmas characters, I hope that it will deepen and broaden your experience of these four weeks of hope during these days of Covid’s shroud.

 

ADVENT 1

 

Advent 1

 

Psalm 139

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
¹¹ If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’, 
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 

 

We give you thanks, Almighty God, that you fill the darkness with the light of your promise of salvation.  As we await the day when sin will scale our eyes no more, when chains of oppression will all be broken, when the prison of guilt and shame will be torn down, and when the darkness of death will be shattered…enlighten us with a glimpse of your power and love for us so that the light of your promise might bring us hope.  Amen.

 

Light One Candle

 

 

And the story…..

 

“Cubic Zirconia”

 

With all of the weird stuff going on this year, one of the weirdest things was how 5 high school students living in the deep south found each other.  They were the first five people in line to get tickets to the Neil Diamond show that was coming to town. It was weird because everyone else in the line was at least 60, and even though they all went to the same high school they had never met each other.

 

Though teenagers in 2020, they were devout Neil Diamond fans, and how could they not be.  They had grown up with parents who were Diamond groupies in their youth and Neil Diamond music saturated the houses that they raised their children in.  “Sweet Caroline”, “Song Sung Blue”, “Forever in Blue Jeans”, “Cracklin’ Rosie”, “Brother Love’s Travlin’ Salvation Show”……  Those songs were played so often that not only were they etched in the kids’ brains, but they were etched in the walls of those homes.

 

As the five of them sat in line to get their tickets, they started singing those classics.  They knew every song, every verse, every word by heart. All the old people who stood in line with them smiled.  Some sang along.  The kids, though, who walked by and heard them singing Neil Diamond songs laughed with arrogant scorn, “Wierdo’s!”, they smirked in unison pointing their fingers at the weird non-country, non-rock and roll, non-hip hop quintet.  

 

The singers didn’t notice, they were lost in their songs.  When they finished the last words of “Forever in Blue Jeans”, one of them said to the others, “We should form a Neil Diamond cover band…you know a boy band with a whole different twist.  And that is how “Cubic Zironia” got its start.

 

(Continued next week….)

 

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 The Bungee Cord   11-16-20

Hello,

 

I suspect that for many, the thing that causes them the most trouble with the Christian faith is this, “If there is an all-loving God, why are all these terrible things happening?” Maybe you find yourself wresting with this question, too.

 

Actually, it is a question that people, believers and nonbelievers, have asked all through Biblical history. The Psalms, which were composed centuries before Jesus birth, are full of this question.  Even the disciples asked it of Jesus when they saw a man who was blind from birth.  

 

Books and books have been written trying to answer this question, and personally many of the answers that book writers give fall short of helpfulness, for me, when I wrestle with this question.  Some authors say that the terrible things that happen are God’s punishment, but that answer leaves a bigger question when terrible things happen to me, “Why is God picking on me?”  Others say that God is trying to teach us something, but that answer leaves me with a God who isn’t a very good teacher, because some things we don’t seem to learn. Others say that God has a purpose for everything, but if that’s the case I am not sure that I want to trust in a God who intends for a child to get killed by a crazily driven car.  Still others say that in order to be all loving, God has chosen not to be all powerful.  That makes me wonder, is God powerful enough for me to trust in him?  None of these answers work for me.

 

The reality of evil is so real, that sometimes evil can cast a thick veil over the reality of God.

 

This year, 2020 has been an evil filled year.  Covid 19. Racial strife.  Polarizing politics.  Climate turmoil.  International saber rattling.  Ugh!  It has been so bad that many cynically joke that we should erase it from the calendar, or hit a restart button.  And many ask, “Where has God been in all this mess?”

 

The reason that I write about this is that this Sunday is the last Sunday in the Christian calendar, and it is named “Christ the King” Sunday.  On this day we celebrate with thankfulness that Christ has been with us through the past year, and that we can step into the next year with the promise that Christ will be with us in the coming year, too.  Given what we have been through this year, should we cancel “Christ the King” Sunday?

 

To the evil that we are confronting and the darkness that it has brought to our lives, I find a verse from John 1 instructive. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  To me, this is the answer to the question, “If there is an all loving God, why do all these terrible things happen?”  And the answer that this verse gives is that God is equally opposed to the evil, if not more so, as you and I.  God is not one who waits at the end of the tunnel with a light and encourages us to make our way there.  When I don’t have the strength to move an inch, such a God is not of any help to me at all!  But God has shown us by the fact that he jumped feet first into our world in Jesus that he is not afraid to embattle any evil, even death.  Is there darkness in this world?  Yes, and God is charging into that darkness, and he won’t give up the fight until he has won.  And God will!

 

For Christians on Christ the King Sunday, the promise of God’s loving invanquishable power in our lives does not come from a soft and fluffy heavenly throne.  The Bible makes it clear that God’s throne is on a torturous cross, where the darkness has never been as dark, and the power of evil never seemed so strong.  And it was there that God jumped in feet first, brought evil to its knees, and then walked all over evil as if it was a bunch of dying cockroaches.  You see, the light shined in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it!

 

So, this year, as every year, we will gather around the cross of Jesus Christ and celebrate his presence in the year that has past, and his presence in the year to come.  “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

 Bungee Cord 11-9-20

Hello,

 

   If you are a regular reader of the Bungee Cord, you know two things:  before our worship service I am out on the sidewalk waving at cars and people who pass by, and we have had a couple of yard signs pertaining to my waving.

 

   The first sign stood for a couple of months and it said, “Q: Y Wave?”  Over the course of its public presence, that sign stirred up a lot of intrigue in our little town of Ligonier.  People were asking some of our members what that sign was all about?  I even had some people stop while I was waving and say, “What’s with the sign?”

 

   When asked, I would always say that I am outside waving at people every Sunday morning and that soon a new sign would be in the yard with the answer to the question, “Y Wave?”

 

   That new sign came out on the last Sunday in October, which folks in my denomination celebrate as “Reformation Day.”  Reformation Day used to be a bit triumphalist for many, many years, but in the last several decades the tone of this day of celebration has changed to a day of thankfulness for the work of the Holy Spirit in all of God’s people.  Red, from the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit on the disciples’ heads that came upon them 50 days after the resurrection, has been the color that decorates worship spaces on days that the work of the Holy Spirit is being celebrated. So, two weeks ago, on Reformation Day, our sanctuary was adorned with red….but not only our sanctuary, but also the people who came to worship in it, all wearing red.

 

   And something else unusual happened on Reformation Day.  We started our worship service outside on the sidewalk.  All of us wearing red, and all of us waving!  Forty of us lined the street and waved  at people driving and passing by, and in the middle of our waving line was the new sign answering the question, “Y Wave?”.  And the new sign said, “A: Jesus (the shape of a heart) U!”

 

   That is why I wave every Sunday, and that is why we all were waving two Sundays ago.  We wave at everyone who drives by, because no matter how busy in life a person may be, no matter how unimportant God might be to someone, no matter how confused and shattered life might be, no matter how successful a person might be, no matter how strong a grip the forces of this world may have on a person, no matter how devout a person might be, no matter angry a person might be toward God….NO MATTER WHAT….that person is loved by Jesus.    That is why I wave every Sunday.  That is why we waved on Reformation Day.  “A: Jesus (shape of a heart) U!”.

 

   When I wave by myself, many folks either wave back or give a little honk on their horn.  But when forty of us were waving, nearly everyone waved back, honked their horns, or even slowed down to gather in all the waves.  One person even stopped, rolled down his window and said, “Thank You. Thank You.  This is just what we needed!”  And horn honking wasn’t the only noise that you could hear out in front of our church.  There was laughter!  Laughter coming from the mouths of those who were waving.  Joy in making a dent in our town during these somber days.  When we went inside to continue our worship, the sanctuary was abuzz with chatter and laughter, and I could hear people say, “That was fun!”

 

   So, although you may not have driven by our church a couple of weeks ago and you didn’t catch a forty hand wave, I hope that this Bungee Cord has brought that wave to you.  Because NO MATTER WHAT you matter to God, matter so much that God gave the life of his Son,  Jesus, for you.  Matter so much that NO MATTER WHAT Jesus will never regret one bit giving his life for you. “A: Jesus (shape of a heart) U!”

 

   “Q: Y Wave?”……. “A: Jesus (shape of a heart) U!”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger