The Bungee Cord 8-1-22

Hello,

The other morning I was sitting on my front porch drinking my morning coffee, when I heard a very familiar sound. Peck, peck, peck, peck, peck…peck, peck, peck…peck, peck, peck, peck. The rapid fire pecking of a woodpecker. I live in the country with trees all around me, and I hear, and sometimes see, all sorts of woodpeckers doing their work in our trees. There are woodpeckers of all sizes from small downy ones to huge pileated ones.

Something that amazes me about woodpeckers is the speed at which they peck. When I hear the rate at which their bills hit the trees, I wonder, “How do they do that?” How do they manage to get their bodies to strike with such quick recovery. Their recovery rate is far faster than I can reach when trying to pound a nail in with a hammer. And it doesn’t seem to matter how hard the wood may be (oak, ash, maple, locust), the force and the speed of their pecking leaves a trail of holes in their wake. It seems like they should be knocking themselves silly as their beaks pummel the trees. How do they do it?

I imagine that the woodpeckers around me must likewise be fascinated when they see me imitating their behavior, pounding my head against the wall, and they ask one another, not, “How does he do it?”, but rather, “Why does he do it?” They, of course, do their head pounding because they are hunting for bugs and they are equipped to handle such head trauma. But me, clearly I am not after bugs and my forehead is not equipped with anything that could perforate a wall. I imagine that somewhere in the midst of their chirping and tweeting, they are laughing at me, banging my head against a wall, saying, “Why does he do it?”

I suspect that the woodpeckers are not the only ones asking that question. I suspect that God is asking the same question, too. God knows the frustrations that build up in my life like a lidded pot of water creating exploding pressure in my soul. God knows the failures that I have accumulated in my life that create a landscape of dried pine needles awaiting a spark. God knows the mud and muck that I step into that impede me from getting anywhere. God knows the anger that is building steam from the callous and careless way that people treat me. God knows…God knows all these things, and even though he knows these things, I am sure that God asks of me when I am pounding my head against the wall, “Why do you do that?”

“Why do you do that?”, God asks of me because God knows something else about me, too. God knows that I am not a woodpecker. I am not a woodpecker. What I am, and God knows this, too, is a child of God. A child of God who God has said powerfully to me and my frustrations, “I am with you always.” A child of God who God as said to me and my failures, “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” A child of God who reaches out to me with a shepherd staff and puts me on a solid path toward green pastures and still waters. A child of God who rests me in his arms, and comes rushing home with me to celebrate having found me when I was lonely and lost. Knowing all these things about me, I am sure that God wonders of my head banging, “Why do you do that?”

Why do I do it? Because I have a way of listening to the world…the world that keeps on telling me that the only way to make my way through life is to live like a woodpecker, constantly banging my head against the wall….getting nowhere, bringing more pain to my life, and driving me silly.

But today, as I sit in the presence of God, God has broken through the bellowing of the world to say to me….and you….”You are not a woodpecker. You are a child of God.”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 7-25-22

Hello,

Yesterday, the Gospel reading was Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray. They said to him, “Lord teach us to pray, as John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray.” Who better to ask than Jesus.

I have heard many presentations on how to pray, some helpful….some not helpful at all. The ones that I find absolutely unhelpful are the ones that answer this question: “How to pray so that God gives you what you want.”

Maybe you’ve heard these presentations, too. One person said that to get God to give you what you want, your prayers have to be specific. This came from a missionary who needed a bike, and after going through months of prayer and still no bike, he decided that God wasn’t giving him the bike because God didn’t know just what kind of bike the missionary wanted. After all, there are so many kinds of bikes. So, revising his prayer for a red, ten speed bike….such a bike was given to him. To get God to give you what you want, you need to be specific in your prayers…..according to this person.

Another way to get God to give you what you want, I have heard on Christian radio stations. They say that you need to get as many people praying the very same thing, and the larger the army of pray-ers saying the exact same thing, the more hopeful you can be that you will get what you want. To get healed from a disease. To get the job you wanted. To get you out of the trouble you have fallen into. To get a parking spot on a busy parking day. Those who say this tell you to assemble the largest prayer army as possible, and maybe your prayer will drill through God’s boulder blocked ears.

To illustrate his teaching on prayer (Luke 11), Jesus tells a parable about a guy who received a midnight visitor and had nothing to feed him. So, the host runs next door at midnight and starts banging on his neighbor’s door, only to be told by the neighbor to go away because he was already in bed. Nevertheless, the neighbor keeps on banging, and the reluctant neighbor finally gets out of bed and gives the pesky neighbor his bread, because of his persistent knocking. Is Jesus, in this parable, giving yet another way to get God to give you what you want? Persistence?

I think not! And this is why: Jesus would have us know that the purpose of prayer is not to get God to give you what you want. The purpose of prayer is to climb into the lap of the heavenly Father, tell God everything that is on your mind, and be transformed by God loving embrace. I say that because when the disciples ask Jesus how to pray, the very first thing that Jesus says is, “Father”. Prayer is about a relationship. A powerful relationship. A self-sacrificing relationship. “Father.” In other parts of Scripture, Jesus tells us to pray using the more intimate word, “Abba”, “Daddy”.

Prayer, you see, is not about getting things. It is about having something. Having a God whose heart is so connected to our hearts that God delights when we come to him…crying…laughing…searching…asking….knocking. Jesus, when instructing us to pray, wants us to know that God is not some callous, ridged gumball machine, dispensing gumballs to those who operate the machine correctly. God is one who sees you and me as the “apple of his eye”. So valued are you and I to God, that when we sit on God’s lap and tell God everything that is on our mind, God doesn’t just listen to us. God joins us. That is what Jesus is all about. Jesus is the ultimate answer to prayer. If God is so moved by the struggles and fears that we bring to him that God would physically experience and feel those things in Jesus, we can rest assured that our prayers do not fall on deaf ears.

Although there are those who would have you believe that the purpose of prayer is to get God to give you what you want, I don’t think that is what the Bible teaches about prayer. The Bible teaches that to pray is to climb up into the lap of the heavenly Father, tell him everything, and then be transformed by God’s embrace.

Jesus, teach us how to pray. “When you pray, say, ‘Father.’”

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 7-18-22

Hello,

A prayer for rain.

Lord, it’s been a dry summer. The grass and the locust trees are turning crispy and brown. The zucchini and tomato plants in the garden need a quench of their thirst. The corn in the fields reaches out their leaves when a cloud rolls across the sky hopelessly hoping to catch a drop. The fish in the streams search for puddles of water as the rocks take over their swimming lanes. Lord, we pray for rain.

Lord, it’s been a dry summer. Hot hatred has beaten down on us and violence fills the news. We hear the thunder of bullets followed by a storm of salty tears, and because of their salt those tears bring no life. Yelling and screaming howl all around us like a dry dust bowl wind. The air is heavy with senseless death, and it burns our lungs when we breath it in. Lord, we pray for rain.

Lord, it has been a dry summer. Frontal waves of suspicion have made their way to us and kind hearts are wilting from the heat. Scorching lies and deception have created huge blisters on the shoulders of truth. The constant glare of fear has left us burning with pain and we are adverse to embrace or touch. Lord, we pray for rain.

Lord, it’s been a dry summer. Arid bombs and missiles, devoid of love or compassion, hit schools and apartment building stirring up clouds of death’s dust, scratching the eyes of loved ones with eternal abrasion. The weeds of power and might take over the soft grass of peace that dry exhaust of war has withered away. The hope in children’s hearts lies bent over, parched from a lack of moisture. Lord, we pray for rain.

Lord, it’s been a dry summer. The oppressive and relentless fiery ball of Covid has warn us down. Deep friendships have evaporated like raindrops on the sidewalk. Loneliness has blanketed the isolation that comes from trying to find some shade from the heat of illness and death. Patience has long ago dried up among neighbors. Lord, we pray for rain.

Lord, it has been a dry summer. We pray for rain.

Amen.

Have a good week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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 The Bungee Cord 7-12-22

Hello,

Saturday, I returned from spending five days with my grandson (also his father, who is my son, and his wife). They live in Brooklyn. Over the course of my stay, I got to go to the park a couple of times with him, read books with him, play bubbles with him, and generally just hang out with him. It’s been a while since I have spent five days with a fifteen month old, and so I had forgotten the amount of energy it takes to keep up with one. There’s a good reason why a person doesn’t have a kid when they are 65!

I hadn’t seen him since his birthday when he came to our house. It I amazing how much change happens in these early months. Before, he was mostly crawling and could pull himself up to stand. Now he is walking around (a bit like a drunken sailor) and climbing up on everything. He’s even saying a couple of words. I am officially “Grandpa Steve”….it’s a long story…but as of yet I am just a finger point and “eeee”.

The other thing that I had forgotten with by absence from fifteen month old’s is the wonder and amazement with which they live life. Every moment is filled with thrilling discoveries and findings. A couple of pigeons on the window sill is captivating. A squirrel running by brings a cheer of excitement that matches a game winning home run. Flowers can’t be passed by, but need to be touched and smelled. Food isn’t just something to politely fill your stomach, but something to mush around and smash on your face. And bath time! Need I say more.

My time with my grandson opened my eyes to things that I don’t see anymore. Things no less amazing and wonderful, but things that have become part of the expected background of life. It is amazing that bird can fly. It is wonderful that squirrels romp along tree branches. It is amazing to see beautiful flower spring from ugly weeds. It I wonderful to have a meal on which to dine. And it is amazing to feel the warm splash of water fall upon your head as you stand in the shower. Thank you, Hank, for opening my eyes to wonder and amazement.

Someone once said, “Next time you read something from the Bible, try to read it with eyes that are reading it for the first time.” For those who have heard the stories of the Bible over and over again, the punch line is already known from the first few words, and as with things like flowers, squirrels, puddles the stories lose their amazement and wonder. Things like…that Jesus would go to Zacchaeus’ house…that Jesus would not cast a stone on a woman caught in adultery…that Jesus would place children on his lap….that Jesus would eat dinner with the person who he knew would betray him…that Jesus would die on the cross and rise from the dead….that Jesus would promise, “Lo, I am with you always.”

It is easy for the Bible stories to become no more than background scenery, matters of theological debate, or wise teachings as they are heard over and over again. But that I far less than what they can be in our lives. That is why we all need to spend some time with a fifteen month old who can open our eyes to the amazement and wonder that is all around us, and is in Scripture. Maybe you can’t be as blessed as I to spend a week with a fifteen month old, but maybe as you have spent this time with me and my grandson, Hank, you, like I, have been given new eyes to capture the wonder and amazement of the world around us, and of the God who loves us.

Have a wonder-full and amazing week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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