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November 26-December 3, 2008 – The bones of St. Andrew on tour

Warm-up Question: How do you want to be buried when you die?


Some of the human remains of Saint Andrew the Apostle, also named “the First-Called,” were brought to Riga, Latvia on October, 24th from Odessa under police escort. The bones of St. Andrew are priceless relics considered to be holy by the Orthodox Church (as well as the Roman Catholic Church).


The relics, housed or kept in what is called a reliquary, were on display in the Cathedral of Riga for only four days. Faithful Orthodox Christians from as far as hundreds of miles away made the journey in order to be near the bones of this venerated saint. Saint Andrew is considered by the Orthodox Church to be the apostle who brought the Christian faith to Russia and then further to the Baltic States. Saint Andrew is seen as the founding apostle for Orthodox Christianity (the Eastern Church) just as St. Peter serves that role for Roman Catholic Christianity (the Western Church).*

The relics of St. Andrew from Odessa represent only some of his earthly remains. His skull, for example, is kept in the cathedral in Patras, Greece, where it was returned in 1967 after having been removed in the year 1460. Some of the remains of St. Andrew were taken to Scotland where he was adopted as the patron saint of Scotland.

*Note: The Lutheran Church has its direct roots in the “Western Church.”

Discussion Questions

  • How many saints can the group name?
  • Where have you ever seen a painting or sculpture of a saint?
  • When have you ever seen a relic of a saint?
  • Would you go to a church where you knew there were going to be bones of a saint on display (even if they are in a box of some sort)? Why?

Information on Lutheran-Orthodox relations

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 30, 2008 (lessons for the Festival of the Apostle Andrew).
(Text links are to oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year A at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Andrew the Apostle, or as he is called in the Orthodox Church, Andrew-the First Called. He is called that because that’s what he was: the first disciple called by Jesus, as we see from this lesson in the Gospel of John. And, no sooner than he had been asked to follow Jesus, he went and got his brother Peter to check this Jesus of Nazareth out, “we have seen the Messiah!” That’s certainly good news. Before Andrew even spends a few years following Jesus around, he is calling others to “come and see,” to come and experience this Jesus. Those first disciples spent lots of time and energy sharing with others the good news about Jesus the Messiah (the Anointed One, which is what the word “Christ” means).

The early Christian communities that got to experience those first real, living apostles were so blessed. They got to hear the story first hand from eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ. They felt so blessed by having these faithful witnesses among them that they cherished and respected everything about them: the scripture they may have used, the bishop’s staff they might have had, the chair they sat in to teach or preach, maybe even their clothes, and certainly their earthly remains — bones.

The bones of these holy followers of Christ were kept and guarded just as we respect our own beloved dead. The communities they served believed that these faithful witnesses were a living example of Christ among them. They felt close to Christ because of their presence. They believed that it was still true even after they died. That’s why the things and the remains of these holy men and women became so important for the early Church (we’re talking already in the 1st and 2nd centuries.)

This idea of holding sacred the remains of the saints (apostles, martyrs, teachers of the Church, etc.) is still practiced today in the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches, among others. During the time of the Reformation, visiting, touching, and praying in the presence of relics of the saints was believed to help knock off time in purgatory (which is like a kind of pre-heaven cleaning place with lots of pain and torture to get all the sins worked out before going to heaven). And because that practice got really corrupt in the years before Martin Luther was born, he had some reasons to critique it. And, he did — a lot!

Those of us in the Lutheran or Protestant traditions have been very strongly influenced and taught to see relics of the saints as bad things. We think about how they were abused in the middle ages to make money off of poor faithful Christians. And, many Christians were spending a lot of time praying to various deceased saints asking them to talk to God on their behalf.

Martin Luther and his reforms emphasized the fact that we do not need anyone else to speak on our behalf aside from Jesus Christ. The saints are there to serve as good examples and to inspire us and strengthen us in our faith in God through Jesus Christ. So, it is a good thing to know and tell the stories of the saints so that we are strengthened to be able to tell the great story of God’s love in Jesus.

Here are some details of the story that is told about Saint Andrew:

  • Andrew began his missionary activity in modern day Greece and Turkey. He then moved on further North into the area of Ukraine and Russia. He is known as the apostle to bring the Christian faith to those areas of the world.
  • His very recognizable symbol is an X-shaped cross. It is known as the St. Andrew’s cross because Andrew was crucified upside down on a cross made in that shape. It was believed that the X-shaped cross made dying last longer and more painful.
  • For a more detailed version of Andrew: http://www.chrysostom.org/firstcalled/life.html
  • November 30th is the day on which St. Andrew the Apostle is commemorated in Churches all around the world.

Discussion Questions

  • What things, symbols, art, or music remind you to trust in God, stay strong in your faith, and tell others the good news of Jesus Christ?
  • Who in your life right now — even if they don’t know it — helps you stay strong in your faith and encourages you to live a life that reflects your faith? It can also be someone who is no longer alive.

Activity Suggestions

  • Leave nothing unsaid
    Send a post card, letter, or email to the person who inspires and encourages your faith. Let them know that they are a witness to you and others, and that you thank God for them.
  • Saints online
    Post photos or video clips on your congregation’s youth Web site (if you have one) or your Facebook page of the people who have been saints and witnesses of faith in your life. Do it as a way of honoring and thanking them, as well as spreading their story and witness.

Closing Prayer
(Prayer for the Festival of Apostle Andrew. Evangelical Lutheran Worship, page 54.)

Almighty God, you gave your apostle Andrew the grace to obey the call of your Son and to bring his brother to Jesus. Give us also, who are called by your holy word, grace to follow Jesus without delay and to bring into his presence those who are near to us, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Contributed by Pastor Scott A. Moore
Eisleben, Germany

November 19-26, 2008 – Nebraska “Safe Haven” law leads to teen abandonments

Warm-up Question: What circumstances do you think might lead a parent of a teenager to abandon or give up that child?



A Nebraska law meant to allow parents to legally abandon newborns at hospitals has instead led parents to drop off over a dozen teenagers since its passage in July. To date, 20 of the 33 children dropped off at Nebraska hospitals have been teens, including a now-missing 17 year old girl who fled after being dropped off with her younger brother. Eight more children dropped off were 11 or 12 years of age.


Lawmakers are set to convene this week to rewrite the law, excluding all children except infants up to 3 days old from being legally abandoned. Since lawmakers announced plans to rewrite the law, the rate of teen drop-offs has increased as desperate parents sense their time running out.

Safe haven laws exist in every state to prevent prosecution of parents who abandon newborns outside safe public places like hospitals, but Nebraska is the only state without an age limit. Lawmakers could not agree on an age limit when writing the law, so it was passed with just the word “child.”

One mother of an 18 year old stated that she thought her daughter would receive help if she turned her over to the state. The daughter had a mental health condition and had been cutting school, stealing, fighting, and sleeping around. Because of her age, however, the teen had to return home with her mother.

“These are largely families at a point of incredible desperation,” said Wayne Sensor, chief executive of Alegent Health hospitals, where 14 children have been left. “They aren’t bad parents or bad kids. They simply don’t know what services are available out there.”

Discussion Questions

  • Do you think parents should be able to give their kids to the state if they can’t handle them (or think they can’t)? What arguments for and against this can you think of. What types of behaviors do you think might warrant government intervention in a young person’s life?
  • What kind of help might a high school age youth get from a government agency that they can’t get from their parents?
  • What would be your advice to a parent whose child is in serious trouble? What would you suggest they do?
  • Do you think God keeps track of what we do, our motivations, our good deeds, or our sins?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 23, 2008.
(Text links are to oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year A at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

When I read this passage the first time, I didn’t understand it. After all, Jesus seemed to be saying that we had to minister to the poor and needy (“the least of these”) in order to get into heaven. This seemed to conflict with other scriptures stating that the only thing necessary to have eternal life was to accept Jesus and believed in him. It was “faith verses works,” if you’ve heard that talked about before. God’s grace saves us through our faith, not through anything we do. We can’t work our way into heaven.

Feeling confused, I looked up a commentary on these verses to get an “expert” opinion. What I read gave me an entirely different perspective on these verses.

I assumed, and probably had heard preached before, that the “least of these” that Jesus talked about only referred to the poor. But the commentary said that when Jesus says “the least of these,” he was talking about the treatment of his disciples and all the messengers of his good news in the world. In other words, how people treat the messengers of the good news and how they receive the gospel determines how God will judge them.

Our salvation is definitely a free gift — not something we have to work for or accomplish. A gift does need to be accepted or received though. If we accept that gift, we experience the blessings of God’s kingdom — a kingdom that begins here on earth, right now.

The gospel certainly calls for us to care for people living in poverty or hunger, people being treated unjustly, and others in need. The Bible talks about how necessary service and ministry are to have at the center of our lives, and that it is a responsibility of the church and all people; it’s just not our ticket to heaven. Jesus has done that already, and there’s nothing else we need to do other than accept his gift of love and forgiveness… and start living it in relationship with other people right now.

Discussion Questions

  • Have you ever done a good deed thinking it would win you favor or points with God? What was it you did?
  • When someone tries to talk to you about Jesus and the gift of salvation, how do you respond or feel?
  • How do you feel about talking to other people about Jesus and the gift of salvation? What do think is important to say, and to demonstrate with your actions and behavior?

Activity Suggestions

Find someone in your church who is a “messenger of the gospel.” This could be your pastor, choir director, youth leader, a Sunday school teacher, young person, old person, or a layperson involved in mission work, for example.

Choose one of the following:

  • Interview your chosen person about his or her experiences with sharing the gospel of Jesus. How has she or he been received and treated? What makes that ministry most difficult? What are the joys involved? As a group, write an article about this person. Publish your article online, in the church newsletter, or in a worship bulletin.
  • Ask what your group can do to support the ministry of your chosen person. Perhaps you can help with preparations for a Sunday school class or for youth group time, put together care packages with a mission worker, or prepare a skit or song to reinforce a pastor’s Sunday morning message.

Closing Prayer

O Lord our God, we pray that you would strengthen all your messengers across the world who share the gospel of Jesus with others. We thank you for their service to you and we pray that they would be treated well and provided for. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.


Contributed by Jennifer Krausz
Bethlehem, PA

November 12-19, 2008 – Reporter jailed for telling the truth

Warm-up Question: Share a time when you felt that the way you were treated was not fair.


In Vietnam, a reporter is allowed to report on what they see, unless it embarrasses the government that is. The jailed reporter, Nguyen Viet Chien, almost three years ago helped expose a case against the transportation department, where officials used monies to gamble on European soccer matches and on luxurious living. The reporting was backed up by tapes and confessions and many officials were arrested and jailed for the abuse.


How is the reporter rewarded for his hard work? He is sentenced to jail for 2 years. When given a chance to apologize for his reporting for the way it embarrassed the country, Chien refused to do what another reporter working on the same case had done and did not recant the exposé citing the truth as his defense.

U.S. officials condemn the action and in an official statement stated, “These results are particularly worrisome in light of the serious corruption issues that their earlier investigations had brought to light… The United States has repeatedly called for full freedom of the media in Vietnam and urges the government of Vietnam to support these freedoms, which are so critical to combating social scourges such as corruption and abuse of power, and to the further economic development of Vietnam.”

Discussion Questions

  • Is there a time when you think telling the truth is not a good idea?
  • If you found out something very important that would embarrass someone you highly respect, say a teacher or pastor or political leader, would you divulge this information online or to the press? What would be reasons you would? What reasons would prevent you from revealing the information?
  • If someone knew something about you that was true but embarrassing, would it be OK for them to share this with other people?
  • If you had done something embarrassing or that you were ashamed of, how easy would it be for you to admit this to someone you love and respect? What would you expect or ask for in return (e.g., confidentiality, understanding, forgiveness, not to let it hurt your relationship, etc.)

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 16, 2008.
(Text links are to oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year A at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

It’s pretty easy to believe and respected the servant who buried the talent in this story. First of all, he admits to his master, someone whom he loves but someone who is also “harsh” and steals (reaping where he does not sow), that he did not do what he was asked. He did not take the money (a talent being a unit of measurement equaling around one year’s wages), money that may have been unjustly gotten by the master, and invested it as the others had done. Perhaps this would have made him an accomplice! Perhaps he did not want to deal with the dirty money. Perhaps he was a patsy, a do-gooder, who did not do what he was asked out of a sense of justice and was punished. And on top of it all, he did not hem and haw and make up stories; he told the truth. He said straight out that he hid the money. Perhaps he said this with some pride, accusing the master of his own crimes.

But perhaps the master was righteous. Perhaps what he sowed and reaped he did to feed the hungry. Perhaps he was a powerful man who performed actions that seemed disreputable, but may have been for a good cause (sort of like Robin Hood). Maybe the servant was ashamed and scared of the master’s power.

In a story, it is easy to make things out to be black and white, cut and dried truths. We can decry the “lazy slave” for not doing what his master had done just as we can decry the Vietnamese government for suppressing the truth. But perhaps they did so out of a love for their country. Perhaps they doubted the reporting. Perhaps they believed they were the arbiters of justice. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps… When “truth” seems so obvious to one and not to another, how do you know which is truth?

We all else seems up fro grabs, know this to be the truth: Jesus Christ has died for us. It is signed and sealed by the reporting of many witnesses who had nothing to gain by this proclamation but death and loss. The resurrection was true because it was witnessed by many. They all reported this truth and it was greeted with skepticism, the greatest may be Paul. Paul persecuted the church but was later visited by the resurrected Christ. As proof this was true and not false was the way he kept to his story despite beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, poverty, and worse (2 Corinthians 11:23ff). Paul was willing to go to jail and even die for the truth. Just like Nguyen Viet Chien, the truth could no be denied.

In a time of doubt and faith, of wondering what is true, we remember that what can be seen as true is often understood by what comes to light (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5); how the person speaking the truth clings to what they believe. This witness is what we can believe is true, and in this witness we are called to believe. While we may not have been on-the-scene witnesses, we can believe what we have been told just as we can believe the reporter who reports the corruption by his jailing.
Live clinging to this truth. Invest in the gift of this confession. Live out your calling to serve a good and honest master — Jesus Christ — one who loves and adores you, and trusts you with this gift.


Discussion Questions

  • How do you know when someone is speaking the truth? How are you convinced? In what ways does technology help or complicate sorting out what is true? (Internet, Youtube, email, TV, Photoshop, digital photos, Twitter, cell phones, social networks, Second Life, avatars, blogs, etc.)
  • What are the things that make believing God difficult?
  • If the story is true — Jesus Christ is truly the son of God, died and risen to love the world into relationship with God — how would this change the way you see the world? Setting aside all doubt, what would this mean about the way you live in the world? How would it change your relationships? How would it change the decisions you make?
  • What if it is true? What if it is true?

Activity Suggestions

Defend a lie

Find a student who loves something so much that they are sort of obsessed by it. Perhaps it is a sports team, a high school musical, or a favorite band, actor, or other celebrity or famous person. Now ask them to defend NOT liking this thing or person or team. Give them a moment to collect their thoughts, then allow them a 30 second argument of why whatever it is we know they love is something they do not love. After they try to convince us they do not love this, allow others to question them, trying to discover the truth.

  • Was it difficult to defend what you know is not true?
  • How did it feel trying to pretend you did not like what everyone else there knows you love?
  • Would you be willing to die to convince us of this truth? Why or why not?

Share this parting thought: if the disciples KNEW it was a lie, why would they all be willing to die for it? Why would all the witnesses be willing to endure persecution if they knew Jesus was not resurrected? Why would they all be beaten, chased, jailed, starved, poisoned, and killed if they truly knew it was a lie?

Closing Prayer

Jesus, forgive us for our doubts, but it can be so difficult to believe. Help us to trust your witnesses and to live out loud on behalf of the truth that you are our savior and Lord. Amen

Contributed by Jay Gamelin, pastor of Jacob’s Porch, Lutheran Campus Ministry to The Ohio State University

November 5-12, 2008 – Get out the vote… and wait

Warm-up Question: What surprised you the most about Tuesday’s election?


The final days leading up to the 2008 General Election were filled with a frenzy of phone calls, knocking on doors, and posting signs all over the country. Both the John McCain and Barack Obama campaigns pumped millions of dollars and thousands of volunteers into battleground states in the hopes of picking up a few extra Electoral College votes on November 4. It is estimated that, when the campaigns have concluded, over $1 billion will have been spent on this election — or $8 per voter. (It’s a lot of money, but consider that Americans spent $3 billion on buying potato chips last year.)

Democrats called their final wave of contacts a “Persuasion Army,” while Republicans participated in a “72-Hour Program.” The goal was simple: send as many volunteers as possible into the states that are up for grabs, and do everything within your legal rights to convince those people to vote for your candidate. Key states in the day leading up to the election included Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio. President Bush won the electoral votes of each of these states in 2004, but all were declared “too close to call” in this election.

The struggle for many campaign volunteers was not the long hours they invest, but the inevitable wait on Tuesday night. Some political experts have predicted that the official tally may not be approved until Wednesday morning, or later. The location of voting sites and ballots, in addition to a record number of absentee voters, caused some people to anticipate the possibility of contested results in some states.

“I just hope I know who the winner is come Wednesday morning,” said one McCain volunteer. “I don’t think I’ll be able to handle waiting several days to know the outcome.”

Discussion Questions

  • How did you decide which candidate to support? What were your criteria?
  • What do you think of the Electoral College system? Is there a better way to elect leaders? What changes would you make if you had the power to restructure the presidential voting system?
  • The 2000 Presidential Election wasn’t officially determined until December 12. How would you respond if it took five weeks to announce the winner of the 2008 election?
  • Imagine of you were a presidential candidate and you had to wait to find out if you won. How would you spend your time waiting? Who would you want waiting with you?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 9, 2008.
(Text links are to oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year A at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells a difficult story of what the “kingdom of heaven” will be like. A group of bridesmaids were hanging out and waiting for the bridegroom to show up. He was running late, so they all fell asleep. When the bridegroom finally showed up, only half of the bridesmaids were prepared, with oil in their lamps. The other members of the group asked if they could borrow some oil so their lamps would remain lit. The wise bridesmaids, those who were prepared, did not share their oil. The foolish and unprepared bridesmaids went out to buy some oil for themselves, but when they returned to the party, the door was shut and they were not allowed to enter for the wedding.

The first time I read this story, it sounded to me like Jesus was saying “only the smart people get into heaven.” The next time I read it, I thought Jesus was telling the disciples, “You shouldn’t share what you have with others.” However, from what I’ve read in other parts of the Bible, I have come to know that both of those ideas are not in line with how God and Jesus have acted in other situations.

So what can we learn from the story of the ten bridesmaids? Perhaps it’s that Jesus is calling us to be ready. He’s reminding us to be prepared and to be patient for him to come again. Jesus has blessed each of us with parents, pastors, friends, and mentors who can help us come to know him in a special way. This story encourages us to listen to those people and to be ready for his return. Even if we think Jesus is running late, he has promised that he will eventually show up. So be patient, watchful, and ready — because the party is going to be pretty amazing!

Discussion Questions

  • What does this story say to you about salvation?
  • Which group of bridesmaids would you be associated with? Why?
  • What is something that you had to prepare for this week? How did you prepare?
  • Tom Petty once sang, “Waiting is the hardest part.” What situations really test your patience? In what kind of situations do you tend to just “hang loose” until the last moment?
  • More than once Jesus tells the people around him “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour [of my return].” What does staying awake involve? What do Jesus’ actions and words suggest about living life?

Activity Suggestions

Thanksgiving is coming up in a few weeks. Advent and Christmas are right around the corner. In most churches, the final weeks of the calendar year are filled with important worship services and special events. Find a way that your group can help your church prepare for one of these things. Perhaps you could decorate the sanctuary for the Thanksgiving Eve worship service. Or maybe you could make Advent calendars for the children in the church.

Try to be creative in the ways you can be helpful. Doing special things at church takes a lot of patience and preparation!

Closing Prayer

God, it’s easy for us to be impatient in a world where we have everything we need right at our fingertips. We wonder if you’re ever going to come back and invite us to the big party, the wedding, the feast. Help us to relax and focus on the ways you touch our lives every day. Give us the understanding to know how to best prepare for your coming. Let us be bold in telling others about your amazing love for us. Amen

Contributed by Erik Ullestad
West Des Moines, IA

October 29-November 5, 2008 – Mother Teresa: great saint or great fraud?

Warm-up Question: What makes a “modern day saint”?

Nobel Peace Laureate, Christian celebrity, and a person on the fast-track to sanctification in the Catholic Church — all of these characteristics describe one woman, Mother Teresa. For many people, she is the greatest example for someone who lived a truly Christian life. Now, with the publication of a new book, a few dissenting voices that have been calling her a fraud all along have become prominent again.

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Macedonia to parents who were of Albanian descent. At the age of eighteen, she left home and joined the Sisters of Loreto who ran missions in India. As a nun, she first taught at a high school in Calcutta. Seventeen years later, in 1948, she received permission to devote herself to the care of the dying in the slums of Calcutta. She started her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, and won support of her cause all over the world. Mother Teresa’s work has been praised by church leaders and ordinary people alike. In 1979, she won the Nobel Peace Price.

Critics of Mother Teresa have always pointed out that she represented the most fundamentalist views of Catholicism. She condemned abortion and divorce, for example, even in cases of abuse. Her critics also questioned her order’s fundraising methods and her verbal support of dictators such as the Duvalier family of Haiti who donated money to her cause. They also pointed out that, in their opinion, her display of poverty was a show and that, when it came to her own health treatment, she went to hospitals in Western Europe and the United States, not to the hospital run by her order.

While her previous critics did not have much of an audience, a different kind of evidence has now surfaced that could damage Mother Teresa’s image of a saintly human being. It appears that Mother Teresa, after beginning her work with the poor in Calcutta, lost her faith. For almost 50 years, with the exception of a few weeks, she did not feel the presence of God in her heart or when receiving the Eucharist. In one of her letters to her confessor she wrote: “Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear.”

The people who compiled this and similar letters in “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light” want to show that the perceived absence of God can still be a divine gift that enables people to do saintly works. Yet, Mother Teresa’s critics and others ask why she was able to smile and talk about the presence of God in the world if she herself felt nothing but darkness and loneliness.

Could it be that one of the greatest women among us was actually one of the lowliest? Or does one of Mother Teresa’s most quoted sentences ring especially true for her own life: “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.”

Discussion Questions

  • Do you think that Mother Teresa will be considered more or less of a Christian in the eyes of the world when people find out that she felt further away from God than most of us?
  • How can someone who doubts the existence of God still do good works in God’s name?
  • Which do you think is better: to act like a Christian but be a non-believer, or to believe and not act according to your faith? Why?
  • Should charities accept donations from unethical or questionable sources, even if they use that money for a good cause? What would be some examples that you’re aware of? (e.g., tobacco company money being used for health care projects, social ministry program accepting gambling money, etc.)
  • Describe a time or experience in your life when God felt close, and a time when God felt distant or not there at all? What or who helped you during these experiences?
  • What should people do who work for the church but feel that they have (temporarily) lost their faith?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, November 2, 2008.
(Text links are to
oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year A at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Scripture Reflection

Our text from the Gospel of Matthew is part of a longer speech by Jesus preached against the scribes and the Pharisees. It leads into a symbolic action by Jesus who leaves the temple in order to show that it is doomed.

Matthew 23 has been called “the unloveliest chapter in the Gospel” because it portrays the Pharisees and scribes in the most negative way possible. The experience of the Holocaust has taught us that this chapter contributed to anti-Jewish sentiments among Christians. Even in modern languages, “Pharisee” is often synonymous with “hypocrite”. This is why we should approach this text carefully and without preconceived notions about Judaism then and now.

But our Gospel text is not so much about what others do wrong and what we do right. Instead, it asks for humility and a focus on Christ. Most of us are talented and gifted people, in one area or another. These gifts should be celebrated and used, for sure. But we often want to use our gifts and talents to show the world that we are someone special; we want our 15 minutes of fame. We want to be the fastest, or the prettiest, or the most talented, or the most watched video on Youtube, or the best in something. But we should remember that there is only one teacher, only one master, only one leader, and only one Savior — Jesus Christ. Knowing and accepting this can lead us to use all of our wonderful gifts and talents for the benefit of others; not to put ourselves on a pedestal, but to be God’s hands in the world.

The Jesus who is “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29) thus becomes our model for a truly Christian life. Matthew imagines the community comprised of Jesus’ followers to be one that does not have hierarchies. Instead, it should be a community of equality among sisters and brothers who serve each other as well as people outside of the community. This type of community can prosper and live together through difficult times. Among people who are truly sisters and brothers, times of personal trial can be survived because when one member is weak, others can be strong for them.

Discussion Questions

  • Who do you consider to be a great example for the Christian faith?
  • Is there a group of people you know of who live out their Christian faith in better ways than others?
  • Who are they and what do they do?
  • What would a church look like, in which the principles from Matthew 23 are followed closely?
  • Discuss the practicality of the vision for the Christian community in Matthew 23.

Activity Suggestions

  • Psalms about a distant God
    The Book of Psalms preserves many voices that complain about a distant God or ask God to come near once again. Read in small groups or together some examples for such texts: Psalm 43, Psalm 42, or Psalm 22:1-20. Then, ask your students to write a “modern psalm” that talks about what somebody might experience who feels that God has left him or her.

  • A modern day saint
    Split your students into small groups of two or three and ask them to develop a schedule for someone who they consider a modern day saint. What would their day or their week look like? Have a few sheets of paper ready with an outline of a person drawn on them. Students can write the schedules in or around that outline, or decorate it to show what a modern day saint might look like. Display the sheets and discuss the results in the group.
  • Love letters
    Mother Teresa is reported to have said, “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who writes a love letter to the world,” and “We are all pencils in the hand of God.” Ask your students to write, from the perspective of God, a love letter to the world. What do they think would God want to say to God’s people in our modern world? You can make this task more memorable if you get pencils with scripture verses printed on them that students can take home after today’s lesson.

Closing Prayer

Dear God, there are times when we feel that you are close to us. In those times, it is easy for us to do your will and to be a follower of you and your son. But there are also times when you feel so far away. We ask you to give us a strong community and a few “modern day saints” in our lives that will support us when we feel left alone by you. And give us the strength to return the favor and care for others when they need it. Amen

Contributed by Pastor Claudia Bergmann
Eisleben, Germany