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September 30, 2012–asSALTed

Contributed by Angie Larson, Clive, IA

 

Warm-up Question

What is your favorite use for salt?

asSALTed

The Salt Institute has discovered that there are more than 14,000 uses for salt, or to use the scientific name, sodium chloride.  Salt gets a bad reputation these days from being overused.  It’s been in the news lately because of being reduced in school lunches.  While too much salt is certainly bad for you; it is essential for our survival. Our bodies do not naturally make sodium chloride so we need to consume it in order to make blood, sweat, digestive juices, and tears.

Salt also has historical significance. Salt was used as one of the earliest forms of money and trade; at one time the value of an ounce of salt was an ounce of gold.  Roman soldiers were partly paid in salt.  It has been used as a preservative to help food stay good for longer.  Salt has been used as a flavoring agent.  Have you ever put a tablespoon of salt in a glass of chocolate milk?  It helps change the flavor of the veggie’s you might not want to eat or makes your popcorn delicious.

Salt can be used as a cleaner.  You can use salt to clean your bathroom or polish tarnished brass or copper.  Salt has healing properties.  You can use it as a mouthwash to clear up canker sores or as an antiseptic.  Salt keeps us safe.  Salt is spread on icy roads and highways to keep our feet and cars from slipping.  It is used to soften our water, removing chemicals that we don’t want in our water.  Salt can also put out grease fires, drive away ants, kill poison ivy, and deodorize your shoes.  The Bible mentions salt a number of times, but what exactly does that mean?  It has so many different uses.

 

Discussion Questions

  • What was a new use of salt that you didn’t previously know?
  • If you were one of the italicized uses for salt, what would you be?
  • How has your perception of salt changed after looking into it more deeply?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 30, 2012  (Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29

James 5:13-20

Mark 9:38-50

(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 C at Lectionary Readings.)

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

 

Gospel Reflection

What is it about salt?  Though salt is timeless and used in the Bible, like water and wine, it is not commonly used in our worship services.  Jesus calls us salt. In the text for today, John warns Jesus that someone outside their small band of disciples is casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  John is concerned that there are people who are against the work which Jesus and the disciples are doing.  That is a valid worry; some were against Jesus.  However, Jesus offers up a positive judgment, “if they are not against us, then they are for us.”

Jesus then tells the disciples to look at temptations to sin.  He says it is better to remove the part of you that is sinful then to let the whole be spoiled.  Salt, as we looked at before, can be used as a preserving agent in meats to keep them fresh for long periods of time.  If the salt ceases to do its job the whole slab of meat may spoil.  It is better to remove the poorly salted portion which has gone bad than to lose the whole piece.

Jesus says, “Have salt in yourself”.  What does this mean?  Salt has many uses.  Can we be a preserver of others or of ourselves by standing firm in the gospel?  Maybe we are called to cleanse ourselves from that which we know draws us to sin?  Perhaps we can be flavor, being creative, adding interest and depth to the world.  Maybe we are healers; reminding others of what Jesus has done for them.  Maybe we keep people and ourselves safe, by recognizing what is not good with the world, working to avoid it in ourselves, and fixing it if we can.  Jesus says, “Salt is good… and to have salt in yourself.”

Discussion Questions

  • When Jesus says to “have salt in yourself” what property of salt do you think that applies to?
  • Having read the Scripture text, what do you think was the disciples’ original reaction?
  • How can you serve as ‘salt’ to another person?
  • In what ways do you need to preserve yourself?

 

Activity Suggestions

  • Play with some salt. Get a couple of different kinds, sea salt, table salt, rock salt.  Have students create art using the salt, paper, and glue.
  • Eat some salt.  Offer some salty snacks such as pretzels, chips, or even pancakes.
  • Experiment with some salt.  Get an old fashioned ice cream maker and have the students make ice cream throughout the class.  Watch how the salt, combined with the ice, makes the cream freeze.
  • Spread the salt.  Give your students a little bag of salt with a reminder to ‘Have Salt in themselves and be at peace with one another. Mark 9:50”

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for blessing us with this time together.  We are salt and salt is good.  Help us to see your activity in our lives and in the lives of those around us.  Help us to see our many uses and the variety of ways we can be of service to you and to others. Please use us Lord for your kingdom. Amen.

 

September 23, 2012–Self-Esteem

Contributed by John Hougen, Melrose Park, PA

Warm-up Question

Think of times when you felt great. What caused your positive feelings about yourself and your situation?

Self-Esteem

As the boxer Muhammad Ali was rising through the ranks toward becoming heavyweight champion of the world, he was famous for strutting proudly, speaking about himself in laudatory poetry (long before hip hop), and proclaiming, “I am the greatest.” He did not have problems with low self-esteem.

Not many of us have the supreme self-confidence of Muhammad Ali. Most of us struggle with low self-esteem for one reason or another. There are under-achievers who think they are unable to succeed and sabotage their own efforts. There are over-achievers who are always disappointed because they fall short of perfection. There are those who buy into cultural stereotypes of inferiority (of race, social status, economic class). There are those who, in childhood, come to believe discouraging messages from critical parents, teachers, or peers. There are those who start out with confidence, but have it shattered by failures in the “real world.” There are pious Christians who believe that the Bible’s emphases on sinfulness and “humility and meekness” mean that we should not love ourselves.

In our culture, where so many struggle with low self-esteem, there are both unhealthy and healthy ways to come by a positive self-image. One example of an unhealthy way to improve one’s self-image is through drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol promise “good feelings,” but their effects are short-lived and usually are followed by a crash into lower self-esteem. Another unhealthy road to high self-esteem is to seek fame at any cost. Cravings for “fame” and “celebrity” can lead people to do stupid and self-destructive things just to get noticed by their peers or claim a few moments on TV.

On the other hand, there are many healthy ways to foster positive self-esteem. Loving, affirming parents and teachers help. Close friends help. Setting and achieving realistic goals helps. Maintaining a balance between work and play helps. Attending to the health of body, mind, and soul helps. And, the Christian faith can help, too. God has affirmed our worth by creating us, watching over us (Psalm 139), by dwelling within us, by forgiving our sins (repeatedly) and giving us fresh starts (repeatedly), by becoming one of us (Jesus Christ “became flesh and lived among us” John 1: 14), by sending the Spirit to love and guide us, and by promising to welcome us into a heavenly home after our life is over. The more intimate our relationship with God, the more we sense that all these teachings apply to us, and the more our faith bolsters our self-esteem.

 

Discussion Questions

  • Can you identify the factors in your life that have helped your self-esteem and those that have hurt it? What are they?
  • Has your experience as a Christian been that Christian faith makes you feel worse about yourself or better?
  • How do you cope with the temptations to bolster your self-esteem with dangerous, stupid, or self-destructive behavior?

 

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 23, 2012 (Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)

 

Jeremiah 11:18-20

James 3:13–4:3, 7-8a

Mark 9:30-37

(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 C at Lectionary Readings.)

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

Gospel Reflection

Jesus and his disciples walked wherever they went. In Mark 9: 30 – 37, they are walking to the fishing village of Capernaum, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. They talk as they walk. Jesus is trying to tell his disciples that trouble is ahead. He will be betrayed and killed; human depravity in the form of disloyalty, lying, false accusation, and murder will end his ministry and his life. However, Jesus adds a note of hope, saying that after he is killed, he will rise again in three days.

The disciples don’t understand what Jesus is saying and “are afraid to ask.” (Verse 32) Perhaps it is impossible for the disciples to imagine such betrayal and violence while walking together on a scenic road to the seashore. Perhaps they had been expecting a triumphant Messiah and cannot wrap their heads around the idea that the Messiah will be killed.

When they reach Capernaum, Jesus asks his disciples what they were arguing about on the way. It turns out they were arguing about who was the greatest. Jesus responds by teaching them about the source of true greatness: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” In other words, to be great and have substantive, authentic, positive self-esteem; you must give up other ideas about how to be great, and see greatness in service.

Then, Jesus illustrates what he means. He lifts up a little child, and holds the child in his arms. In Bible times, children were of “low status in society,” and considered “weak and insignificant.” (Quotations from the marginal note to Mark 9: 36-37 in the Lutheran Study Bible.) Jesus teaches that to serve all, one must be willing to serve those of the lowest status, such as the child he is holding.

Jesus also uses the child to teach his disciples that he and the one who sent him (God) are in solidarity with those who are weak and insignificant. They are united in spirit with the weak. They dwell in the hearts of the insignificant. Their unity with the weak is so profound that Jesus claims, Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9: 37) (See also Matthew 25: 31 – 40) True greatness and authentic, positive self-esteem come from serving; and they also come from welcoming God into our lives. As noted above, the more intimate our relationship with God, the more our faith bolsters our self-esteem.

At the same time Jesus teaches his disciples that true greatness comes from being close to God and serving those of low status in society, he is preparing his disciples for the future: the future he predicted on the road to Capernaum. To continue to worship and serve Jesus as he suffers and dies, and to continue being in relationship through Jesus with the One who sent him, the disciples will have to ignore public judgments about who is the greatest. For, as a criminal on the cross, Jesus – the one they consider great enough to worship and follow – will occupy an even lower status in society than the child Jesus holds as he teaches. (See Philippians 2: 3 – 8). The disciples will have to see greatness in one who serves until it hurts, who serves the weak and insignificant until death stops him, who serves until his only hope for future service is placed in hands of a God who will raise him from the dead. And, the disciples will have to learn that if they want to remain Jesus’ disciples, they too will be called to follow Jesus’ path, and to serve the weak and insignificant until their only hope is in a God who promises to raise them from the dead.

Discussion Questions

  • Are you willing to be a disciple, to worship Jesus and practice his way of serving? What exactly does that mean?
  • Before you encountered this text, what was it about Jesus that made him great in your eyes? Was it his miracles or his being raised from the dead? Was it because prayers in the name of Jesus have helped you? Was it his teachings or the fact that Christianity claims more believers than any other religion? Was it his sinless life or his ability to forgive his enemies? Did you ever think Jesus was great because of his unity with God and his solidarity with those who are weak and insignificant?
  • Do you think it is possible to raise your self-esteem by serving others? Why or why not?
  • Have you had experiences in which you felt God’s presence while serving people in need? Describe the experiences and the feelings.

Activity Suggestions

  •  Children are valued much more in our society than they were in the Roman Empire of Jesus’ day. If Jesus were telling us we must be the servant of all in our society, who or what would he bring into our midst in order to illustrate what he meant when he said we should be the servant of all! Make a list of those of “low status” in our society. Include those who are considered “weak and /or insignificant.” (Are any of those on your list mentioned in Matthew 25: 31 – 40?) Then list the kinds of service needed by the “weak and insignificant” in our society.
  • Make two more lists: entitle one “Ways I Bolster my Self-esteem” and the other “Opportunities for Service.” Choose the least healthy “way” in your first list and the most attractive “opportunity” in your second list. During the month ahead try to replace the least healthy way you bolster your self-esteem by replacing it with the most attractive service opportunity. Share with your group your progress toward becoming great in service.

Closing Prayer

Gracious God, help us to see that those who serve are the greatest among us. Give us the courage to be different from all who seek greatness in power, fame, wealth, and prestige. Guide us into lives of service for those who need it the most, and help us to discern your presence within them.  Amen.

September 16, 2012–Take Up Your Cross

Contributed by Scott Mims, Virginia Beach, VA

 

Warm-up Question

  •   (Activity) Give each person some Play-Doh or similar material and have them create a sculpture or a symbol that represents or relates to their faith.  After a few minutes, have everyone share their creation and what it symbolizes.  Take note of how many people incorporate a cross in their sculpture.
  • Do you think it is easy or hard to be a Christian today?  Why?
  • If you had to create a single text message that shares the gospel with someone, what would it say?

Take Up Your Cross

Should a person be fired for wearing a cross, especially when co-workers of other faiths are allowed to wear items symbolic of their beliefs?  Is it appropriate for Christians to refuse to provide services to homosexual couples if doing so conflicts with their personal religious convictions?  These are the issues underlying what some are calling “a watershed moment” in Great Britain.

Four Christians in England, who each claim to have lost their jobs because of discrimination against their Christian beliefs, have recently been granted a hearing by the European Court of Human Rights.  Their case has further fueled debate in England over how to appropriately balance the rights of people to practice their faith with the protection of the rights of others in society.  In recent times British courts have ruled overwhelmingly against Christians, occasionally comparing their beliefs unfavorably with secular principles.

Discussion Questions

  • What do you think it means to be a Christian?
  • Do you think that being a Christian is more a matter of what you believe or how you act?
  • Do you feel comfortable wearing jewelry or clothing that identifies you as a Christian?  If not, why not?  If so, are there places or situations where you would feel uncomfortable or that doing so would be inappropriate?
  • Do you agree or disagree: our overall culture is becoming increasingly indifferent, if not openly hostile, to Christianity?  Why?
  • What limits, if any, should there be on religious expression?  For example some religions have mandates regarding facial hair or head covering.  Should employers be able to require a shave or a bare head?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 16, 2012 (16th Sunday after Pentecost)

Isaiah 50:4-9a

James 3:1-12

Mark 8:27-38

(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 C at Lectionary Readings.)

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

 

Gospel Reflection

This particular passage is often called the fulcrum or “hinge” of Mark’s gospel account.  Not only is it the midpoint of the book, it also marks several important turning points in the story.  Geographically, Jesus has been working mostly in the region of Galilee, but now his ministry will lead him steadily onward to Jerusalem and the cross.  Theologically several shifts also occur.  Up to this point, Mark has focused on who Jesus is as shown by his words and his works of power.  The conclusion he hopes that we, the readers of the gospel, will reach is the same one that Peter voices – Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.  So, from here on out the gospel will focus much more on what it means that Jesus is the Christ, and subsequently, what it means to those who call themselves Christians.  That is to say, there is a shift at this point from the invitation to follow Jesus to what discipleship – following Jesus – truly looks like.

So, what does discipleship look like?  Another important feature of this passage is that it contains the first of three instances, three “passion predictions,” in which Jesus foretells what lies at the end of his journey to Jerusalem (verse 31).  Here, as in the other two instances (Mk. 9:30, 10:32-34), those closest to Jesus fail to understand what he is talking about.  Peter rather famously pulls Jesus aside, as if Jesus is the candidate and Peter the campaign manager, and begins to rebuke Jesus for saying such things.  Jesus just as famously puts Peter in his place.  “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”  And here is the essence of the matter, it is not the disciple’s place to define what “Messiah” or “Christ” mean, for it is Jesus alone who gets to define these things.  The disciple’s place is simply to get behind Jesus, to take up her or his cross, and to follow.

But what does it mean to take up one’s cross?  Is it simply to deal with the problems or troubles that come your way with as much patience, determination, and faith as possible?  We often hear of “bearing our cross” in terms of such things.  Yet Jesus has something else, something deeper in mind than getting through life as best as we can.  After all, the cross that awaits Jesus in Jerusalem is not an accidental event or circumstance for him to “get through,” it is a direct result of his own work to confront the powers of sin, evil, and death.  Jesus defined Messiah in terms of his identification with the outcasts, the forgotten, and the oppressed, bringing to them in word and deed the promise of God’s coming kingdom.  This has important implications for all who would follow Jesus.  “Taking up the cross means being at work where God is at work in the world to relieve suffering and injustice, to rescue the weak, and to bring peace and justice to bear in the human community.” (R. Alan Culpepper, Mark)  Because God has gifted each of us with a unique set of gifts, talents, abilities, and experiences, each of us has a unique opportunity to take up our cross and participate in God’s redemptive work in the world.

Discussion Questions

  • One often hears that all you need to do in order to be a Christian is to “believe in Jesus” or to “accept him as your personal Lord and Savior.” How do such statements compare with what Jesus calls us to in this passage?  Can a person follow Jesus apart from believing in him?  Can a person believe in him without following?
  • If you were either to paint a picture or to make a list of what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus, what are some of the things that you would include?
  • How far would you be willing to go in order to be a disciple?  What things in your life right now would you be willing to give up, change, or take on in order to follow Jesus?
  • Even after listening to him teach and witnessing the things that he did, Jesus’ disciples still had a hard time fully understanding what he was up to.  Are there ways in which Christians today misunderstand Jesus?

Activity Suggestions

  • Baptismal Connections    Examine together the Affirmation of Baptism service, and especially the description of our baptismal covenant (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, pg. 236; Lutheran Book of Worship, pg. 201).  How is this a description of what it means to be a disciple?  Brainstorm together some practical, every day ways you can live out these promises.  For example, what does it look like to live among God’s faithful people?  How does one proclaim the good news of God in word and deed in real, actionable terms, or strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
  • Gifted to Serve   Use a spiritual gifts inventory, or other such instrument, to help participants identify and claim some of the ways in which God has gifted them.  Challenge them to consider how they might use their specific gifts and abilities to participate in God’s redemptive work in the world.  How can using their gifts become a way of taking up their cross and following Jesus?  One such inventory can be found on the ELCA website:

http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Discipleship/Christian-Education/Program-Planners/2005/SpiritualGifts.aspx

Closing Prayer

Gracious and loving God, in the waters of baptism you name us and claim us and make us your own.  Thank you for the gift of new life and for the invitation to experience that life in the community of your church.  Fill us with your Spirit, call deeply to our hearts, and lead us to more fully and faithfully follow Jesus.  Guide our thoughts, our words, and our actions, that we may be your hands and voice in a world so hungry to experience good news.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

 

September 9, 2012–Us and Them

Contributed by Aaron Matson, Toronto, SD

Warm-up Questions

To what groups do you belong? What makes you a part of those groups? What are the symbols or signs of belonging to those groups or any characteristics members of those groups share?

 

Us and Them

The ancient philosopher Aristotle once argued that “Man is a political animal.”  He meant that we humans tend to form groups, and groups of groups, and even cities (the Greek word polis means “city”) and civilizations. The Biblical witness seems to affirm this observation. In Genesis, at creation, God gives Adam companions, because “it is not right for man to be alone;” first animals and then a female to be an equal partner, Eve.

Groups are good, they offer protection, support, belonging, and order. Faith is meant to be lived in community. Sure, individuals make up communities, but Christians in the Bible are always with others who are believers too.

Yet, groups are not always good. When they become exclusive or jealous and become “us and them,” they turn from good to bad. It can start as innocently as a hurtful word and can escalate to the use of weapons. When large groups turn bad there can even be war and genocide.

 

Discussion Questions

How do you know whether a group is good or not? What characteristics does it have or lack? How do you know what to look for?

 Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 9, 2012 (20th Sunday After Pentecost)

Isaiah 35:4-7a

James 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17

Mark 7:24-37

(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 C at Lectionary Readings.)

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

 

Gospel Reflection

The Syrophoenician Woman is part of a group that you don’t usually see at church. She isn’t really accepted by the regular folks. If she belonged to your congregation, she would be the type of person who might come to church, but you’d never see her reading the lessons, helping serve communion, or attending a bible study. Those activities are for the “good” people who do things right. She is not one of those women. She doesn’t have the right skin tone or the right upbringing to really be a part of the “good” crowd of the church.

Jesus is part of a different group. He is a Jew. He’s come to save the Jews. He hasn’t come to take care of this woman, and in his eyes he doesn’t need to be concerned with her. She’s not the reason he’s in Tyre. She’s merely an annoying whining woman who won’t leave him alone. She is a woman who doesn’t understand her place. She shouldn’t even be speaking to him in this place in this way.

In reaction to the woman’s plea for Jesus to heal her daughter of the demon Jesus responds by letting her know that he doesn’t need to heal her daughter. He hasn’t come to save people like her and her daughter. Then the woman comes back at him with a statement he can’t refuse. She gets him to realize he might not have come for her, but even people like her get the leftovers of his teaching, healing, and saving work.

Jesus realizes she is speaking the truth. He says that her daughter is made well and she can leave. Jesus’ mind is opened by the words of a woman so different from him that he was ready to deny her daughter healing, but a desperate mother calls him back to his senses and her daughter is healed.

This encounter is hard to hear. Jesus doesn’t just take care of the need he needs to be called out. He needs to be confronted.

Discussion Questions

  • What situation in your life makes you so desperate you’d be willing to enter a place you weren’t invited to plead for someone you love?
  • Who do you feel is so different from you that you’d ignore their needs when you could give them what they need without it costing you anything?
  • How do you react to what seems like very harsh words from Jesus to the woman in the lesson?  How does this story affect your image of Jesus?

 Activity Suggestions

  • Look up the word “dog” to see how it is used throughout the Bible.
  • Research what life would’ve been like for a Gentile woman in the world of today’s text.
  • Invite a Jewish friend to talk about their faith life.
  • Go through a newspaper and see how many examples you can find of conflict rooted in group identity which excludes those of another group.  Discuss what it would take to break down the barriers separating the groups.

 

 Closing Prayer

Gracious Lord, there are times when we feel alienated from you, bring us close to your love every single day. There are times when we feel so different from those around us that we turn our back when we could offer a hand in help. As the Syrophoenicain woman turned you to heal her daughter, jolt us out of our complacency, expand our vision, and turn us toward all our neighbors. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.