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

Warm-up Question: Share a time when something happened that was just not fair, that you had no control over. For instance, a car wreck, getting blamed for something you didn’t do, etc.

It seems all we hear about is news about the economy these days. When we hear all the news, we hope that somehow the biggest fallout will pass us by. We hope we will keep our jobs as long as we keep working hard, keep our heads down, and hang on. But for 1,100 Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler dealerships, suddenly they are no longer hanging on but have become a part of the growing statistic of pink-slipped people.

After filing for bankruptcy, Chrysler has been waiting for the results of the government’s plan to help the automaker recover. The decisions are not Chrysler’s, they can only wait and see what recommendations come through. The government put into place one recommendation asking for 1,100 dealerships to close by the end of the month. With the potential of 40,000 jobs lost, many people are in fear for their financial lives. The news comes in the mail this week via letter to the dealerships. Perhaps a mail carrier has never been watched more closely at a Chrysler dealership than on May 15.

Many men and women around the country are also watching their mailboxes, in-boxes, e-mail, and inter-office memos closely waiting to see if they are the next people cut in the continued need to trim budgets in a weakening economy. Tension runs high in many places as people worry, “will I be the next to receive the luck, or perhaps bad luck, of the draw?”

Discussion Questions

• Do you know anyone who has lost a job or had to accept a cut in salary, pay, or work hours because of the economy? How are they dealing with the change?
• What if this situation happened to you? How would you feel? Would you be angry? Frustrated? Relieved? What sort of changes do you think you or your family would need to make to cope?
• Do you believe in luck? Why or why not?
• Why do you think good things keep happening to some people and bad to others? Is there a greater design to it that some are given blessings and others are not — on purpose?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 24, 2009.

(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 B at Lectionary Readings.)

• Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
• Psalm 1
• 1 John 5:9-13
• John 17:6-19

Gospel Reflection

Reading the Gospel lesson again, I am reminded that I have always felt bad for Barsabbas. I mean seriously, the poor guy is obviously someone who has followed Jesus for a long time if he is to be considered a choice to be apostle. He is named “Son of the Sabbath” which is a really cool name, and here he is passed over because he drew the short straw. Man, that just stinks for him. Now he is not an apostle simply because of luck?

Perhaps, but also perhaps the world spins on its own and God chooses moments to intersect the kingdom of heaven with the kingdom of earth in actions like healings, tremendous coincidences, visions, and prophecy, to name a few. We call them miracles because, well, they do not happen all the time, right? It seems that God does intervene sometimes, but not in others. How then does God choose when and how? Why are some healed and some not? Why do good things happen to some and others, well, seem to “draw the short straw”? What happens? Is it luck, a choice, or God’s action?

There is no perfect answer to this question, but we can take reassurance in one interesting thought: for every person healed or raised from the dead or freed from slavery, all of them still suffered the ultimate end, death. Yes, we glimpsed the kingdom when Lazarus was raised from the dead, but he eventually died anyway. Yes, Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead and all wondered and praised God, but she died eventually too. I have known friends who have recovered from cancer and yet in their old age they still moved on into death. It seems that no matter what little thing befalls us in this life, the good and the ill, in the end we all have our ticket punched and none of us live forever. (Just ask Voldemort.)

How is this good news?

These glimpses of the kingdom, these tiny, infrequent moments, are not rewards for people who have been good or bad, they are signposts for what God wants to do in total. We can see that if God wants to raise one of these from the dead, this is a sign that God can do this for all of us. Ultimately we know this through Jesus who was raised from the dead so that while we know death we will not have fear. We are all blessed to receive the miracle of Jesus’ grace. For all that luck or blessing or miracle or curse or whatever we may call it on this side, in the end we are all victorious. We are all blessed. We are all given the gift of new life.

I am not sure I believe in luck. I am not even sure that God played a hand in picking Matthias over Barsabbas. Maybe it just was, for good or bad. Or maybe this was the hand of God in this small instance, a miracle, picking the right one for the job. I just don’t know. Instead, rather than seeing the small picture, I choose to see the big picture. Remember that we are all chosen, straws or not, to be God’s children. This isn’t luck. It’s a blessing.

 Or was it luck? It seems that the text wants us to consider that God had a hand in how this drama unfolded, that the true apostle would be picked by divine providence and the right one would become the apostle. But does God work this way? Is God really the one pulling all the little strings of every moment of every action?

Discussion Questions

• How do you think it would have felt to be Barsabbas? What do you think you would have done? Been mad and left? Stuck around? Accepted the decision? Been bitter?
• The good and the bad that happen to you… do you think they all come from God?Do you tend to call good things luck and bad things God — or vice versa? Why?
• Is God is at work in every little thing? Why or why not? Do you think God works to bless some people in special ways? Do you think God tries to challenge, maybe you’d even say curse, others?
• What do you think when you ask God for an A on a test, or a good job evaluation, or a faster solution to a problem and it doesn’t happen? Who do you blame? God? Do you think it’s life, luck, blessing, or curse?
• What do we do when we pray for healing for someone and it doesn’t happen? Is this God? Life, luck, blessing, or curse? Does healing occur sometimes in a way that we don’t think of or ask for? How?

Quotables

• “We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?”  Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)
• “It is bad luck to be superstitious.”  Andrew W. Mathis
• “Luck favors the prepared, darling.”  Edna Mode in The Incredibles
• “I have a lot of luck, it’s just not always good luck.”  Carter Terry
• “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”  Seneca, Roman dramatist
• “Shallow [people] believe in luck, believe in circumstances. Real [people] believe in cause and effect.”(ed. “men”)  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Activity Suggestion

Lucky Straw

This is a wishing game. It is a simple test, for good or ill. Everyone think of a hope for the coming week, a wish, so to speak. They can be as simple (“I want to be really happy”) or as complex (“I want to grow wings and shoot fireballs from my eyes”) as they wish, but it has to come true this week.

Give people a chance to consider their hope, then write it down on a slip of paper. Give everyone a few minutes to look at the slip of paper, concentrating really hard, REALLY wanting it to happen. Now throw all the slips of paper into a hat or container. Mix them all up telling them that whatever they draw out will come true. Have each person pull one out and read it out loud.

Discuss:

• Do you think it is going to happen? Why or why not?
• Is this a trustworthy process? Why or why not?
• Come back the following week and discuss whether the wish came true. Why do you think it did or didn’t?
• Do you think God or luck played a hand in this?

Closing Prayer

Holy God, for all the good and bad that comes in the world, I know that no matter what, you are our Father, and of you we will have hope that we will rest eternally in you. Thank you for whatever blessings we have been given, forgive us for ascribing good or ill to you that is not yours, and give us confidence to follow you, for good or ill. Amen.

Warm-up Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being most dependent), how dependent do you think you are on electricity for your daily life?


The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continued to hand out emergency food and medical supplies in the aftermath of a multi-state ice storm that has killed 55 people so far. Over 150,000 people were still without power a week after the storm damaged Kentucky’s power grid and knocked out power to 1.3 million homes in several states.

Kentucky’s entire available National Guard has also been deployed to help repair power lines, remove debris, and distribute generators to keep essential services like hospitals and water services running. Emergency service workers are also beginning to go door-to-door in the more rural areas, checking on people trapped in their homes by debris or unable to get to shelters.

Amid the destruction of trees and power outages, rural neighbors are coming together to help each other, sharing food, blankets, and lanterns, and in some cases, knowledge. Kentucky’s 8,500 Amish population, which shuns modern conveniences like electricity, have been helping their neighbors figure out how to live without power in the cold winter temperatures.

Of the 55 deaths blamed on the storm so far, most are from hypothermia, traffic accidents, or carbon monoxide poisoning caused by improper indoor use of portable heaters and generators.

Discussion Questions

• What would your first priority be if your power went out in cold weather?
• How do you typically handle emergency situations? (i.e., panic, problem solve, try to get help, make a plan, etc.)
• What do you think is the best response to an emergency situation?
• Who is the first person you’d contact or try to reach for help in an emergency?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, February 15, 2009.
(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 B at Lectionary Readings.)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30 (2)
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

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

Gospel Reflection

I wonder how many treatments the man with leprosy (people of Jesus’ time thought this skin disease was contagious) tried before coming to see Jesus. I wonder how desperate he had to be to come before Jesus “begging on his knees.”

I don’t know about your life, but there have been times where I have been that desperate. When I was 16, I became pregnant. Yes, I was still in high school. I was ashamed. I was terrified. I was desperate. Maybe you have been in a situation where your own choices or just a bad situation have put you in a corner, seemingly with nowhere to go.

Right now, in Kentucky, I wonder if there are people who cannot leave their homes, but are running out of food and ways to keep warm. They must be desperate too.

I hope that in our times of desperation, we can get on our knees like the man with leprosy and ask Jesus to come into our lives and do what only he can do. I’m not saying that Jesus will take away all our problems and fix everything in our lives. That will not be the case.

But, he will be with us as comforter, strengthener, healer, and friend. He will make a difference in our situations and our lives. I am living proof that this is true. When I was pregnant, I asked for God’s help in what seemed like an insurmountable task for a 16 year old: raising a child. My daughter is now 18 years old. She has been an incredible blessing to me. She has also opened me up to many other blessings in my life: parents who helped and supported me in every possible way, the grace of my church in loving me and my child, and a husband who loves my daughter like his own. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Jesus is just as much a miracle worker today as he ever has been. He continues to work in our lives and the lives of those we care about—in every situation!

Discussion Questions

• How would you feel if you were the man suffering with leprosy and avoided by the people around you? What would you feel after the healing?
• Do you think Jesus is still involved in our world today? If so, how and why? If not, give a reason.
• Have you ever had one of your prayers answered? (Remember, no and maybe are among the range of possible answers. Sometimes other people are the answer.)
• How comfortable do you feel telling other people about how God has worked in your life? What or who would stir up more courage in you to do so?

Activity Suggestion

Provide the words and music to one of the following songs:

• “Praise You in This Storm” by Casting Crowns from the Lifesong album.
• “Blessed Be Your Name” by the Newsboys from the Devotion album.
• “Amazing Grace,” Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #779.
• “Borning Cry,” Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #732.

Videos for these songs can be found on Youtube.com if you have the capability to play them in your class (some of the videos even display the lyrics). If you choose “Amazing Grace” or “Borning Cry,” maybe your church musician or one of your young musicians can play the song for the class while they read (sing?).

Give out (or post up) the lyrics and play the song.

Explain to your students that it is sometimes difficult to talk with others or confess the things in our lives that make us feel desperate. Give out slips of paper on which students can write down something about themselves or their situation that they want to ask God’s help with. If you have an old diary box or cash box with a key, have students put their papers into the box and lock it. Get rid of the key. You can also use an envelope that you seal.

Hold the box or envelope and pray the following:

Closing Prayer

Jesus, we praise you for the way you have always transformed people’s lives and continue to do so even today. We ask that you would come into the situations on these pieces of paper and help us with them in whatever way you will. Thank you for caring about all the small and large details of our lives. Amen.

Contributed by Jennifer Krausz
Bethlehem, PA

Warm-up Question: What would you do the day before becoming president?

One day before his inauguration, then president-elect Obama was spotted painting a wall of a homeless shelter. He also visited a medical center that treats wounded U.S. soldiers and a high school where students volunteered in different ways.

Of course, Obama’s actions that day were not a private matter of goodwill but part of an effort to shape the tone of his new presidency. Obama said in one of the many interviews he gave that day: “I ask the American people to turn today’s efforts into an ongoing commitment to enriching the lives of others in their communities, their cities, and their country.”

Whenever a new president comes into office, the nation experiences a push of hope. Suddenly, the future seems brighter and people assume that things will be better this time around. But can a single man really change an entire country? Obama’s call to volunteer was followed all over the United States this year and was covered by the international media. Now, it is up to his administration and, last but not least, to the stamina of the American people whether this movement of volunteerism can be sustained. The new president has high hopes. He urges the doubters to not “underestimate the power for people to pull together and to accomplish amazing things.”

Discussion Questions

• What, do you think, is the ideal way to spend the day before becoming president?
• Did you volunteer on Martin Luther King’s day this year?
• What have your experiences been in volunteer service?
• Do you think that volunteering for a few hours at a single place such as a soup kitchen or day care center can really change lives? How?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, February 8, 2009.
(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 B at Lectionary Readings.)

• Isaiah 40:21-31
• Psalm 147:1-11, 20c (3)
• 1 Corinthians 9:16-23
• Mark 1:29-39

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

Gospel Reflection

Just two verses, 27 words, in the Greek original text of the New Testament, and 42 words in the English of the NRSV translation … This is probably the shortest miracle story in the Gospels!

A woman is in a house. She is bed-ridden because of a fever. Jesus is called to her. He heals her and she immediately goes about her business. This story is placed at the beginning stages of Mark’s recounting of Jesus’ public ministry, but it is not the first healing and not the first miracle that Jesus performs. Just before, he healed a man at a synagogue. And right after, Jesus is overrun by the sick and the possessed of the town including their relatives that bring them to him and ask for his help. It is as if Jesus circle of influence widens at this point. Only a few people witnessed the healing at the synagogue and this miracle in a private residence, but the news about Jesus and his amazing powers spread immediately.

The miracle itself is done in the simplest way. Jesus does not do anything special, he does not pray or say anything. He just takes the woman’s hand and helps her up, a sequence of events that Mark’s readers will encounter again in Mark 5:41 and 9:27.

What is unique about this healing is that Jesus here performs a miracle for the benefit of somebody within his closest circle of friends. It is the mother-in-law of his first disciple, Simon Peter, the “rock” upon which he will build his church (Matthew 16:18).

What is the result of this healing miracle? The Gospel writers usually add a note that, after being healed by Jesus, the person in question is actually able to walk, stand, see, or whatever else he or she was previously not able to do. Simon’s mother-in-law does more than simply get up or stand on her own, or get rid of a fever. She is healed, gets up, and begins to serve Jesus and his followers. Of course, being good hosts is what women were supposed to do when guests entered the house. Yet, her “serving” is something special.

The Greek verb “diakoneo,” from which the term “deacon” comes, is only used a few times in the New Testament. Aside from Simon’s mother-in-law, it is applied to a few special women such as Martha (John 12:2), the righteous (Matthew 25:44), Paul’s disciple Onesiphorus (1 Timothy 1:18), and the angels (Matthew 4:11, Mark 1:13). What these special servants have in common is that they all serve Jesus: the angels wait on him after he has rejected Satan, Martha and the other women provide for him and his disciples, Onesiphorus proclaims his word. Doing “diakoneo” work is thus human and angelic business, providing for Jesus when he still walked on earth and making sure that his message is spread throughout history in every place.

Discussion Questions

• The term “servant” can refer to a person who does demeaning work or to somebody who needs to be praised for his or her willingness to put one’s own needs below the needs of others. Do you think that this expression is still a good description for somebody who works in the church or does acts of Christian charity or compassion? How do you understand the term today?
• Where does your church do “service” in the way the verb “diakoneo” is used in this passage? Where do you?
• Some scholars who studied the Gospel of Mark claimed that the disciples mention the woman’s illness to Jesus in order to apologize for the fact that Simon’s house is not inviting and that no feast is prepared. Do you think that the woman falls into the typical patterns of female behavior when she gets up from her sick-bed and immediately takes care of others? What do you think would be your first actions if you had been healed by Jesus?

Activity Suggestions

1. There is a pattern!
Healing stories in the Gospels often follow a certain pattern: 1) the miracle worker arrives, 2) the situation of the sick person is described, 3) the healing is performed, and 4) there is some kind of proof that the person was actually healed.

Find other healing stories in the Gospel of Mark and check which ones fit that pattern and which ones might deviate from it. For this activity, it would be helpful to provide a table with 5 columns and several rows. The 4 steps appear in the top row, columns 2-5. Students can then add the stories they found in the first column and fill in the details of each story in columns 2-5.

2. Deacons are …
Have your students read the stories mentioned above that use the Greek verb “diakoneo” and write a list of characteristics that identify someone as a “deacon” of that kind. Discuss what a modern person would have to do in order to be such a deacon and whether your students can imagine becoming such a person.

3. Divine Valentine
Have paper, scissors, ribbons, scrapbook materials, glue, and anything else available with which your students can make their own Valentine’s Day cards. Invite them to make “Divine Valentines,” cards that tell somebody that they are loved by God (this is one of the aspects of being a deacon, spreading the word about Jesus and God’s love!).

As they make their cards, talk with them about people who need to hear that God loves them. Either, leave it up to them who should receive their card or arrange for a special follow-up project where you take these cards to a group home, nursing home, shelter, or another place in your neighborhood where this message is needed. You can also leave it up to them whether they want to write a scripture verse inside (provide a few about God’s love) or whether they would like to add a personal note.

Closing Prayer

You are truly amazing, Lord:
You provide for us and guide our lives.
You give us friends and families that care for us and that we might care for.
But most amazing is that in your death and resurrection you became a servant for us. You died so that we may live.
Grant, that we can become your servants in turn:
That we can do your work on earth.
That we can proclaim your word.
And that we can spread the news of your love to people that have never heard it or experienced it. Amen.

Contributed by Pastor Claudia Bergmann
Eisleben, Germany