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September, 4, 2016–All In

Paul Baglyos, St. Paul, MN

 

Warm-up Question

 Is Jesus dangerous and scary?

All In

Victor Barnard was extradited from Brazil by U. S. authorities earlier this summer and returned to Minnesota where he will stand trial for alleged abuses against members of Shepherd’s Camp, a cult-like commune he founded in Minnesota’s Pine County.  For the story of the commune and the alleged abuses perpetrated by Barnard, including the attribution for this photograph, see: http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/06/pine-county-minnesota-sex-offender-victor-barnard.html

shutterstock_391206166Barnard’s story is similar to that of countless other predators who manage to gather a group of committed followers by using familiar methods of brainwashing.  Such predators appeal to the ideals, values, and good intentions of people who are motivated to seek and to build a better world, convincing them that they – the predators – have special insight and knowledge about how to achieve that goal.

Once a group of followers begins to form around the persuasive teaching of a predatory leader, the leader then isolates the group by physical relocation to a remote place.  Social isolation accompanies physical isolation as followers are persuaded to break all former ties and relationships, especially with family members outside the group.  Everyone and everything outside the group is identified as corrupt and evil; followers are taught to renounce and abandon all aspects of their former lives in favor of the new life they are building together under the direction of the leader.

Physical deprivations affecting diet and sleep are commonly used to erode any resistance on the part of the group, and punishments are commonly used to ensure compliance and conformity with the will of the leader.  The true predatory intentions of the leader are shielded by claims of divinity: the leader promotes himself or herself as God or Messiah to the group, demanding unquestioned and unhesitating obedience to his or her will.

Stories like that of Victor Barnard and Shepherd’s Camp are frighteningly common, involving not only such infamous figures as Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh but many other predators far less known to the general public.  Accounts of predatory leaders who form a group of followers to satisfy their own perverse ambitions are widespread in print and online media.  Here are links to two examples that seek to explain this phenomenon:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-kerr/how-cults-gain-power-over_b_3998553.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9061694/How-Igot-sucked-into-a-cult.html

Discussion Questions

  • Do any of you recognize the names of Charles Manson, Jim Jones or David Koresh?  What do you know about them and their followers?  How is Victor Barnard’s story similar to theirs?
  • Read one or both of the two stories linked at the end of the previous section.  Why do you think good people become followers of bad leaders?
  • In what ways do such stories sound similar to Bible stories that you know or to Christian teachings you have learned?  Why do you think predatory leaders commonly appeal to scripture and religious tradition?

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Philemon 1-21

Luke 14:25-33

(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

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

Gospel Reflection

The words of Jesus in this passage – especially in verse 26 – are hard to swallow.  When Jesus says that discipleship means hating one’s parents, spouse, children and siblings, he sounds like the “creepy cult leader” in the news story above, or like any of the other creepy cult leaders who prey upon their followers to gratify their own perverse desires.  At the end of the passage, Jesus talks about having to “give up all your possessions,” which is another of the demands that predators such as Victor Barnard commonly make upon their followers.

If we isolate this passage from the larger context of the Bible, then it becomes not only hard to swallow but downright poisonous and deadly.  The last thing the world needs is more hate, and if the message of Jesus is somehow a message of hate then it doesn’t deserve even a moment of our time or an ounce of our attention.

But this passage – like all other passages in the Bible – cannot be isolated from the larger context of scripture.  In order to understand these verses from the fourteenth chapter of Luke, it is important to let the entire Bible guide our interpretation.

The contemporary English word “hate” expresses extreme emotion, associated with intense anger or revulsion that can prompt a person to violence or other forms of destruction.  The Greek word for “hate” in the New Testament does not have quite the same meaning, because it has more to do with the values, choices and commitments expressed in one’s actions and behaviors and less to do with intense emotion.  Nevertheless, the Greek word translated into English as “hate” is a strong word, and Jesus’ use of that word should not be diluted or domesticated just to make it easier to swallow.

Neither can that troubling word “hate” in the fourteenth chapter of Luke be rightly understood apart from the one who speaks it.  This is, after all, Jesus who speaks in this passage, and the meaning of the words he uses must be understood in the light of his entire life, death and resurrection.  The Good News that Jesus proclaims – the Good News that Jesus is – is not about hate, but about life, hope, and the love of God for all people, without exception.  Anyone who embraces that Good News and endeavors to live that Good News will find himself or herself at odds with people who would rather restrict God’s love to those they consider worthy of it.

In a world that considers only some people worthy of love, worthy of life, and worthy of hope, the radical Good News of Jesus Christ is a very odd sort of message, scarcely comprehensible.  Disciples of Jesus who embrace that Good News and seek to live it fully and passionately will find themselves also regarded as odd and incomprehensible, sometimes including the people they love most dearly!  In these verses from the fourteenth chapter of Luke, Jesus is telling his followers to be prepared for that, to expect it, and to be ready to persist in faith even when it makes them odd and incomprehensible to others.

Discussion Questions

  • Have you ever experienced a situation in which your Christian faith made you seem odd to other people?  How did you feel?  What did you think?  What did you do?
  • Do you know anyone whose faith in Jesus Christ has led them to take a stand that alienated or estranged them from other people, maybe even other people who were very close to them?
  • Can you think of something that Jesus is calling you to do as an act of discipleship that you have been reluctant to do because it might make you seem odd to other people?  How might you overcome your reluctance?

Activity Suggestions

Using a concordance or electronic search (http://bible.oremus.org/ is one tool) look up other passages in the New Testament gospel narratives where the word “hate” is used.  How similar or dissimilar to Luke 14:26 do those passages seem to you?  As a group, list all the ways that any of you practice the kind of “hate” that Jesus associates with faith and discipleship.

Closing Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, but always to your glory and the welfare of your people, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Evangelical Lutheran Worship, page 86

April 24, 2016–Last Wishes

Brian Hiortdahl, Overland Park, KS

 

Warm-up Question

If you knew you had only a short time to live and were granted one last wish, what would it be?

Last Wishes

shutterstock_363528029Five year old Chen Xiaotian was diagnosed with brain cancer within months of his mother learning that she had uremia.  After two years, both conditions worsened.  Chen, 7, knowing he would die, was aware that his kidney might save his mother.  He pleaded with her to let him save her life.  Two hours after Chen’s death, his mother received his kidney.  Two other persons benefited from Chen’s gift of life.  His other kidney was transplanted to a 21-year old woman and a 26-year old man received Chen’s liver.

For further information:  video    news story

Discussion Questions

  • How does this story make you feel?
  • Would you want to be an organ donor?  Why or why not?
  • Can you think of other examples where something good came out of tragedy?

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 11:1-18

Revelation 21:1-6

John 13:31-35

(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

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

Gospel Reflection

Jesus, knowing he will die, shares one final evening with his disciples.  He begins by washing their feet (despite initial resistance from Peter) and sharing bread with his betrayer.  After doing this, he states his dying wish as a new commandment:  Love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another.

Later that same evening, after repeating this commandment (15:12), Jesus elaborates:  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends (15:13).  Like Chen, Jesus sees life for others coming from his death.  On this night in the other gospels, Jesus institutes his supper of Holy Communion—his life continuing to live inside his disciples’ bodies, giving them new strength.

This is how Jesus is “glorified.”  For him, glory does not come from fame or riches or popularity or success or adulation.  It comes through death.  He does not receive glory in, but radiates it out through the love his disciples show and share, following his lead.  His final wish is not anything for himself, but for the ongoing blessing of others.

Discussion Questions

  • What parallels do you see between Chen and Jesus?
  • How do you define glory?  How does that compare with how the world and Jesus define it?
  • In what tangible ways do members of your group/family/church “love one another”?  Would others recognize that you are Jesus’ disciples by the way that you treat one another?
  • Who would you be willing to die for?

Activity Suggestions

  • As a group, wash one another’s feet.  Follow with discussion about how it feels.  After that, make plans for washing the feet of others you know, perhaps in a homeless shelter, nursing home, or another setting with people who are often overlooked or undervalued.  Who would benefit from this form of loving service in your community?
  • Research the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  What stories from their work inspire you?

Closing Prayer

God of glory, graciously continue to fill our hearts, our bloodstreams, and our lives with the love of Jesus.  Strengthen us to love one another and teach us how to give life to others.  Comfort the dying and give them, like Chen, an opportunity to help others live.  Transform all our troubles into glory through Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Lord.  Amen

March 23, 2014–Crossing Borders

Contributed by Danny Stone, Cedar Rapids, IA

 

Warm-up Question

Share a time when you were sick and needed someone to care for you?

Crossing Borders

shutterstock_92999659editSanaz Nezam emigrated to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the fall of 2013.  The “Yoopee” seems like an unlikely home for a 27-year-old from Iran, but Houghton’s Michigan Tech is a top notch Engineering University.  Sanaz was a graduate of Tehran University, earned a degree in French translation, was fluent in Farsi, French and English and knew a little Spanish, German, Arabic and Swahili.  Like many young adults she had a Facebook page full of inspirational quotes.  She was a newly-wed, active volunteer and was a Muslim who also attended a Christian congregation.

On December 9th, 2013, Sanza was transported from Houghton to a larger regional medical facility, Marquette General Hospital (MGH) in Marquette, Mi. Sanza was brain dead.  Her husband, Nima Nassiri, was in the Houghton County jail facing domestic assault charges.

Nurses researched the special care required for a Muslim woman, but contacting Sanza’s family was difficult. Since the Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979 – 1981), the United States has not had an embassy in Tehran.  However, clever detective work by MGH nurses helped the medical staff  contact Sanza’s family.  Nurses worked with translators to communicate and eventually set up streaming video.  According to MGH nurse, Gail Brandley,  Sanza’s family “actually asked the nurses to stroke her hair, to kiss her forehead and provide that loving touch that they normally would. And it wasn’t just one nurse that they were able to connect with. It seemed like every nurse that came on just really wanted to help this poor family that was helpless 6,000 miles away. And the family could really see and feel the compassion from each and every nurse.”  (NPR’s Here & Now).

After having the chance to say goodbye via the video conference, Sanaz’s family agreed to donate her heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and small intestine.  Her husband has been charged with murder, but Sanza’s death allows others to live.

Discussion Questions

  • Nurses have a difficult job.  What difficulties did the Sanaz’s nurses face?
  • What were some of the cultural concerns Sanaz ‘s nurses worked to overcome?
  • Have you met someone who recently emigrated to the United States?  What was their experience like?
  • According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.  What are some things we could do to end the violence?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, March 23, 2014 (Third Sunday in Lent

Exodus 17:1-7

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-42

 

(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 animosity between Jews and Samaritans can trace its roots Jacob’s  (aka Israel)  troubled family.  Remember the twelve sons, a special coat made for Joseph, jealous brothers selling him into slavery, Joseph’s rise in Egypt and the reunion with his half -starved family.  In his last days, Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons to be great leaders of the tribes.  Their descendants founded the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah).

Israel, with its capital Samaria, was the first kingdom to fall.  Assyrians attacked and scattered the tribes in 722 BCE.   Israel’s survivors intermarried with colonists and mingled their religious traditions.  Judah was conquered and taken into Babylonian captivity in 600 BCE, but 43,000 were allowed to return to Judah and Jerusalem in 538 BCE.  The northern Samaritans resented the returning tribes with their religion influenced by time in Babylon, and the southern Jews despised their northern relatives for foreign intermarriage and paganism.  By the time of Jesus, Samaritan and Jewish animosity frequently bubbled over into violent clashes.  Both groups forbade all contact.

Jesus was breaking cultural norms by even talking with a Samaritan, yet alone a woman, yet alone a woman who had several marriages.  During the time of the Gospel, women generally only had contact with other women or male relatives. Women could not worship with men and were not educated.  In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus throwing out all the old cultural rules to model a new way.

Discussion Questions

  • What are some of the social rules that have changed in the last 100 years?
  • Have social rules changed for better or worse?  Why?
  • Do cultures change quickly or over long periods of time?  Try to share concrete examples.
  • Which of today’s social rules or social issues would Jesus challenge?

 

Activity Suggestions

Option 1:  Gather a wide variety of magazines that feature people of many ages, cultures and sub-cultures. Have small groups make collages that celebrate our cultural diversity.

Option 2:  Allow teens to pull out their phones and research Sanaz Nezam.  Small groups can give brief presentations from information they gather.

Closing Prayer

Dear God, Father of all.  Please, bless the work of nurses and all health care workers.  Their love and compassion is desperately needed in our all too violent world.  Bring comport to those who mourn, understanding to those who are intolerant, peace to those who hate, and forgiveness to those who act in violence.  In your holy and universal name we pray, Amen.

 

November 10, 2013–There Are No Zombies in Heaven (But God would love them if they existed)

Contributed by Dennis Sepper, Tacoma, WA

 

Warm-up Question

What do you think happens after a person dies?  What do you think heaven will be like?

Zombies Everywhere

shutterstock_59728765editIt seems these days you cannot walk six feet without running into a zombie!  The Walking Dead set a record recently for the largest viewing audience watching a season opening television show (and it was the fourth season).  The Internet Movie Database lists some 53 (yes…53!) movies released or about to be released in 2013 alone that have zombies as characters in the movie.  The list goes from World War Z (which got the most hype because of Brad Pitt) to, I am not making this up, A Zombie Love Song.  Finally, at the university where I work the student body just participated in Zombie Zumba (It seems even the undead need to keep fit).

It appears there is a cycle when the popularity of witches, vampires, werewolves and zombies rise and fall and now it is the zombies turn to be most popular.  This is true, not just in the United States, but all around the world.  Professor Sarah Lauro of Clemson University has studied Zombie Walks (basically a flash mob, but the participants dress as zombies).  Dr. Lauro has documented zombie walks in 20 countries, the largest drawing over 4,000 participants.  Dr. Lauro believes that when times are unsure and people feel more powerless about their lives for the future, zombies gain popularity.

Zombies represent death and our fears.  They are the great leveler as all people are plagued with the undead.  And we root for the movie or TV hero who has the courage, strength and wisdom to take care of the zombies as they symbolically take care of our fears and our fear of death.

Discussion Questions

  • So where do you stand on zombies?  Are you a fan?  Why or why not?
  • Why do you think zombies are so popular these days?  Do you think they symbolize our fear of things?  Why or why not?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, XXXXXX (SEASON)

 Job 19:23-27a

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Luke 20:27-38

(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

At the beginning of this week’s text, we are told that the Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection come to Jesus with a hypothetical question.  They are not people seeking knowledge from Rabbi Jesus, they are trying to make Jesus and the belief in the resurrection look foolish.  To understand their trick question we need to know a little bit about first century society.  There was an ancient Levite law that is described in verses 28.  This may sound funny to us today but it was a way that the community took care of widows who faced a very bad future if they had no family to take of them.  The Sadducees offer up the crazy scenario we read about in verses 29-33 where one women ends up the bride of seven brothers.  The Sadducees want to know whose wife she will be in the resurrection.

Jesus doesn’t take the bait.  Instead Jesus points out that in the resurrection all things will be made new and the legal structures that hold our society together will not be needed.  We will all be so close and held together in the love of God and Jesus that marriage as we know it will not be necessary.  So, says Jesus, there is no sense to the question that the Sadducees pose.

Jesus then goes on to say that even Moses spoke of the resurrection when Moses stated that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…he didn’t say that God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The implication of the present tense instead of the past tense is that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still living and dwell in the presence of God.

For us as Christians today, we proclaim our faith in the resurrection based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  We base that faith, that trust on the words of Jesus (for example: “I am the resurrection and the life.”  John 11:25 and “because I live, you also will live.”  John 14:19) and on the testimony of those like Paul who experienced the resurrected Jesus in their lives.  We hold tight to the promise that we will be reunited with our loved ones and those who have gone before us.

Two things come of that faith in the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of our own resurrection.  First, we need not fear death for to us it is not an end but as one of the funeral prayers puts it “the gate to eternal life”.  We are free then to live a life of service to God and to our neighbor.  In that way the resurrection is not just some future hope, it is at work in our lives and in our families and in our communities this very day.

Second, in the resurrection our relationships do change and we are all reconciled to God and to each other.  For those of us who have families where there has been strife and division (sometimes family members do not even speak to one another) there is the hope and promise that those broken relationship will be reconciled and healed in the resurrection and we shall all sit before the throne of God and Jesus as one family.

As for those zombies we see everywhere…we know they do not really exist, but we can continue to enjoy being scared while watching the TV shows or movies or we can join others in the video game world fighting the zombies off.  But we do so knowing that in the end Jesus has won the victory over death, sin and evil.

Discussion Questions

  • What are some of the common images we associate with heaven?  Where do they come from? What are those images and descriptions trying to say about the Christian understanding of the afterlife?
  • What difference does it make in how you live your daily life that you believe in the Resurrection?  How would you live differently if you were absolutely convinced that there is no heaven, no afterlife?

Activity Suggestion

Materials needed:

  • Balloons for all participants (balloons strong enough to be drawn upon).
  • Sharpies to draw on the balloons.
  • Straight pins for all participants.

Pass out balloons to all participants and let them blow up the balloons.  Instruct the participants to turn their balloon into a zombie by decorating it.  When all have finished, form a circle and pray the closing prayer below.  Then all together at the count of three, have the participants burst the balloons with their pin.  Explain that the balloons represent our fears and through the grace of God and the resurrection of Jesus our fears are burst and we can freely serve God and neighbor.

Closing Prayer

All Sovereign and Loving God, you love your creation and all peoples in it.  Give us such a strong confidence in your mercy and care that we may not fear but serve you and our neighbor with joyful and grateful hearts.  You promise that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we are in your divine embrace today and for all eternity.  Help us to trust in this promise every day of our lives and proclaim that promise in word and deed.  In your most holy name we pray.  Amen.

May 26, 2013–His Caring Spirit Lives On

Contributed by Brian Hiortdahl, Chicago, IL

 

Warm-up Question

Do you believe in ghosts?

His Caring Spirit Lives On

shutterstock_5982979editSo proclaims the title of a local newspaper article reporting the memorial services for Sean Collier, a beloved young police officer at MIT killed in the wake of the bombing at the Boston Marathon:

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_23103732/his-caring-spirit-lives

 

Discussion Questions

  • React to the article.  What feelings does it stir in you?
  • Do you believe that people’s spirits continue to be present with us somehow after they die, or is that just grief’s wishful thinking?  What personal experiences inform your answer?
  • What is the best way for a community to honor someone special who has died?
  • What similarities and differences do you see between what the mourners said about Officer Collier after his death and what Christians say about Jesus after Easter?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 26, 2013 (The Holy Trinity/First Sunday After Pentecost)

Proverbs 8:1-4,  22-31

Romans 5:1-5

John 16:12-15

(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 week’s gospel reading gives us the words of someone who died too young, the victim of someone else’s political statement:  Jesus.  On the night before his death, he tells his friends that he has so much more to tell him than he has time to say it or they have capacity at the moment to hear it, but he also promises that the Spirit of truth will come to them.  Since Jesus is himself the truth (and the way and the life), the Spirit of truth is his Spirit, coming “to guide you into all the truth.”  This Spirit is identified in Christian theology as the third person of the Trinity, sometimes named the Holy Ghost.  In a way, the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ way of haunting us.  Or, to phrase it as the news article does, “his caring spirit lives on” among us.

Yet this Spirit is more than a spook, a vapor, a legacy, or a memory.  The Holy Spirit is God fully (though not bodily) present with us.  It is nearly as mystifying and beyond our comprehension as the larger teaching we celebrate on Sunday that God is Trinity:  one God in three persons, a unified community of generous, trusting love.  Those of us who cannot fully grasp these deep truths–who cannot bear them now–can hold onto the promise that (somehow, over time) the reliable Spirit will guide us into all the truth.

Discussion Questions

  • What questions puzzle you?
  • Where, when, and how do you experience the living presence of God in your life, as an individual and as part of a community?  What inspires you?  (Do you know the etymology of the word inspire?)
  • Who in your life has done the work of the Spirit, guiding you into the truth?
  • Read and discuss 1 John 4:1-21, which begins: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…. According to this biblical writer, how do we recognize whether a spirit is from God or not?

Activity Suggestions

  •  Serve as a mentor or tutor for someone with less learning or experience than you; help guide them into new truth that you know.
  • Honor someone who has died, but whose life and spirit continue to teach, bless, or inspire you.
  • As a group, begin planning a holy haunted house for the children in your church next Halloween.   (Maybe the Church itself is really a holy haunted house!)  Find fun, creative ways to trace the evidence that the Holy Spirit has been present and active there. And what about “the great cloud of witnesses,” the saints?  Is Martin Luther’s spirit still there? (Remember Reformation Day.) What about the faithful members of the congregation and other Christians elsewhere who have died?  (Remember All Saints Day.) What spirits continue to bless us with their presence at Holy Communion…not in fear, but in love?

Closing Prayer

Blessed Trinity, keep guiding us into the truth that you are. Shepherd us into and share with us your holy and beautiful dance of powerful life and perfect love.  Grant that your caring Spirit live on in us and bless the world with your abundant grace.  Amen.