Drew Tucker, Radford, VA

Warm-up Question

Who has authority in your life? What are the limits to that authority?

By Whose Authority?

Eminent domain is a hot button political issue for many people. If you’re not familiar with the term, eminent domain means the government’s right to purchase private property from citizens regardless of the citizen’s desire to sell that property. In the United States, the property must be intended for public use to qualify for eminent domain. For instance, the President couldn’t just take all of your family’s land to create a private hunting reserve, but the state can make you sell a portion of the yard in front of your house if they need to widen the street for the increased amount of traffic in your neighborhood. The government has the authority of eminent domain, but it has limits and must be used properly.

That’s what the Fraternal Order of Eagles local aerie (“aerie” is the term they use for their lodges) discovered recently in Puyallup, WA. As the city continues to grow along with its neighbors Tacoma and Seattle, Puyallup is also expanding their public transportation. That new development requires the space currently owned by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. It’s a touchy situation for aerie members, as it would likely be for church members selling a sanctuary or families selling a home. Even though they didn’t want to give up their home of nearly eight decades, the Eagles don’t view the needs of eminent domain as entirely negative.

It’s the amount offered that’s absolutely unacceptable.

Sound Transit, the public transportation authority, offered an amount well below the market value determined by a private appraiser. The Eagles hope to work out a solution with Puyallup’s city council and Sound Transit that affords them a fair price for the space and helps them locate a new building from which they can continue their philanthropic work. They haven’t necessarily challenged the government’s authority; instead, they’re arguing that they’re not using that authority well. You can read more about the Eagles hopes here (http://komonews.com/news/local/eminent-domain-cost-puyallup-eagles-their-home-now-theyre-asking-city-for-help) and see why Sound Transit wants the property here (https://www.soundtransit.org/puyallupimprovements).

While property law isn’t the most interesting subject for some, it brings up some important questions about authority.

Discussion Questions

• Do you think the government should have this authority? Why/why not?
• How would you react if you were a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Puyallup?
• Imagine you need public transit everyday from Puyallup into Seattle. How would you feel about the expansion project then?
• How can a good use of authority benefit the Eagles and public transit users?

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Philippians 2:1-13

Matthew 21:23-32

(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

This confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees hinges upon authority: John’s authority, Jesus’s authority, and the authority of the Pharisees. They ask a question not only to challenge John’s leadership and to scuttle Jesus’s influence. They ask in the hopes to reassert their own authority. This is because both John and Jesus challenged the control of the Pharisees in 1^st century Israel. Pharisees view authority as something of a limited commodity, a thing that they had that others shouldn’t possess.

In his famously subversive fashion, Jesus flips the script and challenges their authority, first confounding them with a simple question and then a parable. Their answer to the question reveals that the Pharisees lacked the courage to lead. They didn’t want to anger the crowds, nor did they want to enter additional conversation with Jesus. If they chose an answer, there was a risk. Option 1 means they might lose their influence over the people right away. Option 2 brings the chance of further public humiliation when confronted by Jesus. Their lack of an answer is answer enough about their own authority: they don’t have the courage to lead.

The parable pushes even deeper into the meaning of authority. We hear that authority is revealed by obedience. The father had authority over both children, but only one recognized it enough to follow the father’s will into the vineyard. In effect, Jesus tells the Pharisees that those whose lives don’t reflect the will of God don’t truly comprehend God’s authority. And if you can’t understand God’s authority, you surely can’t be trusted with much authority yourself.

Deeds of the leader (John and Jesus) and deeds of the follower (the first son) confirm true authority. That’s what makes Jesus such a unique leader. His deeds of healing the sick, forgiving sinners, feeding the hungry, and giving justice to the oppressed reveal his integrity as a leader. They reveal that he deserves authority. More than that, the obedience of those who follow him reveal the contagious nature of his leadership. His authority is recognized and actualized by those under his authority. That his disciples attempt to do his will – succeeding at times and failing epically at others – shows us that Jesus carries a unique authority, one that identifies him as more than a king, smarter than a teacher, more powerful than a magician. The authority by which Jesus does–well, everything in his life–that’s God’s authority.

Discussion Questions

• What stands out to you about this passage?
• How does Jesus’s subversive approach reveal his authority even as it confuses those who question him?
• Why were the Pharisees so challenged by the presence of teachers like John and Jesus?
• Why doesn’t Jesus tell them who gave him his authority?

Activity Suggestions

• Play “Reverse Simon (or Samantha or Sam) Says” but with a twist. Add a purpose to the game beyond winning. Perhaps have youth set the table for a meal together or put together school kits for Lutheran World Relief. Regardless, the goal isn’t to see who messes up the least. The goal is to highlight the difficulty of authority by ensuring that the person giving directions gives every direction. “Sam says walk to the table. Sam says pick up the fork with your right hand it and put it to the left of the plate.” Perhaps prompt Sam to say something silly to display the problems of displaced authority, like “fill the pitchers with thumb tacks.” Eventually, you may point out that good leadership might see someone with talent or skills and pass a level of authority on to them.
• Plan worship together as a group. Talk about the different kinds of authority we experience. The authority of scripture as the foundation for worship. The authority of the pastor to forgive sins. The authority of the hymns, songs, and prayers to shape our doctrine. Of course, remind everyone that these are all expressions of God’s authority shown through human means.

Closing Prayer

Lord God, you gave all authority on heaven and earth to your only child Jesus. He used that authority to heal, to liberate, to forgive, and to commission, all signs of your good will. Send your Holy Spirit to help us recognize your authority in all the ways that you come to us. Tune our hearts especially to those places where we don’t expect to find you. Help us to rely, not on our own authority, but on your gracious will. In the name of Jesus Christ, our savior and friend, we pray: Amen.

Anne Williams, Ankeny, IA

Warm-up Question

Think about Christmas; how does your family decide what “fair” is for presents? Is it the same number of presents to open? Is it the amount the presents costs? Why do you think your family does “fairness” that way?

Fairness is Relative

“When it comes to business, fairness is relative,” says banker John Norris. In a newspaper column, Norris, a banker in Birmingham, Alabama, tells the story of a friend who had done well all year and had reached his sales goal for the year by September. His boss told him that doing so meant he had also reached his cap on bonuses and commissions for the year. The boss felt that it wouldn’t be fair for Norris’ friend to earn that much more money than anyone else.   Norris’ friend was none too happy with this decision and told Norris that he wouldn’t negotiate another sale for his company until January, when he could get commission and bonuses again.

Norris’ response to his friend was to say the company was stupid to max him out with three more months to go in the year when this friend could be making more money for the company. Both Norris and his friend know and understood that in business, those contracts and sales pay for everyone’s salary, everyone’s bonuses and cover things like overhead (what it costs to run the business) and health insurance. But Norris’ friend needed an incentive. As Norris writes, “He simply didn’t want to work for free. Why would he? That wouldn’t be fair, would it?”

Discussion Questions

• What do you think about salaries that are based on bonuses and commissions? Would you want a job like that?
• Who’s right, the boss who thinks bonuses above the goal is unfair or Norris who thinks his friend shouldn’t work for “free”?
• Does fairness seem difficult to nail down in this situation? Is it relative? Is it always relative? Is there objective fairness in the world?

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

(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

In this parable, Jesus tells us a story about the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s like a man who owns a vineyard who hires workers for that vineyard at three hour intervals during the day and then pays them all a full day’s wage at the end of the work day.

Here’s your fun fact for the day: a day’s wage, in the ancient world, was enough money to a family to eat for a day. Think about that: earning just enough money each day to buy the food you needed to keep you and your family alive. It’s called subsistence living (Google Dictionary definition of Subsistence: “the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level”).

Now here’s where things get sticky, could the workers who were chosen at 5:00 expect a full days wage? Were they dreaming of that, but trying to limit their expectations to something less? Can you imagine the surprise and maybe even confusion of the workers who got a full day’s wage even after working just one hour?

What about the anger from the other workers who had also been paid the usual daily wage? How would they feel? Here’s what the landlord has to say for himself (verses 12 – 15)

[The workers grumbled], “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

The best part is that Jesus says only this by way of explanation: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Fairness doesn’t always look the same in every situation. It’s not about being first or last, it’s situational.  In this case, fairness in the Kingdom of Heaven looks like everyone having work enough to feed their families. Now by our definition it’s not at all fair that enough work looks like all day for some and one hour for others. The words Jesus gives the God character in this story, the landlord, reflect fairness rules that are pretty foreign to us: It’s more important that everyone have enough to eat than to be fair about work hours, for example. It also implies that fairness has something to do with our values and morals. What’s fair in the Kingdom is that everyone eats rather than everyone being paid hour by hour for their work.

Discussion Questions

• Since we don’t yet live fully in the Kingdom of God, but we really want to, whose fairness rules should we be living by?
• What would it be like to live like God was our landlord?
• What motivates your sense of fairness? What values or morals do you think about when you think about fairness?
• Jesus seems to think that generosity is more important than what we usually regard as absolute fairness. Can you think of cases where you would agree?

Activity Suggestion

Fairness exercise: hide a bunch of candy around the space you’re meeting in (Keep a full sized bar out of sight). When all of the students have found all the candy, give the “prize” to the person with the least candy. Debrief the exercise with questions like, does this feel fair? How does it make you feel that the prize went to the person with the least?

Closing Prayer

God of all things, you command us to love one another and to love you. Help us to show that love in our actions and how we share with others. Remind us that fairness should be looked at from your point of view, not ours and that you make the last first and first last. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Ginger Litman-Koon, Chapin, SC

Warm-up Question

Many relationships, personal and professional, are based on a system of credit and debt. People invest in others with the hope of receiving something in return; employees show up to work with the intention to be compensated later; ER doctors provides treatment with the expectation the cost will be covered. Does a credit/debt system promote the good of all involved? What happens when a debt is forgiven?

Debts Forgiven

For much of history, unpaid debts were legally punishable with prison time. Only fairly recently in history has the use of so-called “debtors’ prisons” been outlawed as a penalty for unpaid debts or fines. Nevertheless, in some states and municipalities, laws still allow for individuals to be jailed for “willful refusal” to pay what they owe. Consider the story of Edward Brown reported on NPR:

On a night last week when the temperature dropped to 17 degrees, Edward Brown, who’s 62 and homeless, slept at the bus stop in front of the Jennings, Mo., city hall in St. Louis County… Brown’s troubles started when he tried to fight the city of Jennings, and his story shows how court fines and fees can grow, turning an impoverished person’s life upside down. The city wanted to condemn his small, crumbling house, where he had lived for 25 years. Officials sent him a citation for letting the grass grow too high. Brown stayed in the house after it was condemned, and received a citation for trespassing. Brown had been bedridden from injuring his back, and was unable to push a lawnmower. He was ticketed, too, for not getting a rabies vaccine for his dog, Matrix. Altogether Brown owed the city $464. But Brown lives on a $488 Social Security check and food stamps, so he didn’t pay his fines. “I went to jail for that,” he says. Since 2009, he’s been jailed several times — once for 30 days, another time for 20 days.

In the case of Mr. Brown, he was jailed because of “willful refusal” to pay his fines, even though he was disabled and unable to work. Others like him have been jailed for defiance of the court because they know they’re be unable to pay, have health problems, have limited access to transportation, or are unable to get the time off from work or child care necessary to go and appear in front of a judge.

While these practices may be legal, they often effectively punish people for being poor, to add indignity to poverty, and to introduce added instability into the lives of those who may already be struggling to get by. One advocacy group that has taken up this cause defines the “human costs” of debtors’ prisons in this way: “Debtors’ prisons waste taxpayer money and resources by jailing people who may never be able to pay their debts [and create a system] in which the poor receive harsher, longer punishments for committing the same crimes as the rich, simply because they are poor.” Advocacy and legal teams have been working in recent years to tackle this injustice on a case-by-case system in the municipalities around the country.

Fines and fees are put in place in order to accomplish certain goals: to deter people from violating laws, to maintain the legal boundaries of municipalities and to raise revenue for the enforcement of laws. Their intent is, at its core, a good thing. However, as we see, the burden of fines and fees on those who live in poverty can become overwhelming and detrimental. Christians are called through our baptisms to be a voice for the voiceless – in this case, for those who wield little political power due to their socioeconomic status. One way we can do that is through advocacy – promoting the rights of the poor and speaking out against unjust policies. The ELCA Advocacy Office makes speaking up for those living in poverty a priority. You can become an advocate by learning more about the laws in your town, by writing a letter to your local officials, by learning more about ELCA Advocacy, or by simply remembering this issue in your prayers and in the work of your church.

Discussion Questions

• What do you think of Mr. Brown’s situation? What parts of his story surprised you or made you think?
• What is prison like? Do you think temporary imprisonment an effective way to get people to pay their debts? Why or why not?
• Many states maintain jail time as a permissible punishment for those who fail to pay owed Child Support. What do you think about that?

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 50:15-21

Romans 14:1-12

Matthew 18:21-35

(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

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus teaches about forgiveness. He tells his disciples that they should not only forgive, but they should be prepared to forgive (almost) infinitely. Jesus then goes on to tell a story about the slave of a king who was forgiven a seemingly infinite debt. Ten thousand talents was an unimaginable amount for a slave to try to repay. By telling this story, Jesus is comparing us to the indebted slave and God to the merciful king. God has and will forgive all our sins, as infinite as they may seem, and he will continue to do so. Therefore, we are called, not just to forgive, but to become forgiving people – that is, to make it our business to regularly practice forgiveness, just as God regularly forgives us.

However, in this story, the slave who has been infinitely forgiven turns around and does the opposite. He goes to one who owes him a debt and refuses to forgive him. And on top of that, he turns violent and demands that he be jailed as recompense. In prison, not only would that slave have to suffer harsh and inhumane conditions, but he would also miss out on the opportunity to return to work and to provide for his family.

We see two kinds of poverty in this story. The second slave is impoverished financially. He has no money to repay the debt that he owes. He has to work, not only to please his master the king, but also to repay the debt he has accrued by borrowing from another slave. He is at the bottom of this social hierarchy, and he faces further suffering at the hand of a fellow slave. On the other hand, the first slave in the story is impoverished spiritually. He is morally bankrupt, because he is unable to show mercy, even after being shown an incredible amount of mercy by the master himself.

What about us? If we recognize the tremendous mercy that was shown to us – to the point of God sending his own Son to suffer and die for our sake – do we ourselves show mercy? Do we repay the never-ending forgiveness of our loving God by forgiving others? Or do our hearts harbor grudges, judgment, or resentment for those we feel have wronged us, knowingly or unknowingly? And do we use the gifts given to us to provide for the needs of others? Do we use the voices given to us to speak out for those in need? Do we use the faith given to us to bring others to faith?

As Christians, we are rich. No matter what kind of income our families bring home, we are rich because of the love God pours out on us in Christ. God’s love enriches us with an over-abundance of love, forgiveness, mercy, and generosity to share with others. When we use these riches, we are truly living out our baptismal covenants with the God who so richly blesses and loves us.

Discussion Questions

• What are the debts you owe to others…that are owed to you?  Remember this is about more than money.
• The first slave is blind to the absurdity of his being so harsh to a fellow slave on the heels of having received a massive gift from  his master.  Why do you think it is easy for us to take blessings as our right instead of seeing them as tools to help others?

Activity Suggestions

Option A: Forgiveness takes practice. The more we forgive, the more we train our hearts to forgive. Write a short letter thanking God for specific things you have been forgiven of. Then write a letter to someone that you need to forgive. Specify what they did, how it made you feel, and how you are going to move on from it. You don’t have to send the letter, but commit yourself to truly letting go of the grudge/resentment/hate and ask God to free you from that burden. 

Option B: Play the SPENT money challenge and poverty simulator at www.playspent.org

Closing Prayer

Giving God, you provide everything that we need, and you bless us richly with our time, talent, treasures, and your never-failing mercy. Give us grateful hearts for the forgiveness you give us every day and make us generous in giving and forgiving.

Amy Martinell, Sioux Falls, SD

Warm-up Question

Do you forgive easily or do you tend to hold a grudge?

Forgiveness:  Hard Healing Work

For months Margot Van Sluytman traded emails with Glen Flett.  It was not your ordinary email exchange.  In 1978 when Margot was only 16, Flett  killed her father while he attempted to rob the convivence store at which her father worked.  After being released from prison, Flett attended an event aiming at bringing victims and perpetrators together where he received help  connecting with Margot and they begin to email.

According to Margot, “They were emails filled with humanity. His words helped to heal me, but after a while the words weren’t enough and I knew I needed to look into his eyes. So, three months later I met the man who killed my father.”  When they first met, they both sobbed and hugged each other.  Margot shared that after her father died a part of her seemed to go blank, but after this meeting she felt the color begin to return to her life.

This was a long process to get to, at first Margot could not even contemplate forgiveness, it made her too angry.  Later as she began to work through her anger with poetry, she became more open to the concept, and soon as she began to consider forgiveness, she noticed a change in her whole body, that she felt more complete and more at peace.  Forgiveness was a healing process.  Before Van Sluytman begin the path to forgiveness she felt a void full of nothingness, now  that the void has begun to be filled by the friendship she has with the man who killed her father.  This friendship has helped put meaning back into her life.

Margot Van Sluytman’s story is one of the many stories collected by The Forgiveness Project.  The Forgiveness Project is an organization that collects stories of forgiveness to share the power of reconciliation, help build understanding, and empower people to tell their stories and reconcile with the pain of their past. (theforgivenessproject.com)

Discussion Questions

• Margot Van Sluytman was open to forming a relationship with the man who killed her father. In her situation, do you think you would be willing to do so?  Why or why not?
• Margot helped work through her pain and anger by writing poetry. What activities help you when you feel hurt and angry?
• When have been times you have had a hard time asking for forgiveness or accepting others’ apologies?

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Ezekiel 33:7-11

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 18:15-20

(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 talks about a truth we all know well.  We know what it feels like to be hurt by others and we know what it feels like to hurt others.  It happens all too often.

We can guess the people who first read Matthew’s gospel were dealing with this problem as well.  “What do we do in our church when people hurt each other?”  In our reading, we have a set of instructions for dealing with conflict.  The focus is on rebuilding relationships, not on handing out punishments.  It is about restoring the person to the community, not about making sure everyone gets what they deserve.

And we restore relationships with face to face talks.  This is hard.  Today it sounds so much easier to send an email or text than to have to tell someone to their face that they have hurt us, but it is when we sit down in person that we are best able to see the other person’s point of view and become open to forgiveness and reconciliation.

Forgiveness is hard work; sometime we need to include others people, sometimes we may need more time before we are ready to forgive, and sometimes the person may not be open to hearing how they hurt us or what they have done wrong.  Forgiveness is hard work, but we can trust that our Lord is with us through the process we can reach out with love and forgiveness.

Discussion Questions

• When you are upset with someone do you prefer to go and talk with them face to face or would you rather do it over text or email? Why might it be important to have these conversations in person?
• When someone close to you has hurt you is it hard for you to trust them again and welcome them back into your community?
• Have you ever been part of a group or team where members were not getting along? How did this affect everyone else?

Activity Suggestions

• Visit The Forgiveness Project website and read another story and discuss together the power of forgiveness.
• Brainstorm different constructive ways to deal with hurt and anger (poetry, exercise, music, etc.). Make a list of all the different options and give students time to explore one or two of the options.

Closing Prayer

Gracious God, you call us to love one another, but it is hard to be in community together.  Forgive the pain and hurt we cause our neighbors and help us to reach out with love and forgiveness when others hurt us.