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February 16, 2025–God Among Us

Catalyst Question

Who is the most famous person you’ve met? Share the story of how it happened.

God Among Us

Luke 6:17-26 recalls a time when Jesus taught crowds about blessings and woes. It’s a striking teaching because, in it, Jesus challenged his listeners’ standard way of thinking. Are you experiencing things that people typically consider negative, like hunger, poverty, sadness, and social rejection? Soon you will experience God’s blessing. Are you experiencing wealth, popularity, satisfaction, or laughter in this current culture? Then you will be troubled by the new world that is coming with God’s reign. Not right at this moment, but change is on its way.

What’s even more striking about this is the staging.

Jesus “came down with them and stood on a level place.” In other words, Jesus taught from within the crowd rather than a place of privilege. The Creator of the Universe stood among, rather than above, its creatures. The one named Emmanuel, God with us, chose once again to be with the people in the midst of their needs.

At this halfway point of Black History Month, it’s good to remember that the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement also chose to be among the people they led and taught. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t just speak on Washington Mall, but also in Southern country churches. John Lewis didn’t just lead from Congress but from joined in demonstrations on public busses. Ella Baker organized at the local level to boost voter registration. So many others, from Fannie Lou Hamer to Bayard Rustin to Andrew Young and more, worked with people at their own level. These leaders reflected Christ not only because they sought the equity promised by Jesus in this Sermon on the Plain. They reflected Christ because they followed his lead and led from among the people. With that leadership model, they followed Jesus in changing the world.

Christ-like leaders don’t lord their power over subjects or make unilateral decisions without care for the impacts on the poorest among us. Christ-like leaders live life among the people and lead in ways that prepare us all for the new world of God’s reign where all share in God’s blessings. Let us look to Christ, then go and do likewise.

Ask Yourself

Name three leaders who lead like Jesus in this story and three who don’t. Who has the most power in society? Why do you think that is?

Ask a Friend

Who is a leader that you follow? How do they remind you of Jesus, if at all?

February 9, 2025–In God’s Economy, Nothing is Wasted

Catalyst Question

What’s your least favorite chore to do in your home? Why is that?

“In God’s Economy…

…nothing is wasted.” This quote was popularized in the 1990s by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), an organization that supports people living with addiction to alcohol. Within that context, it addressed how even the most dire of circumstances can become a cocoon for growth. Such succinctly stated wisdom soon became contagious and spread far beyond AA. It also resonates with many stories from scripture.

Consider Luke 5:1-11. In that story, Jesus meets a few fishers at a lakeshore. They’ve had what felt like a wasted day. Lots of casting out nets and nothing to show for it, not even a handful of minnows. Yet, Jesus–who was a carpenter, not a fishermen–tells them to try one more time. That certainly seemed like a futile task; they’d been fishing this spot for hours, after all! Yet, with Jesus by their side, what seemed like a wasted day became a trophy-worthy trip to sea. Because Jesus turned their waste into abundance, people could eat their fill. In God’s company, what once seemed useless can become miraculous.

Even poop.

Of course, God’s creation shows us that what is waste to some is fertilizer to others. Anyone who grew up in the country knows the distinct smell of freshly spread livestock manure on nearby fields. Fewer probably think about the fact that bugs also poo. Fortunately, someone did. Eventually, that revelation led people like Shankar Ganapathi Shanmugam, a professor Mississippi State University, to research how bugs could be used not only to create new fertilizers, but also eat organic garbage in the process. It’s a pretty simple idea. Certain insects it food scraps. After digestion and a quick visit to the fly-sized toilet, what’s left is a new kind of plant food. This process means that what once was waste becomes quite useful.

These are certainly three very different scenarios. Yet, each also highlights something essential about God: abundant life can come from the most unexpected places. Those things that seem like futility, or failure, or simple waste to us? In God’s hands, they can become agents of abundant life.

Ask Yourself

What is one area of your life where you want to invite God to take something that feels wasted and turn it into something wonderful? Take time to pray for God’s presence and wisdom in that place.

Ask a Friend

As Christ followers, how can we work together to be creative like Professor Shanmugam to transform the world’s waste into useful tools for our neighbors?

 

February 2, 2025–God is Still Near

Catalyst Question

Where have you noticed God in your everyday life?

God is Still Near

In Luke 2:22-40, we find the story of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Jerusalem temple. This act of dedication of their firstborn son was fairly common amongst Jews of the day. What was abnormal was the response. Two prophets, Simeon and Anna, each praise God for Jesus’ presence. Why celebrate this otherwise apparently normal boy? Because, by meeting Jesus in this very ordinary ritual, they encounter the extraordinary: God’s redemptive presence. God is near, and so they celebrate!

Finding the extraordinary amidst the ordinary isn’t limited only to ancient prophets or biblical stories. The Hippo Song, a classic camp tune, reminds us that “God’s fingerprints are everywhere.” Perhaps this became even more evident with the rise of Moo Deng’s popularity last year. In animals, plants, rocks, water, and everything else in the universe, creation points us to our creator.

Organizations like The Nature Conservancy work to ensure the protection of God’s creatures great and small. They bring together individuals and communities, religious and secular organizations, government and private initiatives, all to make sure the ordinary things of the Earth aren’t lost. The protection of these creations not only ensures wilderness for generations to come. It also ensures we can continue the sacred rituals God gives us through ordinary things. Baptism requires clean water. Bread and wine require healthy crops. God calls us to care for the normal things in our world; yet, through them, we also find that sacred presence that’s been there all long. 

This week, reflect on what it means that Jesus’ presentation at the temple–a very routine thing–is remembered as an exceptional moment in history. Then, think about the routine things in our world today–bugs and dirt, air and flowers, birds and fish, and of course, hippos like Moo Deng–and search for God’s fingerprints. Through them, and through us, God is still near. 

Ask Yourself

Where do you have trouble noticing God in your everyday life? Why might that be?

Ask a Friend

If God created everything, then how does our faith call us to interact with nature?

January 26, 2025–Something Old and Something New

Catalyst Question

What’s something old that you’ve noticed becoming popular again? How does that make you feel?

Something Old and Something New

There’s an old English rhyme that goes, “something old and something new, something borrowed and something blue, and a sixpence in your shoe.” It describes a tradition for brides to wear something of each category on their wedding day. To this day, many weddings include parts of the tradition, though finding a sixpence is much more difficult in the 21st century.

Only a month into the new year, there’s much in the news that appears both old and new all at the same time. The 45th president is now the 47th president. Multiple countries and companies are preparing for space travel, with hopes to return people to the moon within just a few years. Even flare leg jeans are back in style.

In Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke 4:14-21, Jesus reads a few verses from Isaiah that declare “the year of the Lord’s favor.” This sounds new and exciting! Yet, it comes from a prophet from hundreds of years before. It’s an ancient promise that’s reaffirmed for present listeners. In that way, it is both old and new.

Many people become obsessed with new things. Perhaps this is because they believe new things will lead to different results. What’s odd about that is that, to use biblical language, there’s almost nothing new under the sun. What feels new to some is quite old to others.

But with Jesus, it is still very different from the old and new that we see in politics, in science, or in style. Why is that? Because, in Jesus, the promise fulfilled. What’s old is made new in Jesus in ways that no politician, scientist, or influencer can match. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and it is only God’s newness that brings forgiveness of sin and abundant life. Jesus is so much more than an old trend returning. We owe ultimate allegiance not to political offices, scientific advancements, or cultural trends. We owe it the one in whom all things are always being made new, the only one who keeps all promises: Jesus.

Ask Yourself

What are the things–or who are the people–that ask for your ultimate allegiance in ways that draw your devotion away from Jesus?

Ask a Friend

What are the ways that Jesus has brought renewal into your life? 

 

 

January 19, 2025–An Urgent Answer

Catalyst Question

Share about a time when someone stepped in to help you face a sudden, unexpected problem.

An Urgent Answer

As wildfires continue to threaten countless people in Los Angeles, community organizations are stepping up to help. Some provide food and shelter to the newly houseless. Others assist pets separated from families in the rush to find safety. All God’s creatures, great and small, need support in times of tragedy like these. And God shows up in all sorts of ways, through local organizations like those above and through international efforts like our own Lutheran Disaster Response.

In Sunday’s reading from John 2:1-12, a very different sort of urgent need appears. It is certainly not life or death to run out of wine at a wedding reception. The only thing at risk, it seems, is the social standing of the party thrower, whose lack of resources just might disappoint the party goers.

And still Jesus steps in. Without fanfare, Jesus preserves the relationships of the attendees with the bridegroom by ensuring there’s wine to spare. Not only does Jesus turn water into wine, but into excellent wine. When Jesus offers help, even in relatively minor situations, it’s not simply adequate. It’s extravagant, extending from great to small.

These are certainly different situations, natural disasters and party supplies. Still, in the times of urgent need, God steps in because God cares about us. As followers of Christ, so too we are called to step in. Perhaps this is through a gift to Lutheran Disaster Response’s efforts to immediately address the crisis. Perhaps it’s by providing housing to someone displaced by the fires until they’re able to return home. Certainly it’s through prayer. The example of Jesus is clear: when a crisis arises, Christians are called to provide relief.

Ask Yourself

What are some different ways you could intervene to provide relief to wildfire victims or others experiencing an urgent need? Pray and ask God for the wisdom to respond faithfully.

Ask a Friend

Who is someone that provided relief to you in a time of crisis, whether minor or major? How did they show Christ to you through their support?