Contributed by Jennifer Krausz
Bethlehem, PA

Warm-up Question: What do you think would motivate you to improve your grades or test scores at school?

Low income New York City fourth and seventh graders that were paid for higher scores on several standardized tests showed much greater improvements than students not paid, a Post analysis showed. Fourth graders were paid up to $25 per test for 10 separate assessments for improvement, and seventh graders were paid up to $50 per test for the 10 tests. The higher students score, the more they are paid, up to a total of $250 for fourth graders and $500 for seventh graders.

Of the 59 schools in the program, about two-thirds improved their reading and math test scores by margins above city-wide averages. In some schools, students scored close to 40 percentage points higher on the tests than they had the year before. For example, at PS 188 on the Lower East Side, 76 percent of fourth graders met or surpassed the state benchmarks for English, which was 39.6 points higher than when they were in the third grade.

Principals have stated that the payment program, called “Sparks,” is only one of several factors contributing to the higher test scores. They do acknowledge that the payments have motivated students to improve, even to compete with each other over who can earn the most money each year. “It’s an ego booster in terms of self-worth,” said Rose Marie Mills, principal at MS 343 in Mott Haven, where nearly 90 percent of students qualify for federal poverty aid. “When they get the checks, there’s that competitiveness — ‘Oh, I’m going to get more money than you next time’ — so it’s something that excites them.”

In total, about 8,000 students earned $1.25 million as part of the privately funded program to encourage higher student test scores at schools where most families have incomes below the poverty level.

Discussion Questions  

• What is your general attitude toward school? (It’s a job, an obligation, a burden, a good place to learn, love it, or some other attitude.)
• What are the pros and cons of paying students to perform better in school?
• Have you ever been paid or offered payment for good grades or test scores? If so, did it work?
• What or who are the most powerful motivators for you to learn and mature in life? What or who encourages your continuing growth a young person?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, June 14, 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.)

• Ezekiel 17:22-24
• Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15 (12)
• 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 [11-13] 14-17
• Mark 4:26-34

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

Gospel Reflection

Parables can be confusing. How does talking about plants and how they grow have anything to do with the kingdom of God? And what is the kingdom of God anyway?

According to Jesus’ words in the Bible, the kingdom of God is something we enter through faith in Jesus. It’s the spiritual kingdom over which God reigns. Through faith, we begin to see the world through God’s eyes, and work for the compassion, justice, love, healing, and forgiveness God desires for humankind and creation. The kingdom of God is present right here and right now, and will be fully realized at sometime in the future.

When we are “young” in our faith, we just have a glimpse of the kingdom of God. We don’t have a deep understanding of God’s ways and word. In many ways, we are spiritual babies. But God plants the seed of faith in our hearts. The Spirit cultivates our faith through prayer, hearing and studying God’s word, worshipping God, and the care and encouragement we receive from being part of a community of faith. Our seed of faith grows with lots of care and tending. Our faith and our understanding of God’s ways grow and increase, too. We live in and grow into the kingdom of God, all at the same time.

These parables were meant to show that each of us, together with God working through each other and the Spirit, can have the tiniest seed of faith and it will grow to be a large, healthy, and full of life… like the tiny mustard seed that grows into the “largest of all garden plants” (v. 32). Much growth is possible during our lives on earth, and it will it will continue long after that.

Discussion Questions

• How has your faith grown since you first started to believe in Jesus? What are your first memories or images of faith, God, and the church?
• What things have been challenging and difficult in your faith? What or who has helped you grow and mature in faith (especially right now)?
• Why do you think Jesus explained his parables to his closest disciples but not to the crowds? Why is a parable sometimes more powerful a a teaching tool?
• When you think of heaven, what do you see? What do you wonder?

Activity Suggestion

God plants the seed of faith in our hearts, but it takes many people help to water, feed, and protect it during the course of our lives. Parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, godparents, and even strangers often help our faith to grow, and they may not even know the impact they have had.

Encourage each person to identify someone who has helped their faith to grow. If your budget allows, provide stationery and stamps so students can write a brief thank you note to the person they feel has most helped them in their faith. Mail the letters yourself if possible so they are sure to be received.

Closing Prayer

God, we thank you for planting the seed of faith in our hearts and for all you do to help our faith grow. Thank you that we can freely pray to you, for your word in the Bible, and for the people in our lives who have shown us more of what the kingdom of God is like. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Contributed by Pastor Julie A. Kanarr
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Port Angeles, WA

Warm-up Question: Where would you look for signs of God’s presence?

Paul Grayhek, a resident of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, decided that a giant rock he discovered in his backyard after a small landslide looked like the hand of God. Grayhek, age 52, had lost his previous job and was praying for a sense of direction in his life when discovered the rock on March 8, 2009. Grayhek determined that the rock’s appearance and proximity to his house was a direct sign from God that he should follow his dream of becoming a counselor for troubled youth. “I prayed between licking my wounds and looking for a job,” he reported. “We rarely get rockfalls and this formation is twenty feet from my house. It’s definitely a symbol of the hand of God in my life.”

Grayhek recently put the rock formation on eBay, intending to auction it off and use the money to help pay for his education. His idea was that the massive nine foot by four foot “hand of God” rock formation would actually remain in his yard, and that the buyer would be purchasing the “complete and exclusive rights” (including literary and movie rights) to the rock.

Grayhek’s rock formation did garner a lot of attention, and at one point, his eBay listing had over 5,000 “hits” in an hour. Grayhek was pleased by all the publicity “his hand of God” rock received. He was interviewed by multiple radio and newspaper reporters from around the world and received over 800 e-mails. He attributed the interest in his “hand of God” rock to a deep spiritual hunger in people’s lives. “There were days when I didn’t get a lot of sleep,” Grayhek said. “I answered 95 percent of all those messages. I think it touched a lot of people.”

Grayhek’s rock attracted a high bid of more than $16,800. But as all three of the top bidders backed out, Grayhek realized that he was being “played.” Grayhek noted that he wasn’t very sophisticated when it comes to on-line auctions, and admitted that he had “muddled” the auction. Still, he was unfazed.

Although nobody actually ended up buying the rights to his rock, Grayhek did grant free permission for a picture of it to appear in a book that Harry Charon is writing. Charon’s book will also feature a grilled cheese sandwich bearing a possible image of the Virgin Mary, a tree trunk that might have an imprint of Jesus, and a picture from the Hubble Space Telescope that some people believe shows an image of Christ. “I don’t know if it (the rock formation) would mean anything to me, but that’s not the issue,” explained Choron. “The issue is what it means to the person who discovered it. I think in general people just want to feel they’re connected somehow, that miracles do occur, and it’s something that supports their faith.”

As for Grayhek, he has decided that the purpose of his rock was to help him spread the word of God. “I’m convinced now that’s why the hand showed up in my backyard” he explained. “It wasn’t just a symbol for me to strengthen my faith; I was supposed to share it.” He still intends to finish his master’s degree in social work and become a counselor for troubled youth, but hasn’t yet figured out where he will get the $10,000 he needs to pay for his schooling next year. “I have no idea,” he said. “It’s just called faith and trust. I’m surprisingly calm about it.”

For more information and to see a picture of the rock, check out: www.2news.tv/news/43640977.html

• What thoughts and emotions do you have in reaction to Paul Grayhek’s ideas about his rock? (For instance, are you sympathetic toward him? Cynical? Skeptical? Amused?)
• Do you think that God communicates with people through personal, private signs? Why or why not? Is it possible for something to be an answer to prayer without being a direct sign from God? Why or why not?
• How would you determine whether or not something is a sign from God? What criteria would you use? What might happen if someone falsely concluded that a particular event or object was a sign from God?
• Do you think that living with an expectation that one might find signs of God in ordinary objects is supportive of faith in God? Or is it a hindrance to genuine faith?
• Think about a time in your life when you have had an important decision to make (or imagine a time when you may have to make such a decision in the future). Do you tend to make those kinds of decisions on your own or in consultation with others? Where do you turn for guidance? What role does prayer play for you in this? How might you seek to discern God’s will for you at such a time? Where do you see the “hand of God” at work in your life?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, June 7, 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 6:1-8
• Psalm 29 (2)
• Romans 8:12-17
• John 3:1-17

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

Gospel Reflection

The readings for today (Holy Trinity Sunday) invite us to consider how God chooses to become known to us. In the Gospel, we hear the story of Nicodemus who comes to Jesus at night to ask him questions about God and faith. Nicodemus approaches Jesus with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. On the one hand, Nicodemus recognizes that the “signs” that Jesus has been performing are an indicator that Jesus is a “teacher who has come from God” (verse 2), but on the other hand, he struggles with what Jesus has been teaching because it does not fit in with his existing understanding of God and salvation. Nicodemus’ conversation with Jesus is filled with misunderstanding and ambiguity. The confusion arises because the Greek word “anothen” (verse 3 — pronounced aah-no-thin) means both “from above” and “again.” Nicodemus wonders how it is possible for a person to be literally born “again” (anothen) while Jesus describes how one must be born “from above” (anothen) (verse 7).

Nicodemus seeks signs of God’s hand in the world, but he has difficulty recognizing that the sign of God’s presence is fully embodied in Jesus, “the Word made flesh and living among us” (see John 1:14). As his conversation with Jesus unfolds, he becomes increasingly confused (compare verse 2 with verse 9). By the end of this passage, Nicodemus has disappeared quietly back into the night. However, Nicodemus does appear at two other points in John’s gospel. He challenges the other Pharisees who want to judge Jesus without giving him a fair hearing (John 7:50-51). He also accompanies Joseph of Arimathea to seek Pilate’s permission to remove Jesus’ body from the cross, brings the spices to prepare his body for a proper burial (John 19:38-42). Nicodemus is on a journey that finally leads him toward faith.

Like Nicodemus, we also seek signs of God’s hands, and like him, we may struggle with confusion and misunderstanding and look for those signs in the wrong places. The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus reminds us that signs of God’s work don’t come to us as private messages or hidden in ordinary objects. God’s love is for the whole world, shown through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus names the cross as the sign of God’s love for the world. In John’s Gospel, the cross is portrayed as the instrument of God’s redeeming love. Jesus is the one who demonstrates the greatest love by laying down his life for his friends (see John 15:13). By being lifted up on the cross, Jesus draws all people to himself. This sign of death becomes a symbol of life and salvation. The hand of God is at work in the cross of Jesus to bring redemption and life for all.

Discussion Questions

• Compare and contrast the experiences of Nicodemus in the Gospel with the experience of Paul Grayhek (from the “hand of God” rock news story). What was each of them seeking? In what ways were each of them disappointed? In what ways were each of them transformed?
• Imagine that Jesus, Nicodemus, and Paul Grayhek from the news story were in a conversation together. What do you think they would say to each other? What questions would they ask one another? Where would each of them see the hands of God? Invite three persons from your group to “role-play” that conversation.
• What do you think about when you look at a cross? How, where, and when do you (and/or your congregation) use the sign of the cross (either as a physical object or as a gesture)? What meaning does that carry for you?
• In what ways is Jesus a sign of God’s love for the world? Where might you look for signs of that love today? In what ways do you experience God’s presence through worship? In what ways does God’s love for you shape how you live your life?

Activity Suggestion

Signs of God; Signs of faith

Name as many signs and symbols of faith as you can that are in your church, or that you are familiar with.

• What are they and what do they represent?
• Do you know the history of some of them? (cross, water, sea shell, fish, candles and light, liturgical colors, loaf of bread, etc.)
• Considering today’s world and your generation, what new symbols of faith and God can you imagine or create that would communicate our Christian faith with others? God’s love for all people everywhere? If you have a special youth meeting space or room, use some of the new symbols of faith to “decorate” your space and as springboards to discussion. (Keep any existing or traditional symbols or signs up as well.)

Closing Prayer

Dear God, we give you thanks that your love and forgiveness is for all people everywhere. Help us to never forget your presence in our lives and that you call us to do your good work – to be your hands – in the world. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Contributed by Sylvia Alloway
Granada Hills, CA

Warm-up Question: What is your idea of a perfect society? Where would it be located? What would people do there? How would they be governed?

If the San Francisco-based Seasteading Institute has its way, the City by the Bay may become the City out in Ocean. Seasteading, a variation on the word “homesteading,” is the process of building human dwellings on the high seas.

The Institute is currently researching ways to put habitable buildings on supports similar to oil platforms. These structures would be modular, that is, the parts would be interchangeable. They can be taken apart and put back together in different forms, so that change and movement will come easily and the physical environment can be altered to fit the ideas of the people.

Why do the sponsors of this endeavor want to form communities on the ocean? Unlike homesteading, where the idea was simply to gain more space for people to live, seasteading has deeper purpose: to try out new ways of governing and arranging society. Ideas presented by the 600-member organization include legalizing marijuana and owning all artistic works in common. Some group other than the family may be the basic unit of socialization, or alternatively, families may live as separate units and float together for “festivals.”

What does not work will be discarded, and what does work will be recombined into a new system of government. They believe that no specific ideology is necessary and constant change is good.

An engineer working on the project said that a prototype may be ready in as few as three years.

Discussion Questions

• Many attempts have been made to create a utopian, or perfect society (artistic and religious communities, the hippies of the 60s, etc.). Most have failed to form anything close to a perfect, lasting society. Why do they fail? Why do people keep trying?
• How can you tell if a form of government is working or not? What are some signs of a good or a bad system? A just or unjust system?
• Think about a society in which nothing is fixed. Behavior that was acceptable yesterday is not so today and vice versa. Can human beings really live this way? Why or why not?
• Young people often want to get away from old rules and ways of doing things. What are some rules and behavior in your world (school, church, family, friends, job, etc.) that you would like to change? Why? With what would you replace the old ways?
• What are some rules and behavior you would like to change about the world in general?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 31, 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 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14
• Psalm 104:24-34, 35b (30)
• Psalm 104:24-35b (30) or Acts 2:1-21
• John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

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

Gospel Reflection

Jesus’ disciples were all strongly grounded in the traditions of Judaism. The Ten Commandments, the sacrificial system for forgiveness of sins, the required feasts and fasts had been the foundation of their lives since birth. But in today’s Gospel, Jesus informs them that a change is coming. Jesus himself is going to return to the Father and in his place he will send the Advocate (also translated as “Comforter” or “Helper”), the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit will lead them into a new way. The NRSV says that he will “prove the world wrong” in its view of sin, righteousness, and judgment. What he teaches will be not a truth, but the truth; the permanent, unchanging plan of God for the salvation of the world. Their Lord will not let them drift around unguided.

At the time, the disciples did not know what Jesus meant. Even after his resurrection, as they obeyed his command to “wait for power from on high,” they still did not know what form the power would take. And then… Flames! Wind! Beautiful flowing speech! There could be no doubt that this was the power Jesus promised, the Advocate who would teach them all things.

The world tells us to depend on ourselves for moral and spiritual guidance. Truth is relative. Absolutes spoil all the fun and feel oppressive. But Jesus says to depend on his Spirit to guide us into truth. In him we will be gloriously empowered, free to live in God’s purpose and love in the world with the promise of eternal life. We are free to give witness to a different truth that is God’s truth… a truth that calls for compassion, justice, humility, change, service, faith, and obedience.

Discussion Questions

• What are some common (not necessarily Christian or religious) views of sin, righteousness, judgment, and the world? In what way does the truth of Christ prove these ideas wrong?
• We know that God has given us his Spirit, but we don’t always “feel” his presence. In what ways can we encourage each other in “dry” or difficult times when we feel alone or abandoned by God?
• Create a list of what you consider to be rules or values that are consistent with your faith in Christ. Do this quickly as individuals and then compare your lists. How are your lists alike and how are they different? Make up situations in which somebody breaks what you as a Christian consider to be “a rule.” How might a community striving to follow Christ (a church, family, youth ministry group, or school) handle the situation? How might those who believe in a fluid and changing morality deal with it?
• How can we work with and live with each other compassionately and with a desire to respect each others differences and opinions while at the same time being concerned about God’s will and desire for us?

Activity Suggestions

Expand on question 3.

In groups or as a class, make up a story about a seasteading community. It might be fun to frame it as science fiction or based on existing and developing technologies. They have decided on a way to rule themselves, for instance, having all things in common. A problem comes up that their system doesn’t cover, for example, is there any such thing as stealing or trespassing in this kind of community? They try to work it out among themselves. Resolve the story in a way that demonstrates the need for the guidance of the Spirit.

Extension Ideas: Have the class cooperate in writing out and illustrating the story by hand; write out and illustrate the story in a computer publishing program; dramatize the story and perform and/or film it.

Whose rules and why?

Talk about what “rules” there are in your congregation or that you believe are rules or values of being a Lutheran Christian. List them. Some jumping off points for discussion:

• Where did the rule or value come from? Who decided that it was important?
• What is the purpose of the rule? (To honor God, protect children, safety, to keep a room neat and tidy, to respect and welcome visitors, to save money, to guide your behavior, etc.) Is it changeable or permanent? Why? How do congregations decide?
• What practices and rules may have come about through history or through decisions made by a congregation based on their neighborhood, community, or cultural context? (e.g., use of religious art in the sanctuary, providing worship and other things in more than one language, allowing coffee in the sanctuary during worship, worship times and styles, etc.)
• What changes would you propose for your congregation? What existing practices, values, or rules you would like to affirm?
• What’s the best way for the congregation, or a group within the congregation, to reflect on whether or not a rule, value, or policy is consistent with what God encourages or expects us to do?

For help in facilitating group discussions that may stir up diverse reactions, opinions, and emotions, check out the ELCA resource “Talking Together as Christians about Tough Social Issues” (PDF).

Suggested Songs

• “Lord of All Hopefulness,” Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #765
• “Praise to the Father (for his loving-kindness),” Lutheran Book of Worship, #517

Closing Prayer

Gracious Father forgive us for seeking our own way when we should be turning to your truth; for believing the inventions of world, instead of finding our way in your Word; for chasing after the changeable and temporary, instead of resting in your eternal Spirit. We thank and praise you for the forgiveness we have received through your beloved son, Jesus. Through the power of the Comforter, remake us in Jesus’ likeness and manner. We pray this is his blessed name, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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: Have you ever been punished for something you didn’t do? Have you ever been let off the hook for something you DID do? How did it turn out?

Paul House has been on prison death row in Tennessee since 1986, after being convicted of the murder of Carolyn Muncey. He was scheduled to be executed next month, but now, after intervention by local attorneys as well as an organization called The Innocence Project, all charges against him have been dropped, and he is free to go.

Discussion Questions 

• Why do you think that, after 20 years, the House’s case was finally re-opened in 2006?
• Do you agree with the court’s decision to dismiss the charges against Paul House? Do you think he might still be guilty?
• How do you think House will adjust to his newfound freedom, after 22 years on death row? How different do you think his life is now from what it was in 1986?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, May 17, 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 10:44-48
• Psalm 98 (4)
• 1 John 5:1-6
• John 15:9-17

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

In John 15:10, Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…” Just a chapter earlier, in John 14:15, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In both verses, the message is the same: love and obedience are inextricably entwined. God gave us a set of commandments. We are charged to follow them, every one, at all times. But at the same time, we know that we are doomed to fail. Every person on earth fails to keep God’s commandments. We may succeed in keeping most of them most of the time, but God demands no less than perfection. We must be holy, for he is holy. And, we simply can’t be that perfect.

God gave us his commandments to show us his love. They act as a mirror, to show us our sinful nature. We are unable to keep God’s commandments through our own power. And when we try to, we are merely servants, slaves to sin, striving unsuccessfully to keep God’s commandments because he told us to, fearing his wrath if we don’t. But then in God’s commandments we also see Christ’s love: the greatest love there is, laying down his life in place of ours, freeing us from the bonds of sin, so that we would no longer be servants, suffering God’s wrath for disobedience, but friends, with Christ’s love flowing through us.

It is only through Christ’s love that we are able to love one another. And it is only in Christ’s gracious love that we are able to keep God’s commandments. If we have Christ’s love in us — loving him and loving one another, and keeping his commandments — then Christ’s joy will be in us too. A joy shared among friends and all people. Our joy will be full! 

• How can we share Christ’s love with others? How can we show them both that God loves them, and that we love them?
• How do the actions of someone who knows he has been freed from the bonds of sin, to be called a friend of Christ, differ from the actions of someone who struggles to keep God’s commandments without love, like a servant trying to avoid his master’s punishment? How should we live our own lives differently, when we abide in Christ’s love?
• How is our freedom from sin, to become members of the body of Christ, like Paul House’s freedom from death row after 22 years, to rejoin mainstream society? How is it different?

 Activity Suggestion

Whether guilty or innocent by law, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Pretend you have been given the opportunity to share the gospel with Paul House. Write a conversation with him, connecting the good news of Christ to the events in his life, and using his ordeal to illustrate God’s love, forgiveness, and justice for us. Use verses from today’s Gospel, and any other scriptures you think might be applicable, to tell him about Christ’s sacrifice for us, and our freedom from lives of sin — all sin.
 
Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me, and calling me your friend. Please help me always to abide in your love, that I may keep your commandments. And let your love flow through me, that I may spread that love to others, and love them as you also love me, that we may experience your love together and thus also your joy. Amen.